Harold Akins was a man who knew how to run a business. He was a man who knew how to run a factory. He was a man who knew how to pin all his mistakes and problems on someone else. He was not, however, a man that understood or could control women. He only thought that he could. And he had no idea that the hiring of a certain redhead as his new finance director would almost literally cause his munitions company to explode.
He had women in nearly all his directorial positions. But if you asked him, he always thought that a man was a better director. One night at home years ago, his wife was ironing, sewing on a button, talking about what trouble the neighbors had gotten into, and cooking his dinner all at the same time and he wondered over her ability to multitask so well as he sat on the couch and stared. That's when the brilliant idea popped into his head that if he gave multiple tasks to women who could multitask, then he could just sit on the couch all day long. And that is exactly what he did. On the outside, he constantly complained about his directors gossiping and not working or being too emotional and not focusing, but deep inside he was ridiculously proud of himself and when a moment of pride would take him, he would sit down on the couch he had specially ordered for his oversized office just for that purpose.
"Vera!" he yelled over the intercom to his personal assistant to make him sound serious.
"Yes, Mr. Akins?"
"Has that new finance director come around yet?" he yelled again because he loved giving the impression that he was constantly busy and under a lot of stress.
"Yes, she's on her way. Do you want to see her?"
"No, I'm busy." he shouted, playing with a rubber band and paper clip because he had nothing to do, "Have Betty give her the grand tour. HR will finally have something to do around here."
"Yes, sir." Vera giggled.
"And get back to work!"
Vera looked up from her desk at Betty who had stomped over just in time to hear that HR never did anything around there. She glared at the intercom like she wanted to make it explode and the look tickled Vera to pieces. Vera actually thought that watching all the different facial expressions that everyone went through while entering or exiting Harold's office was the best perk of the job.
"He really does have a lot of nerve." Betty grumbled in that faint prairie accent of hers as she leaned on Vera's desk.
"Oh, come on, Betty," Vera tried to soothe while adjusting her long, blond hair, "it's only 9 am. Are you going to get all worked up about him already? Plus, you've got that tour to give."
"Christ... With who?" Betty complained, going through what looked like 300 files in her hands.
"Let me see... One Ms. Kate Andrews."
"Kate Andrews?" Betty asked, cocking one eyebrow and diving into the files, "I don't seem to remember that name... Did I approve this? Where the hell is that file?!"
"Good morning, I'm Kate Andrews." a soft voice said to Vera.
Betty looked up. Kate Andrews was a young woman with unique copper hair and light skin, dressed in a classic, blue dress and when Betty looked at her, she almost dropped all her files.
"Shiii-" Betty hissed, catching the sliding files at the very last minute.
"Ms. Andrews!" Vera suddenly exclaimed, standing up and extending her hand, trying to give Betty a moment to collect herself, "Welcome to Victory Munitions. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Vera Burr and I'm Mr. Akins' personal assistant."
"It's a pleasure." Kate replied, taking Vera's hand and shaking it.
"Mr. Akins wanted to personally give you a tour of the premises, but he's unfortunately very busy at the moment."
"A blatant lie if I ever heard one." a very classy woman said out loud while walking down the hall and passing the desk.
"Ms. McRae, our head of Human Resources, will give you the tour instead." Vera finished, ignoring the comment.
"Where can I find Ms. McRae?" the redhead inquired quietly.
"That's me." Betty said, struggling to extend her hand and not let loose an avalanche of papers, "Elizabeth McRae, HR director."
"Oh, it's a pleasure to meet you." Kate said warmly.
When Kate smiled, the papers in Betty's hands almost fell out again and Betty blushed and tried to fight with them for control.
"Do you… Do you need some help?" Kate asked shyly.
"Oh, no. I'm good." Betty replied, finally handling the situation by just dumping the papers on Vera's desk. "Let's give you that tour then."
Betty smoothed out her creme business suit and stretched out her hand in the direction they were to start going.
"Razzle and dazzle." Vera chipped in with a smile that always gave the impression that she was up to something.
Betty gave Kate a tour of the premises of the company, telling her what section and department did what along the way. They went to the opposite building first where the factory was located and the different types of munitions were produced. They then swung by the shipping department that was next door to the factory and finally returned to the administrative building where they would be working. Betty noticed that Kate didn't say much and she wondered if Kate was just that shy or whether she perhaps didn't know English all that well. Unfortunately for her, Betty also noticed how beautiful Kate was which made her nearly fall down the stairs once, but thankfully Kate didn't seem to notice.
"So this is the office for public relations." Betty pointed out back in the administrative building, "and this is its charming director, Ms. Gladys Witham."
They peered inside the open door to see the classy woman who had earlier thrown a sharp remark in passing now sitting at her rather massive, dark desk, talking over the phone. Betty watched as Kate had nearly the same reaction as she herself did when she first met Gladys- utter awe. The brunette dressed in a dark red dress looked like she had just been flown out of Hollywood and what annoyed everyone most is that she always looked like that. She seemed to be walking perfection. The down side was that Gladys also full heartedly shared that sentiment.
"I am working hard at trying to keep the company's image decent," Gladys growled, putting her hand over the mouthpiece of the phone for a moment and glaring at them, "so could you please go gape at someone else for the time being?"
Betty just grinned, used to Gladys' sarcastic exterior, but Kate's jaw nearly dropped to the floor.
"Yup, that's PR for you." Betty commented as Gladys swiveled her back to them and resumed her call, "Come on, my office is next."
Kate was about to drop to the floor on her knees and ask the movie star PR director to forgive her for her intrusion, but Betty led her away lightly by the arm before she could make a fool out of herself.
Betty led them into her office and turned towards Kate.
"This is my office." she stated proudly, spreading her arms out.
"It's very nice, Elizabeth." Kate said and she meant it; there was something comfortable in it.
"Oh, please, call me Betty." Betty noted, starting to whirl around her office in a fuss like she was planning to make dinner for five, "Please, take a seat."
"Alright. Thank you." Kate replied gently and sat down.
"Would like something to drink? Coffee? Tea? Jack Daniels?" Betty asked lightly.
"Oh, I don't drink." Kate stated, shaking her head seriously, missing the joke, "I'm fine, thank you."
Betty cocked an eyebrow at the redhead who seemed strung way too tight and automatically regretted not having that Jack Daniels nearby. She sat down at her desk and glanced at Kate, who sat so straight she looked like she had swallowed a broom stick and so properly as if she was at a sermon. But Betty reasoned that it was her first day and she probably wanted to make a good impression and was a little nervous too and Betty was sure that Kate had no idea what a crazy house the company could be.
"So how do you like it here so far?" Betty asked.
"Oh, it's very nice. It's all a little bigger than I had anticipated. It's a little..."
"Overwhelming?" Betty offered.
"Well... yes, a little." Kate answered with a smile, relieved that Betty seemed to understand.
"Yes, it can be. It's just a lot to take in at the beginning." Betty explained warmly, "When I started work here, it took me a week just to remember the way from the elevator to my office."
Kate smiled warmly, feeling strangely comfortable in her presence and Betty liked the way Kate lit up when she smiled.
"Listen, this job isn't a hard one, though it may seem that way. Rule number one: Don't let anyone get to you. Mr. Akins will always seem madder than he really is and louder than he needs to be. Listen to him, but don't let him bring you down." Betty advised, leaning over her desk a little to emphasize her points, "Vera's friendly unless she's really stressed and then she gets a little hysterical. Gladys seems to be a melodramatic snow queen, but she really is a good person once you get to know her. The managers down at the factory are more straightforward and they're easier to get along with. They just have a low bullsh-, um, a low tolerance for incompetence. You need an extremely high tolerance for that to keep your sanity around here."
Kate simply stared at Betty during her entire monologue, sitting straight, hands clutching her handbag, a small smile on her face. But Betty wasn't an HR director for nothing. If there's one thing that Betty did unbelievably well, it was reading people. She had an almost uncanny ability in judging people's integrity and intentions just by looking at them and exchanging a few words. Betty didn't know how she did it really; it was a gift. Betty regarded Kate and saw a broken puzzle. Everything seemed much too calm and well-ironed on the surface for Betty to believe it was true. She wondered what the redhead's story was, but then again, Betty was one of those people to whom everyone opened up sooner or later. There was one thing that Betty judged to be genuine in the woman across from her- Kate's shy warmth.
"I like you, Kate." Betty stated like a court judgment, "I think that you'll do just fine here. Just do your job and roll with the punches."
Kate nodded, but was a little concerned why any punches had to be involved in the first place.
"Come on," Betty said, getting up, "You're probably dying to see your office."
Kate followed Betty to the office next door. She looked up at the plaque on her door that read "Kate Andrews, Director of Finance".
"Wow..." she whispered in some wonder and Betty smiled shyly.
Betty was the one who had insisted that the plaque to put on the door before Kate got there and not 3 months later like in her case. It took a good argument with Mr. Akins and help from Gladys who stormed into his office and explained that the company had an image to maintain outside and inside the office and that they weren't a pack of Neanderthals to not have name plaques. Mr. Akins finally surrendered, grumbling about how women were much too dramatic for this job. Betty was proud of her little victory now; she took good care of all the employees.
Kate tried the door, but it seemed to be jammed. She tried it again, but with no luck and began to feel a little embarrassed.
"Here, let me try." Betty offered and tried the door, "This one's a little tricky. You have to jimmy it a little and... oh, there you go."
"Thank you." Kate sighed and they both walked into her office.
It was relatively bare, but Kate already loved it. She looked around at the empty bookshelves except for one which had different financial codes and other rules and regulations for reference, the large desk and office chair standing in the back center of the room, and the two large windows on either side. Kate began to imagine the things she could bring in to make it feel a little more... inviting. She let out a deep breath; she had made it.
"It's not much right now," Betty admitted, not knowing that it was so much more than Kate was used to, "but I think you'll probably do wonders to the place."
"Thank you, Betty. For everything." Kate said, turning to the blond and smiling that smile that made a solitary butterfly wake up in Betty's stomach.
"No problem. I'll be helping you out until you get into the swing of things, but if you ever need anything at all, I'm right next door." Betty said, walking out of the office and pointing in the direction of hers.
"Thank you. I'll keep that in mind."
Betty smiled and left the office just to poke her head back in 20 seconds later.
"I'll get maintenance to do something about that door." she said somewhat shyly.
"Betty McRae!" they both heard Gladys shout, "This is not a paper factory and we are not Neanderthals!"
"Oh crap, I forgot." Betty whispered and dashed over to Vera's desk.
A slightly perplexed Kate was left wondering if she had done the right thing leaving home and finding this job. She walked over to her desk and sat down in her chair. The people might be a little strange and slightly intimating, but something just felt so... right. Kate smiled at the thought.
Author's Note: This is my first try at something lighter and at least half-funny and not flooded with angst or hurt. Let me know what you think! :)
