Everyone in the firm attended the wedding of Claudia Singleton and
Nelson Byrd on Saturday, and the raven-haired brown-eyed beautiful bride was radiant
as she walked down the aisle in her white dress with the firm’s owner Kendra
James. Claudia had been Kendra’s personal assistant for five years, but this
changed when Nelson had visited the firm and it almost seemed like love at
first sight.
Chrissy Daniels looked on as Kendra handed Claudia over to her husband,
and she was a little intrigued with the comment “Claudia is all yours now. Take
good care of her.”
That almost makes
it sound as though you owned Claudia and that she is becoming the property of
Nelson. It is sad that she is leaving, but she did say that she had to devote
herself to her new life with her husband. Even Kendra was sad about that, but
it does mean that the position of Personal Assistant will be open, although
there are ladies in the administration department who are more senior than I
am. One of them is sure to get the position.
After the ceremony was over, Kendra and Claudia embraced as if it was
the last close contact that they would ever share, and they both appeared to be
tearful for some reason. It was at the reception when Chrissy noticed another
change, as throughout her five years at the company, Claudia had worn a black choker
with a small square metal buckle. However, although the choker material was the
same, there was a diamond shaped buckle on the front. Maybe he prefers that shape, or Claudia might have wanted to put it on
to represent a new start. The reception went on for some time, but there
came a point when the newlyweds had to retire, so everybody said their
goodbyes.
When Chrissy got into work on the Monday morning in her usual work
clothes of black mini-skirt, stockings, high-heeled stiletto shoes and long
sleeved white blouse, she noticed that there was a sign posted on the main
electronic board mentioning that members of staff should for the position of
Personal Assistant to Kendra James. In the text it said that anyone in the
administration and accounts department can fill in the online application form,
and that everyone should make the attempt no matter what their position of
seniority in the firm was, because personality traits were very important. Does that mean even I have a chance of
becoming my boss’s Personal Assistant? I did notice that she has been noticing
me more than usual recently, so there might be a chance of becoming her right hand
lady.
The computers had already booted up before the staff had arrived, and
Chrissy obtained a cup of coffee before sitting at her desk so that she could
have a look at the application. When the office worker got her first look at
the application form, she was very surprised because it was more like a
questionnaire, as all of the questions were about personal details. However,
when she looked at the top of the page, it did mention that every employee’s résumé
along with other employment details was already on record, and everyone in the
offices had the relevant skills for the job.
Let’s have a look
at some of the questions on this list. What kind of games did you play as a
child or teenager? What type of cartoons did you like? What are you favourite
types of books to read? What are your favourite TV shows or movies? That is an
unusual set of questions, but the ones after are very obscure indeed as some
seem to have answers that appear to be ambiguous. My guess is that this is some
kind of personality test, so that Kendra can find the right person to be her
assistant. I have nothing to lose by filling this in, and I do have a chance at
working in a much more important position in the firm. There are people here
who have a much better chance of being successful at applying, however, so I
shouldn’t get my hopes up.
Chrissy filled in the application form, making sure in the process that
she gave accurate answers which she knew to be better in this situation, rather
than attempting to give answers that made her sound as good as possible, even
putting down ‘The Perils of Penelope Pitstop’ as her favourite cartoon. I just hope that being honest doesn’t ruin
it for me, but the others probably know how to twist the answers to give
themselves a better chance.
After the lady had finished filling in the form, she pressed the button
to show that it was complete, and she decided that the best thing to do was to
put it out of her mind unless she passed this particular test. The rest of the
week proved to be uneventful until Friday afternoon, when she was approached by
the manager who was wearing a white elbow length blouse, black leather knee-length
high-heeled boots with the heels almost like spikes, black leather elbow length
gloves and a black leather knee-length pencil skirt with a hint of black
fishnets showing between the top of her boots and the hem of her skirt.
Oh wow, you look
absolutely gorgeous like that. Chrissy was flexible when it came to gender and
the fact that she had a severe crush on her boss was a secret that she kept to
herself, although she did sometimes worry that the others might realise just
how much she liked Kendra.
“Ms. Daniels, are you doing anything after work this evening?” Kendra
said as she stood to the left of the office worker.
“No Kendra, I have nothing planned for tonight, and if it is important I
could have cancelled it anyway.”
“Thank you. When the working day finishes at five o’clock, I need you to
come to my office as I have something very important to discuss with you.”
“Yes, Kendra. I won’t forget.”
“Good. I will see you at five, then. Goodbye for now.” As the manager
walked back to her office, Chrissy’s imagination started to go in all different
directions as various ideas jumped into her mind.
Have I done
something wrong? Am I going to be warned about something or end up losing my
job? Has she discovered how I feel about her? Oh, I hope that it isn’t anything
really bad. Maybe it’s just that she wants to tell me in person that I have
failed in my application to be her personal assistant, as she can’t possibly be
telling me that I have passed the first round. As there were
still a few hours before five o’clock arrived, the worker pushed any thoughts of
the meeting out of her mind and she continued with her work until the alarm
sounded for the end of the working day. Chrissy made sure that her workplace
was neat and tidy before shutting down her computer, and while all of the other
ladies were making their way to the exit, she took a bathroom break as she
didn’t know just how long the meeting would be.
I hope that Kendra
won’t think that I am being lazy by dealing with something necessary first. The worried lady
made her way to the room of her manager and as she knocked on the door, she
wondered just how bad things were going to become.
“Come in and close the door behind you.” After taking a deep breath so
that she could steady her nerves, Chrissy opened the door, entered the room and
closed it behind her before she looked around the room for the first time.
Only Kendra and
her personal assistant are allowed in this room in normal situations, and for
most other people, this room is only seen when they leave the company. There was a
triple light arrangement in the ceiling with an electric fan underneath, but
there was also a large eyelet under the fan which might be for attaching items.
There was a minimum of items in the room and on one side there were a series of
wooden doors that could be the entrances for small storage rooms. A metal desk
was the only large item in the room, which appeared to have lots of little
eyelets attached to it and there was a laptop on top of the desk which was
being shut down by the manager.
“You were a few minutes late, Ms. Daniels. Was there a problem?”
“Not a problem Kendra, but I felt that taking a break before we started
would be a good idea so that there would be no interruptions.”
“That is very considerate of you, and this means that no breaks will
need to be taken as this could take some time. Please sit down in that chair
there.” Kendra said as she put the laptop into her case which left the desk
bare, although the office worker was still worried as she sat in one of the two
armless leather office chairs.
“I can see that you are very nervous, so I will explain what is going
on.” The manager said as she sat in the opposite chair to her employee. “You
are not in trouble for a start, as your employment record is very good. There
is no disciplinary action to be taken and you are not going to be dismissed.
This is about your application for the position of Personal Assistant.”
That’s it, I’ve
failed. At least you are kind enough to let me know in person. It is a pity as
I really wanted to be of use to you, plus I could have worked with you more.
“After checking the forms that were filled in, I have come to the
conclusion that out of all the applicants in the company, you are the only one
who is suitable. To make this clear, it showed that your personality makes you
perfect for the job, while the others would not even be adequate. You were also
honest while the others tried to give me what they thought were the best
answers, which caused them to rule themselves out.”
I passed! Not only
that, but none of the others did, so it looks like a one horse race unless you
want to advertise outside the company.
“Thank you Kendra, this is good news and I was expecting something bad.”
“It isn’t finished yet, Chrissy, as I need to perform some very special
behaviour and response tests which you will most likely discover to be bizarre.
I will need your complete trust when I perform these tests and if you pass, I
will employ you as my Personal Assistant. I do have a warning for you before
you decide on taking the next step. If you do go through with it and end up
failing, you must find employment in another company. I will provide you with a
generous severance package along with glowing references so that you will have
no trouble finding another job.”
I have to leave if
I fail the test? That is a surprise, but you must have your reasons for making
this decision.
“Chrissy, you may end this and leave right now if you do not want to
take the risk, and I can understand why you would make such a choice.”
I don’t know if
this decision is some kind of test, but I would rather try and fail than always
wonder whether or not I could have succeeded. I will take your test and prove
myself to be successful.
“I know that there is a risk, Kendra, but I am willing to take the
chance to prove that I am capable of being your Personal Assistant.”
“Thank you.” Kendra said and Chrissy thought that there was the hint of
a smile on the lips of the manager who took a clipboard out of her handbag. “I
have your current contract termination here, along with the agreement to be my
Personal Assistant.” The manager handed over the clipboard which had a pen
attached to Chrissy, who waited for a moment before placing her signature at
the relevant places.
“As of now Chrissy, you are my Personal Assistant should you manage to
pass the tests. I will explain the tests as they go along, but the most
important thing is how you handle them as real life can often bring very
strange situations.” After Kendra put the clipboard in the bag, she carried it
to one of the doors which was opened and the bag was exchanged for a blue one
which was larger.
“The first test is the hostage test, and part of it is to explain how
you should behave if you ever find yourself in this position.”
A hostage test?
What are you going to do to me?
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