The ceaseless drone of the new receptionist’s voice filled Adam’s brain, stomach and throat, making him want to throw up. He wished she would shut up. He looked up from his desk and stared out the cubicle. The woman was now chortling into the phone, oblivious to the disruption she was causing everyone else.
“Who the hell is that?” Samantha asked from the adjacent cubicle.
He looked up and said, “The new receptionist.”
She grimaced. “You are kidding aren’t you?” On receiving a lopsided grin from him, she asked, “How the hell did she get the job?”
David the HR officer paused in front of them with a sigh. “Is Anne like this the whole time?” he asked.
“Only today,” Adam said. “Then again, she just started work today, so I guess, yeh, she is like this the whole time she is here.”
David released a puff of air from his cheeks and strode towards Anne. He stood by her side politely and during that whole minute, she totally ignored him. Finally he tapped her on the shoulder and asked, “Is that a business call?”
She looked up with a scowl, “What if it is?”
“Then you should pass the line to someone in charge of the client’s reason for calling.”
Anne giggled then said into the mouthpiece, “This guy is telling me to pass you to someone. Everyone is boring here though, except…”
David pressed down the phone switch on its holder and said, “Get back to work, or…”
“Or what?” she screamed, and stood up so violently that her office chair rolled away a few inches.
The whole floor fell into a sudden silence. Then in the background a phone rang, was picked up and treated with a whispered ‘hello’.
David’s eyes opened so wide they seemed to bulge out of their sockets. He said, “I could end your probation period right here and now.”
“You won’t dare,” she shouted. “Don’t you know who I am?”
Foreheads began to pop out from behind cubicle walls as everyone leaned, stooped, bent or stretched to get a view of the argument.
David’s face was so impassive when he replied that he looked like a ventriloquist speaking on behalf of a puppet. “No, I apologize. I don’t know who you are. Please enlighten me.”
Anne hesitate, as though unsure of what he had just said to her. Then with her shoulders squared and her nose up in the air, she said, “I am an important person to Mr Thomas Law. I think you should speak with him before you terminate me.” She sniffed, pulled back her chair, sat down, turned her back to him and promptly dialed a number on the phone.
David walked stiffly away, his red-hot ears being the only indication of his rage. Not long after, Adam’s phone rang and he picked it up. It was his best friend Robert, from the IT Department. “What’s going on down there, bro?”
“The new receptionist had a stand-off with David from HR. I think she won.”
“Ouch. Some VIP’s daughter?”
“Thomas Law.”
“What! The Chairman?”
“Apparently.” Adam could hear him passing the news to one or more people.
“Hey, Angela says he has one daughter, and she is married and living in Australia. She should know; she is sleeping with one of his sons.”
Samantha hissed, and Adam immediately sat up straight and said, “Thanks for the info, Robert. Could you email the diagram to me so I can pass it on to the customer?” Then he put down the phone.
Just then, David passed his cubicle with the company president as they made their way to the still chattering receptionist. Again her call was stopped short, but this time she did not screech. She actually looked a little anxious when she stood up, David thought, but she still managed to smile prettily.
“What’s your name?” Hwang asked.
“Anne, Mr Hwang. I know you. Thomas speaks often of you.”
He frowned. “Who are you to Thomas?”
She said coyly, “Someone important.”
“I see,” he said. “Follow me please.” And she did, much to everyone’s disappointment.
#
“Is he still with his mistress?” Catherine asked as she poured white wine into her best friend’s glass.
Lily smiled. “No, he is trying to get rid of her, even to the extent of changing his cell phone number, but she is persistent.”
“You should suggest a month-long trip overseas.”
“That would be nice. We haven’t had a chance in years.” She took a sip. “How did you do it? How did you get her into his company?”
“I found out that the owner of the salon she was working in wanted to get rid of her, but couldn’t, because like you said, she is persistent. She likes to talk, and she is full of herself, so I just walked in one day, after arranging with the owner to schedule her to wash my hair, and told her that your hubby’s company was looking for a new receptionist. The rest, I guess, is all Anne’s initiative.”
Lily’s face hardened. “I can imagine.”
“You don’t have to anymore. My other half told me that she caused such a racket when she was told to leave that your husband could no longer walk by a row of desks without inviting a snicker.”
“Poor Thomas,” Lily said with a sympathetic wrinkle on her brow.
Catherine smiled from behind her glass. “That is right, poor Thomas. Now take him somewhere special to help him forget his ordeal.” A pause. “Don’t make him forget totally though.”
And they laughed.
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