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“Ms. Cairns?” She was brought back to reality by the receptionist’s voice, and quickly took the required paperwork from her, walking across to one of the leather couches to sit and fill it out. A short time later she was back up on the top floor sat at her desk while she looked at the list Tyler had given her once more. She knew it was her imagination, but it seemed to have gotten longer while she’d been at the dry cleaners. She took a deep breath and gave herself a stiff talking too. Come on, Isobel. You can do this shit. She put her head down and read through the list again.
1: Organize the filing system
2: Arrange a meeting with Mr. Takeo for early next week
3: Take suit to dry cleaners
4: Photocopy the new company handbook (1 copy for every staff member)
5: Make an appointment at dentist
6: Call the garage and book a vehicle check-up for all company vehicles. (No more than two cars per day. Make note of all registration numbers and corresponding drivers and inform them of date of inspection)
7: Confirm attendance for the business lunch next Wednesday at Rico’s
8: Inform Mr. Rodgers at Rico’s Restaurant how many attendees to expect, and of any special dietary needs
9: Collect relevant data and projected income and deficit details for the Smithfield project
She took another deep breath. At least she could cross one thing off the list, but now she had to figure out what to do next. Isobel had a very analytical mind, and she decided to attack the filing cabinet first. With any luck she would find most of the details that she needed in there to complete the rest of her tasks, such as names and phone numbers of any relevant staff or people she needed to contact. Besides, sorting out a filing system should be relatively easy, right?
Wrong. The whole thing was complete chaos, as she found out to her frustration a short while later. Her desk, which had been quite tidy and organized at first glance, was now a mass of papers and files which were spewed everywhere. Nothing had been in any kind of order, whether it be alphabetical or chronological, and even though Isobel was no secretary or anything, even she knew that it was a complete mess.
How on earth had the woman even managed to do the most basic of office tasks when she obviously wouldn’t have been able to find anything? She started to go through the mess on her desk, putting it all back in the filing cabinet in order and keeping out anything that she thought would help her to complete the rest of the tasks on her list. It took almost three hours, but eventually she sat back, rubbed her aching back and gave up a grateful prayer of thanks that she was finally done.
She thankfully crossed another item off the dreaded list and then made a phone call down to the company garage to make arrangements for the vehicles to be serviced, using the list that she’d found in the cabinet as a reference. By the time she’d finished with that, her growling stomach brought her attention to the fact that it was way past lunchtime.
“Hey, Isobel, how’s it going, sweetie?” She looked up from her desk to see Mary stood in front of it.
“It’s slow, but I think I’m getting there, Mary.” She stretched her back while she talked, trying to get the kinks out. She didn’t think she’d ever bent over a desk for so long in her life. And she’d thought bartending was hard work. She’d never moan that people who worked in offices just got paid to answer the phone anymore.
Mary handed her a paper bag. “Here, I got you a sandwich. I figured you must be hungry after working all morning without a break.”
“Mary, if I was so inclined, I could quite happily kiss you right now.” Isobel opened the bag and took out the sandwich, tearing the wrapper off it eagerly. “You’re an absolute darling.”
With a broad smile, Mary gave her a pat on the back. “And you, my dear, are one of the hardest workers I’ve seen here in a long time. Keep up the good work.”
As she walked off, Isobel couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face at the praise the other woman had given her. And then she noticed the dark look that one of the other women was giving her. It seemed that Julie was pissed at her for doing her job well. Tough luck, bitch. I’m here to please the boss, not you. Isobel ignored the woman and went back to her lunch, eating with gusto and enjoying every mouthful.
