Chapter 1: THE INTERVIEW
She perused through her CV for the umpteenth time and each time she does so, she ends up dropping the papers, and this time wasn't an exception.
She bent over to pickup the leaves of her resume, with trembling hands she picked them all up, that was how nervous she was, one could see how nervous she was from the quaking of the papers.
She sat back down and then for the first time since she got her, she began to observe her environment, the hall was unexpectedly empty, why so?
She was expecting to see tens of applicants like her, sitting and waiting in this hall, but no, from the the look of things, she appears to be the one applicant here.
But how come?
Everybody in the city knows about the demise of the award winning secretary Tasha West, thereby living her position as the special secretary to the CEO vacant.
She was beginning to doubt if she was on the right floor or even in the right place altogether, ‘this is El Magnifico Incorporated, right?’ she thought to herself.
She's been sitting here for the past 45 minutes yet no one has attended to her, this even added to her doubts about being in the right place.
Her eyes travelled across the hall to the receptionist dock, she caught the lady there; supposedly the receptionist throwing her face away, Vanessa knew very well that she has been looking at her this whole thing, she could see her doing so from the corner of her eyes.
If she was indeed the receptionist, then it is in her job description to attend to people in the organization, right? So why was she ignoring me? Vanessa wondered.
After a while, it dawned on her that she might end up sitting here the whole day with no one attending to her, so she decided to make the first move.
She got up and walked towards the receptionist, as she drew closer, the lady suddenly looked too busy, she had her eyes glued to whatever it is that was being displayed on her PC screen, giving one the impression that she was oblivious to the fact that someone was approaching her desk.
"Hello" Vanessa said trying to gain the attention of the lady and she reluctantly moved her eyes from the PC to the female figure standing over her table.
"Yes?" She said rather flatly which Vanessa didn't fail to notice.
"Uhmm, I'm actually here for the interview, but I've been sitting there for almost an hour, but no one has attended to me, do you know what's wrong?" Vanessa asked as politely as possible.
"Interview?" The lady repeated with a tone that implied she had no idea what she was talking about.
"Yes" Vanessa replied, determined to keep her cool.
"You're here for the interview??" The lady asked again. ‘Okay, her pattern and line of questions were pointless, why is she asking me questions that are obviously leading no where??’ Vanessa asked paranoid.
"Yes I am" "And you've been sitting there??" It seems there was no end to her irritative questions, it could be she wasn't aware of how her questions were irritating the other woman, whether she knew or not, the fact was that she doesn't care.
"Yes, what was I supposed to do?" This question came from a place of irritation but Vanessa tried to make it sound less annoying.
"Look here Miss... Whatever-your-name-is, it's obvious you're ignorant of the last info concerning the interview, that file your carrying in your hands proves it, you were supposed to submit your resume online, I mean, to the provided email. Poor you! What are you gonna do now??"
How snarky! This was no way to explain something to someone! Couldn't she be a little polite?!
"Okay, what do I do now??" Vanessa asked desperately, forcing herself to keep her cool, she must! She must! If she ends up lashing out at the receptionist, what would that make of her?? Wouldn't that be called a horrendous first impression??
"Don't ask me, ask her" the lady gestured to an older woman walking across the hall.
Vanessa briskily walked towards the woman, without saying another word to the hostile receptionist.
"Hello ma'am" "Hello" the woman replied as she came to a halt.
"I'm Vanessa Gordon, actually I'm here for the interview but I've just been informed that we were meant to submit our CVs to the provided email and I don't know what next to do, but I was asked to ask you."
"Oh I see, I don't blame you for your ignorance Miss Gordon, the change came at the last minute and it was a flop on our part. But then, since you're here now, you can give your resume to me, I will have the H&R department go through it, you will get a feedback by Monday."
"Ok, that's not a problem, here" Vanessa said handing over her CV to her.
"I'm Mrs Stella Smith by the way, just stay positive, I look forward to seeing you again Miss Gordon" she said with a warm smile and Vanessa smiled too.
"Alright, I will stay expectant, thanks Mrs Smith" Vanessa said, "you're welcome" she replied with a nod and continued towards her destination.
She doesn't know why, but she suddenly felt elated and optimistic, with a smile she headed for the elevator, but then, a nasty part of her turned her limbs towards the receptionist and she followed.
"Uhmm, I was thinking, isn't attending to people part of your job prescription??"
"Look here, if ever you get this position, of which I don't see the chance of you getting, I advise you stay off my back, I mean stay away from me, from your job description, our part would never cross, so let's keep it that way, got it??"
Vanessa shook her head in disbelief and turned away from her, she had never believed that one could hate another without a reason, but now she believes it. She regretted coming back to her table, because she ended up reminding her of what a competitive position that is.
