Chapter Four.- The interview. (Or Donna vs. Nellie)
The black guy with an afro came back and talked for a while with the guys of the committee, and then, Nellie got called in.
-"Hello, uh… I'm Eleanour Donna Bertram, everybody calls me Nellie."- she said nervously, the guys were looking at her and it was starting to become an awkward silence, until the guy who looked like Tim said: "All right Nellie, what are your ideas for improving this office?"
-"eh… First I'll take down the cubicle walls" – Nellie replied, she was so nervous that she said the only things that came up to her mind. This was definitely going to blow up in her face.
-"But there aren't…" – another guy interrupted, then Nellie got startled by this interruption and she panicked, the panic gave her verbal diarrhea: - "Symbol of transparency, There'd be no titles, everyone would have the same job. Same goes for me, I'd take your job, but I'd reject the title."
-"A little un-specific" – said the guy who shouted about the sun in the other man's interview.
-"Everyone would be known for their accomplishments" – Nellie said, thinking that it was the first thing that she said that actually made sense, not realizing that it was Donna talking instead of Nellie.
-"That's very interesting" – said the man who Nellie thought of as the American version of her friend Tim Canterbury –"Um, I feel like there might be a conflict there and if a conflict did arise, how would that be dealt with?".
Conflict. The very word woke up the part of Donna that was still living inside Nellie: "Ooh?, yeah, mmm, scratch everything from before, I tell you what I'd do, go the other way, more cubicles, more division, everyone's somebody's boss and the person can fire the person below them. At least once a month, the lowest performing person, bye bye!" – she said, with the usual sass that Donna had, and she made a hand gesture of slicing a throat, which is how Donna spoke when she was passionate about something.
-"How would you compare, like, an accountant and human resources".- asked the sun guy who slammed his hand on the desk before.
-"well, I'll tell you how, shall I?, I'll tell you how." – said Nellie, her head was having a conflict, Donna was struggling to show how good she was, but Nellie blocked her and locked her away with her panic.
-"Okay" – said the pale guy waiting for an answer or at least for her to go on… The shadow of Donna's professional abilities was gone, and the fear from Nellie was taking over her mind completely and now, she was just saying the first things that popped into her mind. -"By splitting the difference. Just…just, somewhere in the middle."
-"I think that's probably all we need to hear from…" – started saying the American Tim. Oh, hell, Nellie was losing their attention, she couldn't let it finish here!, she had to get the job!
-"Zen office, hmm?, thought of that?"- said Nellie, remembering how much she'd love to go to a spa.- "That's what I'd do, everyone takes their shoes off, before they come in"- what was she saying?! It didn't even make sense to her, but if playing it as a crazy woman was going to give her any advantage of making an impression with the committee, she was going to do it.- "Okay, there'd be no desks, you just sit on the floor".
-"That's very…" – The American Tim started saying something, but before he could complain or tell her to stop, Nellie's panic made her go on and on.
-"You've got a Thai woman, out in the back. Sockee! Sockee!"
-"Okay, that's not gonna be…"
-"Sockee!... is her name, okay?" – Nellie had to keep going, she remembered that in one of her jobs, people always remembered her for her funny stories, maybe it could work this time? – "she's administering massage, all right, if you need it. If you don't, whatever, just, talk to her! She's a person! Either way, 50 minutes of that and you… you are cracking to go!"- Nellie smiled, thinking they might find it funny, but when they didn't laugh or say anything, Nellie's soul just went down to her feet… she couldn't take it. She just said a polite "thank you for this interview, good bye!" and ran away…
"I'm just a pencil inside a mug! A 4H pencil, it sums me up, I'm nothing" – Nellie thought, she was completely depressed, and she did the only thing she could do while being on the US and having all her expenses paid by this Jo Bennett woman: She might as well go ahead and search for that "Planet of the Hats" store that might be here somewhere.
What Nellie didn't know was that Jo was rooting for her, since she knew Donna before she was changed into Nellie and that impression about Donna's amazing job skills never faded away, so, this conversation took place:
-How'd my girl Nellie do?
-Oh, I didn't know you knew her?
-She didn't mention it?
-No.
-Integrity move. I like it.
-You know, she also gave me a reason to think that maybe she wasn't a good fit.
-Well, I'm not saying you must hire her. If you find someone who's clearly a fit, then fine. Just make sure they fit real good. No more manager turnover. Don't mess this up, Jim. And give Dwight an interview. I like a little bit of crazy.
Then again, neither of them knew that Nellie would have another chance… The Doctor needed Donna away from England and Scranton was her only chance. Probably he would give her a little push to stay there.