The Rude New Manager

Marcus

I probably should not have been in the woman's office, sitting on her chair and claiming to be right, but the second I saw her, pure rage erupted within me and it took all my professional and social skills to keep sitting down, talking with a vague smile.

She wasn't her, no. And no Matter how similer they looked, the woman before him wasn't her.

Although I did not know why she was still staring at me, I tactically permitted that, and I did not bother wondering why. But she had stared for too long and it had become awkward and a bit embarrassing, so coughing slightly, I motioned with my hands for her to sit.

"I should say sorry for taking over your office like this, but that would be me lying, which I really don't want to do"

She had tentatively sat down, and from what I could see, calm and back to normal.

"what! You..." she said, face almost darkening.

Immediately cutting her off I continued

" you see you're supposed to be one of the 'expert' level one secretaries of this company branch and you come in this late?"

"but..."

"ah ah ah" raising my hand again I cut her off

I could see that she had become seriously annoyed. Pointing at the clock

"see the time? Almost 1 pm and you're just coming to the office, I'm sure you think you have a valid reason, but you don't, because Mr. Harris has left this branch indefinitely and of the other two secretaries at your level, one of them is on his yearly leave, and the other just happens to be on her Maternity leave as well , so if you were me, having to sit here for what feels to me like days, waiting for the next person in charge to actually show up to work, I don't think you would be all smiley faced and happy. "

She had surprisingly kept quiet as I finished what I had to say, pausing, I looked at her with raised eyebrows.

" who are you exactly? " she asked

Sitting back down, I decided to introduce myself.

" I'm Marcus Uche, officially the present manager of this branch of the company. Looking at your confused face, let's just assume that you had no idea of the various changes that have happened here so far. You see we have a very big problem now, apparently Mr Harris, your former manager over here, on Saturday, decided that he didn't want this job anymore, I still don't know what really happened and the reasons why he made such a sudden decision, but that's what he said, thankfully he called the headquaters and sent in a resignation, because if he had not, and had just ran off, there would have been more problems cropping up. So as he had made his decision and apparently could not be convinced otherwise and later contacted at all, I was given the position by the board, just this morning."

Motioning at the whole building with my arms I continued.

"So imagine my surprise and frustration, when I walked in here this morning, waiting and waiting, yet there wasn't anyone forthcoming to answer my questions."

I stood up, skirted around the tidy, black, office table and came to a stop in front of the woman.

" So, right now there are so many things, that I can only find out from you, because the former manager's office Computer is still on password protection and the head quarters are already working on unlocking it, till then miss... Ohh, I could use your name as well, I need yours. " ending with smile, I leaned on the table which was now behind me, waiting for her to digest the news she had just heard, I knew she still needed a bit of time, because there was still a ruminating expression on her face, a still very familiar looking face, which I knew that I had to begin getting used to even if it reminded me of things that I thought that I had forgotten.

Monica

Rude, that was my first impression of this man. Who did he think he was any way, barging into my office, sitting on my favourite seat and speaking to me as if he owned the place.

Yes I came to the office a bit late, did he know what I was doing? I silently decided that I would not admit to any wrong doing of lateness. I was greatly shocked about the news of Mr Harris, but thinking back, he had acted a bit weird throughout last week and all this had to happen at such a bad time, when we had two less capable hands over here. But still, he didn't have to be rude about it, it was as if, he already had a problem with me before we had even met.

And this was just so disappointing and he had such a great face, with such stunning blue eyes. Wondering why I was still thinking of his eyes, I cleared my voice and began to answer his horde of questions.

"My name is Monica, and yes I had no prior knowledge to what your are saying, as you can see, I just came into the office after going on my bi-weekly morning field rounds, which are 'very important' by the way"

I made sure to emphasize on that. I saw that he frowned a little, but not really caring, I carried on.

"I understand, that coming at this time may have delayed the companies several processes severely, but I can't be blamed, because Mr. Harris was supposed to be there and if had been, I wouldn't have been needed. I don't understand why you're trying to lay the blame on me, as it was really just a chain of coincidences that lead to this problem and no one can really be blamed, except for maybe Mr. Harris himself. Finally congratulations on your new position sir, and I do hope, that I can be of help in any way I ca-.. "

" No need to say more miss Monica, just get on with it".

Mr Marcus straightened up, turned the computer to face me and motioned towards it.

" I just need you to log in miss, I can take it from there".

I frowned,

'can't this guy at least try to be polite' I thought.

Shaking my head, I moved over the office table, the man had conveniently turned it on, so it was already on the login page. Suddenly I remembered one of the company's rules,breaking into a smile, I firmed up my mind, and turned to face him.

"Before I open this, you do realize that you're not allowed access to my work computer? , so you can't actually take it from 'there'" I said.

And it truly felt good saying it, I don't know how I immediately remembered the rule, but it was part of the company's professional code. And this happened right when I needed an excuse to take the man a few notches down.

'hahh' I laughed in my head,

With an almost smug smile on my face.

I had to hand it to the man, he could act, if I wasn't looking properly, I might not have picked up his darkened face, because he immediately fixed it up with a thoughtful and then consequently with a ' oh, I've just remembered it' expression'

'hmmph, keep acting' I thought, suddenly wondering when I had begun competing with the man.

"Ohh yes, you are right, Miss Monica, I just recalled that there was a rule like that, but this is an emergency right? If we keep harping on about all these protocols, things might go wrong and I don't think you'd want things to go wrong, would you?"

Shaking my head I replied,

" don't worry sir, I'm here aren't I?, just tell me what you want to know and I'll go to the respective folder and find it, it won't take long, besides this is just temporary, isn't it? , the one in your office will be opened very soon, so it won't be long before you can begin tackling the bigger problems." I said, while smiling as professionally sweetly as possible.

" So you won't let me work on your computer? " he said while coldly staring at me.

Not willing to lose out even a bit, I narrowed my eyes and stared back as well, replying.

" it's not that I don't want to sir, it's just that these are rules and they can't just be flouted, and I don't think you would like to 'accidentally' see some confidential information, that is exclusive by 'Law' to my present position in the company, do you? So why don't I turn this computer back to its proper position, get my self ready before it and then we can both sort out the present problems 'together' sir?"

We just kept staring at each other, and surprisingly didn't feel as awkward right then as it had before, it actually felt a bit fun. I followed the man's facial expression, he didn't look so angry any more, he just looked confused, why? That, I wanted to know as well.