Chapter 3: Patrick
I looked at the outside of my new workplace. IY Games was absolutely massive—at least ten times the size of the building I’d come from. I tried to guess how many people it accommodated—ten thousand, maybe more. Enough employees to justify a gym, swimming pool, and child care center.
When I walked inside, the atmosphere proved to be very corporate. The circular florescent lights showed off the sleek black tile floor. The benches and tables for employees to lounge in were chrome, a perfect way to stay inconspicuous. And metal furniture wouldn’t keep someone sitting for long.
Previously, I had worked for an average size entertainment company with lax culture. Our most recent video game had become extremely popular and gathered a massive following in a short period of time. With our upcoming releases, we were set to be the best in the market. This corporation I was walking into had seen our success and capability, and I could practically see the dollar signs in their eyes as they signed the acquisition forms.
They gobbled us up to make themselves profit. Which was fine, because that was why companies were in business. It wasn’t the acquisition that bothered me. It was this stuffy corporate environment I was going to be confined to.
I should have considered myself lucky to still have a job. It was determined half of our work could be done with their existing staff, so many of my coworkers had been laid off.
Glancing around the lobby, I realized the place was even bigger than I thought. Shit. I’ll have to be the rookie who looks at the directory. I started walking towards it but was distracted by a girl with bleach blonde hair smiling at me.
I could have a bit of fun with her. My path changed from the directory and towards her. I didn’t mind harmless flirting with coworkers—assuming they didn’t work directly with me.
“Do you think you could tell me where the marketing department is? I’m a bit new.”
“It’s on the third floor.” She smiled, twirling her hair through her fingers.
“Thanks a million…” I paused, waiting for her to fill in her name.
“Kristen.”
“Kristen. My name is Patrick. I’ll see you around.” I winked at her as I walked away.
Everything about Kristen was hot as hell. But just by our conversation, I could tell she relied on that. There would be nothing exciting being with her in bed. A shame, really.
That, and I would never sleep with a coworker. It didn’t matter if our departments were on the opposite ends of the building—it was a bad idea. But there was no harm in thinking about how it would be. I stabbed the button for the third floor and waited for the doors to close.
I surveyed my new workspace as I walked out of the elevator. The décor still screamed “corporate.” Glass separated me from an island of grey cubicles filled with workers. Hopefully I would still be able to think of creative ideas in this setting. I cringed at the thought of creating an ad campaign in a stark white room.
The wall read “Marketing Department” with a chrome arrow pointed to the right. I followed the sign to my new workplace. The architect who designed this building was truly an idiot. To get there, I had to pass through the accounting department. There was no hallway; I just had to walk through their cubicles and hopefully not interrupt their trains of thought.
People didn’t get that marketing was the most important part of business. A company could have the best product out there, but if they didn’t reach their target market, their work had been in vain. Marketing was how the company made money. And making money was the reason why all companies were in business.
Finally, I reached my department. It was just like the others—filled with dull, grey cubicles. I mentally groaned. Maybe they would let me paint my office green, as long as I promised to return it to stark white when I left.
“Mr. Reinhardt.” The company’s Chief Marketing Officer, Bert Freid, walked towards me.
“Mr. Freid.” I extended my hand. “Nice to see you again.”
He took my outstretched hand and gave it a firm shake. “Call me Bert. You make me feel like an old man.”
“Only if you call me Patrick.”
He laughed. “Done deal. So, I presume you know today’s agenda? Sorry to press it on you so quickly, it was our only time slot.”
“Not a problem.”
Bert was referring to the marketing meeting that was about to take place. To be honest, I was dreading it. Not because I had a fear of presenting. I could deliver a speech to all of America if I needed to.
The reason was much simpler than that. It was a Monday morning, and there was no one in the corporate world who liked Monday morning meetings. The weekend had ended, and the realization that you had to return to work was in full effect. For that reason, I knew my task would be substantially more difficult.
“I’m glad to hear it,” he responded. “Are you excited for your first day?”
It was my turn to laugh. “You make me feel like a kid going to grade school.”
“It can be similar.”
“True.”
“There is one thing,” Bert commented. “The CEO called a few of us in for an emergency meeting, myself included. I know it’s your first day, but you’ll be leading the meeting by yourself.”
I’d had many work challenges thrown my way and overcame them. But this would definitely be one of the hardest. Introducing myself to my department with the hopes they’d like me, and then bossing them around. This’ll be good.
“Not a problem at all,” I lied, a smile plastered on my face.
“Great! Well, they know to meet you in conference room 306B in thirty minutes. Good luck!”
I nodded at him as he walked away.
As I walked over to the conference room, I mentally prepped myself for the meeting. I’m about to tell eighty-some people they have to abandon what they have been working on. Hopefully they weren’t too invested in it. I unbuckled my briefcase and sighed as I reached for the USB drive that contained my presentation.
I fumbled to put the stick in the computer port as the door opened.
“Ah, sorry.” A man with blonde hair stood in the doorway. “I didn’t realize how early I was.”
I glanced at my watch. It was still fifteen minutes before the meeting was set to start.
“It’s okay. Monday mornings, right?” I let out a laugh.
“Yeah.” He laughed right along with me, and picked a chair to sit in.
“What was your name?” I asked.
“Dave,” he responded.
There was a pause while I waited for him to ask me who I was, but it never came. I decided to introduce myself. “I’m Patrick Reinhardt, the new VP of Marketing.”
“Oh! Nice to meet you, Mr. Reinhardt.”
“Patrick. Nice to meet you too, Dave.”
To give Dave a bit of credit, he walked over to shake my hand. But then he sneezed without covering his face. The wind blew into my face, and it took a ridiculous amount of effort to not yell at the guy. He looked to be in his mid-thirties—he should have known to cover his mouth and nose while sneezing.
I waited for him to apologize for the gross invasion of space. Instead, he found a seat at the conference table. Hopefully the rest of the staff weren’t this incompetent.
People continued to flock in, and I introduced myself to each one. Although the girls smiled and laughed flirtatiously, they were met with a professional response. Even if I was thinking about how they fucked in my head, I would never flirt with a direct coworker.
“You have beautiful eyes,” a particularly bold one commented.
“Thank you.” I gave her a tight-lipped smile, not urging her on.
When the genetics wheel was spun, I got lucky. My eyes were a forest green, just like my father’s. I also had his tanned skin and height. My mother had given me her black hair and perfect nose.
I glanced at my watch and saw it was 10:00 am. All eighty plus members of the marketing department sat in front of me.
“I know I’ve introduced myself already, but I’ll say it again. My name is Patrick Reinhardt, and I’m the new VP of Marketing.” I paused for a moment, thinking how to best formulate my next sentence. “Now I’m not going to do a lead up to what I need to say next. The campaign you’ve been working on for the last few months is going to be scrapped.”
I looked around the room. There were a wide range of emotions on their faces; some were pissed, others looked defeated, and some seemed unaffected. Not too bad for telling them they had to scrap months of work.
“This acquisition is going to change the way we portray our products and services. But I have a plan.”
* * *
I stroked my jawline as I put the last of my materials back in my briefcase. The meeting had gone surprising well. My expectations were that they wouldn’t be open to the plan at all, given they didn’t know me. That, and it was Monday morning. Fortunately, everyone seemed to be on board with it.
Now that the meeting was finally over, coffee sounded great. I had already had two cups this morning, but I was always up for fueling my caffeine addiction. If I remembered the signs correctly, the break room was in the middle of all the departments. Which meant I had to cut through accounting again.
Do my other coworkers feel bad about constantly walking through accounting? Maybe they’d become desensitized to having to bother them. I tiptoed through the department, trying to keep my noise to a minimum.
In front of me, an auburn-haired girl sat in her cubicle, while a woman who I presumed was her superior stood over her. The manager’s face was serious, and the girl cringed a bit as she talked. I couldn’t help but eavesdrop on their conversation.
“I know it’s unfortunate, Stephanie, but the acquisition will make things hectic for a while,” the superior said.
And although she said it was unfortunate, the cold look in her eyes said otherwise.
“It’s okay, Ms. Lane,” Stephanie, AKA auburn-haired girl, said as she looked away from her superior. The girl’s gaze landed directly on me, and her mouth opened in an “o” shape.
I laughed to myself. She definitely wasn’t as smooth as Kristen. Stephanie looked as though she had recently graduated college, so she would probably be just okay in bed. The girl wasn’t old enough to have that much experience. I shot her a smile that tried to convey that everything would be fine.
When Stephanie didn’t look back at her superior, the woman turned to see what she was transfixed on. Her brown eyes landed on mine, and she glared at me.
I have to admit, I was shocked. No girl had ever looked at me like that before, except my mom when she was mad at me. Rather than being pissed off, I was actually extremely curious. The way this woman fucked was going to be one of two ways. She was boring and routine, never willing to try anything new. Or she was an absolute freak—just like me.