The Assistant
I'm a 32-year-old married father and I've just become the CEO of an up-and-coming business created by my father when he was younger than me. Hiring an assistant is necessary for any CEO, especially new and inexperienced ones. As it turns out, I've just been promoted to the CEO of my father's company. Sometimes, you get these kinds of promotions because your father is... Well, dead. Luckily for me, though, mine is just retiring.
As his son, he always expected me to inherit his company, so I've been trained well for this day. I don't expect it to be so difficult. But the problem is that I need an assistant. My father had one and under normal circumstances it would've been fine to keep her around, but my wife is the rather jealous kind.
Everybody knows the cliche about men sleeping with their female assistants. She and I have already had problems with her being jealous of my female friends and the way I look at other women. I don't understand why she's so obsessive, but I love her and I want to make her happy. And to do that, I have to go through the Hell of finding a new MALE assistant... Let's hope this goes well.
"Mateo, are you internal monologuing again?" I clenched my fists and flinched slightly in surprise as I heard a familiar voice and looked up to see my wife, April, who had walked in while I was doing an internal monologue.
"Oh, hello Dear. Yes, I was..." I admitted guiltily.
"Baby, you're supposed to be focusing on work, not thinking about trivial matters like dinner or how annoying your employees can be." She walked over and sat herself on my desk. Her tanned, oily skin shimmered softly with the light from the window behind me as her straight, dark brown hair fell gracefully over her shoulders with the sway of her head. She was always so beautiful in the light. I couldn't understand how she always managed to mesmerize me just by merely existing as herself.
"I know that, Dear. But this time it was about business, I promise." I said, but she didn't seem to buy it. Her face twisted like she smelled something foul.
"Alright, if you say so. How's the hunt for a new assistant going?" She inquired.
"It's good, I think. I just found this interesting candidate. His name is Josiah and apparently, we grew up in the same neighborhood. His application says he still lives there with his mom even though he's making good money. I don't know why." I told her as I sifted through the forms on my desk to find the one belonging to him.
"How old is she?"
"She's in her seventies now, if I remember right."
"Wait, so you mean you remember him from school?"
"Yeah, I do a bit. But not much. He was picked on a lot because his dad left him and his mom for someone else and she was a bit old to have a kid as young as him." I also remembered there being another reason, but I couldn't quite recall what it was.
"Kids must have been really mean and nosy where you grew up."
"Not really. Everybody knew a little about everybody in that neighborhood and even if we picked on people sometimes, we always had someone's back if they were in trouble as long as there was a good reason to be on their side."
"That sounds like a nice way to grow up."
"It was." I smiled a little remembering the good times I had growing up.
"Why don't you talk about your childhood more often?"
I paused at her question. I didn't really have an answer "I... I don't really know. Maybe I'll tell you more about it sometime."
"Sure, Baby. I'd like that." She pushed herself off my desk and back onto the floor. Her wedged heels clicked against the tile as she landed. "Also, I think you should hire that Josiah guy. It might be nice for you to have an assistant you can relate to working under you."
"I think you're right April. Thanks for the suggestion."
She smiled and turned away from me to leave, her hair swishing back over her shoulders with the force. She paused halfway over to the door and turned back to me. "Oh, Mateo. I almost forgot to tell you. We're having guests over and I'm going shopping to cook us a nice dinner."
"That sounds great. You should make some of your cherry apple crumb pie for desert."
"Of course I will. I know it's your favorite" The both of us smiled in a moment of silence.
"Who's coming over?"
"Some of your girl friends so I can apologize to them for being so jealous. And also their kids to play with Bethany and Faith."
"That sounds like a nice little dinner party you've planned. I'm glad you're trying to be better with your jealous tendencies."
"I'd do anything to make my husband happy."
"Well he sounds like a very lucky man."
She giggled "I'll see you at home later, okay?"
"Of course. Tell the girls I said hi."
"I will. I love you."
"Love you, too." She finally turned and left me to my work.
As I returned my focus to my work, I looked over Josiah's resume again and paused, wondering if I should call him now or wait until later. The sooner the better, I decided, and I picked up the phone to dial the number on file. The phone rang until the voicemail tone came on, so I hung up, a bit confused, and decided to try again later. It wasn't entirely important at the moment anyway, so I decided it was best not to disturb him too much or leave a message.
Not even 10 minutes later, my phone rang and I picked up immediately. "Hello. This is Vandura Co. Mateo Vandura speaking." I greeted formally.
A soft, thin voice answered "Oh, uhm. Hello, Mr.Vandura. This is Josiah Harts. You, uh, you called me a few minutes ago and I was just returning the call."
I made a face of slight surprise "Oh, yes. I just called to say that I've decided to schedule an interview with you since your application stuck out the most to me and I was wondering when the earliest available time for you to come in is. I'd like to get you started as soon as possible."
His voice seemed to get energy into it after I said that "Really? Well, I'm free now and all day tomorrow. I can come in whenever is most convenient for you."
"Well, I understand this is short-notice, but I'm in dire need of an assistant at the moment. Will you be able to come in in about 2 hours?"
"Oh, of course! I only need a few minutes to get ready and drive down there. I'll come as soon as possible, Sir."
"Excellent. I'll see you later, then."
"Yes Sir. Goodbye for now."
"Goodbye." As I hung up the phone, I sighed heavily and slumped in my seat with a smile on my face. Getting a new assistant has gone by much more smoothly and quickly than I had ever imagined.
