Everything Technology!

'Hurry up will ya, we gota newbie starting today I can't be late' I screamed upstairs to my ever so annoying, always taking three hours to do her hair, colleague.

'Coming' was the reply. I tutted and started flicking through her copy of whichever girly mag she fancied this week, knowing full well that the reply she gave would be the same if I had a ten second or a ten minute wait.

I am all for saving the environment, but this car share thing became a bain when the person you're taking to work is always running twenty minutes behind everyone else in her life. I had been working for KC web designs forten years and had recently been promoted to Assistant manager. A small company, but with a good client database it certainly held it's own, and was one of the first around when companies having a web site became thebig fashion, so naturally it did quite well from the off.But, today I was particularly tetchy about lateness as we had a new web site programmer starting and I needed to be there to greet them.

I felt particularly proud of getting my recent promotion as I had worked hard for it, having started at the company doing basic office work back in the days where companies having a web site was not a fairly normal thing like todayand broadband was only an upcoming luxury, I felt I had achieved alot.

Finally my colleague was ready and came bounding down the stairs, I tutted whilst looking at my watch as if to show my disapproval, although secretly quite pleased that we were actually going to get to work on time for a change.

Once at work I eagerly looked round to check that the new programmer hadn't arrived. There was no sign, so I relaxed a little making the coffee machine my first point of call, as it needs to be most days in order to kick start the day ahead. I sipped my coffee whilst hanging around the foyer, knowing that very soon the new employee would arrive.As I sipped Itook in the hustle and bustle of the beginning of a busy working day, catching parts of busy hurried conversations between other colleagues about where they were going for lunch, who had tried the new pub that opened recently and occasionally work related topics such as the 'newest bestest most fastest' ever broadband connection, how the company round the corner has gone bust, or how the new cleaning staff are doing a good job.

Eventually after what seemed like days sipping a now cold cup of very strong coffee, a new face appeared at the door in front of me, I was quite shocked to see it was a fairly young female, for some reason I hadn't expected a female, or a fairly young, probably younger then me person. But still, my boss should know who to employ and as I was eager to get her settled in, knowing we'd wasted half the morning already I didn't think about it too long.

'Hi you must be Charlie, I'm Kerry' I said holding my hand out and shaking hers with conviction.

She smiled, looking quite flustered, which I am guessing you would if you were over an hour late for a new job. I tried to make light of it and shooed her upstairs towards her desk where I briefly gestured towards a few pieces of office basics such as staplers and pens that I was proud to have already acquired new and laid out for her. After a couple of hours of explaining her job outline,things such as the health and safety procedures and not forgetting to tellher how good our broadband is compared to most companies including also that it sounded downstairs like we were getting the 'newest fastest' even better version, I left her to it.

Throughout the day I kept looking over to her and receiving a smile from her, but I couldn't help thinking that she didn't seem very comfortable or happy doing what she was doing. I resigned myself to the fact she was fine and that if she had any issues or problems surely I was an approachable person and she would have no worries about coming to me.

A few people stopped by my office and asked how she was getting on, I confided in most of them that she seemed to be quite unhappy and uncomfortable, but hadn't made any statements of the kind so must be ok, and any time I'd asked her if she was ok she's just said 'coffee please' which I had found quite abrupt, but felt she must be a very important person and be working hard, which was not reinforced by the fact that most times I looked over she was either making paper aeroplanes, stapling her notebook together, or arranging her desk tidy into a colour co-ordinated arrangement.

By 5 O'Clock I was starting to wonder if my boss really did know what he was doing with the new employee, but told myself to give it time as sometimes first days don't go well.... Just as I was getting up to say my goodbyes the phone rang, knowing it was home time and the chances of anyone else answering it are minimal I answered it, to be cut off mid greeting by a male voice:

"hmmm, oh hi hi... Is that Kerry? Can I speak to Kerry please?"

"speaking"

"Hi Kerry, it's Charlie your new programmer, I am so so sorry, there was a pile up on my way, I wasn't badly hurt, but a few minors, been stuck in blooming casualty all day without my phone..... My daughter Charlotte was expecting to meet me there this morning, did you see her? Do you know if she went to College from there or home?.........."

I looked over to the poor girl sat making her hundredth paper aeroplane of the day and decided my managerial skills may need some perfecting!.....