Chapter Nine
Emily felt bad about leaving Andrew at home the next day, but with the office bubbling away on their newest gossip, she didn’t want to risk a repeat of his naughty antics. Cooper had kept his good humour about it, but there was only so much one person could bear before they didn’t find it funny anymore. With her days filled with interviews and every interruption imaginable, Emily didn’t need the distraction the bird offered, anyway.
She was the first one to arrive in the office and she enjoyed an hour of peace and quiet before the day truly began. When she was summoned to reception to collect their first interviewee she smirked at the conversation she overheard.
“I had to bring my cat along since I’m having a real estate inspection today and I need to hide him from the agent. He’s not on the lease yet, so they can’t find him there.”
Sasha’s uncertain voice carried around the corner. “Uh okay. Just pop him here under my desk. He won’t do anything disgusting like spray me will he?”
“Oh no dear. I brought him in the cage so he can’t get out. He’s been desexed and he quite likes women, anyway. He’ll be quiet as a church mouse and I’ll get him back just as soon as I can.” He pushed the carrier under her desk and stood up with a worried expression. “You don’t think this will reflect badly on me here, do you, because I’m essentially lying to my agent?
“I won’t tell if you don’t,” Sasha said, and she winked at him as Emily walked around the corner.
“I imagine leaving your pet in the hot car while you come in for a job interview would reflect a lot worse on you than tucking him under our receptionist’s desk,” she said as her first victim of the day paled in front of her. “Don’t worry,” she waved for him to follow her upstairs, “it’s fine. She had to look after a baby last week, I’m sure she can manage your cat.”
They kept the interview short and an hour later escorted him downstairs to collect his adored pet. He’d talked about the cat way too much while he was with them and it soon became apparent he wouldn’t be a good fit for their team.
As soon as he was out the door, Cooper started up the stairs and leaned over the bannister to talk to Emily. “Both the other interviews are scheduled after lunch. How do you feel about discussing improvement plans for Simpsons that you can implement once you’re fully staffed?”
“No problem. Let me just get a drink of water and I’ll be right up.”
They spent four hours going over the business goals that were already in place and the ten-year plan the directors had published as their upcoming vision for the company. Cooper was impressed with the details that had been recorded against the goals and he suggested only a couple of tweaks, much to Emily’s relief.
She’d had a loose plan in the back of her head that as soon as they had a full complement of staff, they’d get straight back to implementing their long-term plans. Of course, that would be up to the new operations manager. She’d be firmly back in her human resources box when that happened, and probably wouldn’t have as much of a say anymore.
The phone rang in the conference room and Sasha announced their one o’clock appointment had arrived. Trixie Smith appeared nervous as she sat across from them and Emily eventually asked her if everything was okay.
“I’m so sorry if I seem a bit flustered. This is my third interview today and they’ve been kind of crazy.”
“In what way?”
She bit her lip, “I’m not sure if I should say. It’s not usual interview conversation.”
“No pressure,” Cooper said. “We’ve had some pretty interesting experiences ourselves recently.” He smiled at her and watched as she did a good job of pretending she had relaxed. Her fingers tapping the side of her chair said otherwise, though.
“Well, the first position today was not what it was advertised as and when I left the gentleman interviewing insisted that he would drop me wherever I wanted to go.”
“Wow, that’s bad. You poor thing.”
“Yeah. I caught the bus but he sat with me at the stop until it arrived. It shook me up a bit, I have to confess.”
“I promise that’s not going to happen here. We pride ourselves on being professional.”
She visibly relaxed and they launched into the interview. Trixie was interesting and gave appropriate answers to all the questions. By the time they were finished she was joking with them and any sign of her previous nervousness was gone.
As they shook her hand at the door Cooper said, “Did you want to tell us what happened to you at your second interview that was so bad?” he laughed.
She stepped out of the conference room and smiled at them. “You won’t believe it. The interviewer wanted to read my palm!”
***
True to form, the last applicant of the day was the one that left them both reeling from the experience. Jack Steele settled himself in the office and appeared enthusiastic about the sales position he was interviewing for.
“Your resume says you’ve worked in sales ever since you left school. That’s a long time to be in one type of role.” Emily asked the first question.
“I really like sales. I like being out of the office, meeting the customers, almost becoming their friends, if you like.”
“Do you want to advance from the salesman role at any point?”
“Not at the moment. There’s a whole lot of paperwork and red tape once you’re managing other people. I think I can leave that for a few years yet.”
“Our role would require you to travel. You’ll be away most weeks for at least three days. Is there any reason that would be a problem for you?”
“Oh, hell no!” Emily felt the familiar tap on her foot. “The more time spent away from home the better, you know. I can’t be nagged by the wife if I’m not there, can I?” He laughed at his own statement and eagerly awaited the next question. From the look on his face he thought he was acing the interview.
“Is there any reason we shouldn’t hire you?”
“I can be loud and boisterous at the office Christmas party!” he laughed again and slapped his knee before becoming serious again. “You do have a Christmas party, right? Everything put on by the company?”
Cooper shifted in his chair and Emily tried hard not to smirk. After sitting through so many interviews with him, she was intimately familiar with his body language. The fact that his body language often said he wanted her to give in and go home with him was irrelevant. She could tell he’d had enough of this interviewee and would soon wind up the questions. Unfortunately Jack didn’t have the same advantage and he continued speaking, unaware what he was doing to his chances of employment with Simpsons.
“Do you guys do Friday drinks? My last employer put drinks on for us every Friday afternoon and it was a great way of bonding with the team. If you don’t have it, you should.” He grinned at Cooper, “Of course I have to get a taxi home those nights. Being responsible and all after I get hammered is something I’m great at. Doesn’t impress the missus the next day when she drops me back, but I’m all about safety.”
“That’s good.” Cooper’s tone said he was giving anything but a good impression. “Do you have any other questions for us? Something we haven’t covered?”
“Well, you didn’t answer my question about the Christmas party.” He looked straight at Cooper. “Is it paid for by the company?”
Emily answered before Cooper could speak, “Our Christmas party is definitely put on by the company.”
“Oh great. Those ones where you have to pay yourself, or put money in a box each week to go toward the party are lame. You work hard all year, you want to be rewarded with a piss-up, you know?”
“I do, indeed. Let’s worry about the hiring part before we get to the Christmas celebrations, shall we? Anything else before we wind this up?”
“Yes, I was wondering what other perks you offer? Can I salary sacrifice to save on tax? Or do you have free meals at lunchtime? Free mobile phone or parking?” he held up his fingers and ticked the items off one by one. “Some places they had free vending machines or a free fruit basket you could help yourself to. A cake on your birthday. So much great stuff, you know?”
Emily had had enough. “We’d probably discuss those things at a second interview.”
Disappointment filled his face. “Oh, okay then. I’m probably not your best guy if there aren’t a lot of perks. I’ve worked out you can get up to five percent of your salary in free stuff if you choose the right employer.”
“Is that right?” Emily stood up and Cooper followed suit. “How interesting. I’ll take you downstairs and we’ll be in touch within the next week to let you know our decision.” She steered him toward the door and down the stairs as he continued to chatter about the free things some employers gave out. When she finally said goodbye to him at the front door she had a throbbing headache.