Boss Agreement

Mary

"Girl!" Michael shouted from his office, a luxurious fifty-square-meter room bordered by a window that overlooked the top of the skyscrapers surrounding the building. When Stephanie entered, she was so impressed that she didn't even want to imagine what Mr. Hanks' office would be like.

"Sir? Do you need anything?" Stephanie asked timidly as she entered the office, holding the notebook she had brought that day tightly against her chest, as if it were a shield that could protect her from the lion claws that Michael seemed about to launch at her.

"Well, I need you, girl. Who else would I need? Not the president of the Supreme Court of Justice, right?"

"Yes, I mean, no, that is to say, yes, but no... You need me, sir, not the president of the Supreme Court..."

"Are you always this nervous? Because yesterday, at the interview, you didn't seem that way, or is it that cheap clothing you wear that makes you like this?"

Again the mention of the clothes and Michael's macabre smile at recognizing how uncomfortable Stephanie was.

"What do you need, sir?" Stephanie asked with the sole intention of pretending that the mention of her bargain clothes did not bother her.

"What I need is a well-dressed assistant, that's the first thing, but that can wait until after lunch, because right now what I want is the copy you took from the meeting, what else could it be?"

Stephanie smiled, proud to be able to fulfill her boss's request, who was surely thinking that maybe she wouldn't have the copy.

"I have it on my account, on the cloud, sir, right now..."

"On your account?" Michael asked, angry and almost punching his oak desk. "It should already be in mine. How inefficient you are, girl."

"That's because, sir, they haven't even given me a tour of the firm, much less informed me of my obligations, I don't even have a copy of my employment contract specifying, according to the law, that I must endure a scoundrel and pedant like you."

"I need it in two minutes," said Michael, pretending not to have heard the last thing Stephanie said, "while I take a whiskey."

"Of course, sir, but how is it...?"

Michael got up and walked to his office minibar.

"One minute and thirty seconds, girl."

"Uh, yes, of course, sir, but you haven't told me..."

"One minute and fifteen seconds, girl."

Stephanie was about to repeat what she had already said twice when she realized what her boss was doing.

"Damn scoundrel! I hope he chokes on the whiskey! And who drinks whiskey at eight in the morning?"

In a hurry, Stephanie left the office and threw herself on Michael's secretary's desk.

"What's Mr. Michael's account, Mary, please?" said Stephanie, making her best sheepish face.

"I heard it all, girl. I'm sorry for you, but he doesn't like you."

"Yes, I already know that, but what's his account?"

"Go into yours, on my computer, and I'll send him the file."

Stephanie almost jumped on Mary's desk to grab the keyboard, access her Google account, and access Drive.

"It's done, Mary, please, I'm begging you."

"Thirty seconds!" Michael shouted from his office.

The secretary accessed the audio file and uploaded it to Michael's account.

"Two seconds!"

"Tell him it's done, girl," Mary said when she confirmed that the file was already uploaded.

With her heart in her hand, Stephanie returned to Michael's office and, with a wide smile, confirmed that the copy of the meeting audio was already uploaded.

"Good, thank you, girl," Michael responded as he sat in the large executive chair behind his mahogany desk. "I'll review it this afternoon, or tomorrow, or maybe never, you know, because I'm not interested in those meetings. They're always so boring."

"What?" Stephanie said, not believing what she had just heard.

"Well, now bring your cute butt over here, girl, because we're going to review the terms of the settlement this afternoon."

"My cute what?" Stephanie asked, with clenched fists and a face like a circus fairground that had gone five days without eating.

"Your butt, derriere, rear end, behind, whatever you call it, you know what I mean," Michael replied without even looking up."

"If it weren't for the fact that I really needed that job, and I had needed it ever since I saw the pregnancy test, Stephanie would have taken her notebook and, after throwing it at Michael's head, she would have thrown him out of the window behind him.

"I would appreciate it, sir, if you addressed me with more respect next time, if you please," said Stephanie after she had sat down, staring into Michael's eyes, who continued to avoid her gaze.

"Horten, my life, my beautiful love and affection," said Michael as if Stephanie's last words had been nothing more than the buzzing of a fly. "You can bring us the folder..."

Before Michael could finish asking for what he needed, Mary was already entering the office with a sturdy folder that she left on the desk.

"The meeting is at three, and it's already confirmed."

"Thanks, Horten, you're beautiful. What would I do without you?"

"You wouldn't be half the lawyer you are, Franqui," said Mary as she left.

"You're right, my Horti. I love you," Michael replied. "Now, girl, look for the two hundred and something page, where you see the terms..."

"Did you hear what I said, sir?" asked Stephanie, still staring into Michael's eyes, who looked back at her.

Stephanie's heart sank when she saw the look her boss gave her. Never in her life had she seen a more terrifying look, not even her father could match it if he found out she was pregnant, and by a stranger.

"Look, girl, respect is earned, not demanded, do you understand?"

Scared, thinking that Michael was about to fire her, Stephanie nodded as she swallowed.

"Now look for the terms and tell me your opinion, girl."

Stephanie reached out and opened the huge folder. The first thing she noticed was that the pages were not numbered, so she had to calculate where the two hundred and something page was among the more than five hundred pages in the folder. She was lucky and found what she needed in less than a minute. She read it over briefly. It was a dispute between siblings over a will that had not been clear in its clauses and in which a multimillion-dollar estate was involved.

"Well, girl?" asked Michael as he tasted his whisky.

"Well, sir, I would need to study the case, if you could give me an hour, at least, I could..."

"Yesterday, I got the impression that you were smarter," said Michael as he put his glass of whisky on the table. "The previous girl lasted working with me for two months, well, maybe a few days less. I hope you'll last a little longer, but I see that you'll only be here for a few hours."

Stephanie was about to argue that it was a case with more than five hundred pages, that it was impossible to soak up the subject in just two minutes, that... her eyes fell on something in the proposal, on a single line, a single sentence that explained and summarized everything. She smiled.

"The will is invalid," she said, surprised by herself. "It says here that it was taken by a sailor on a ship, but for it to be valid, it must be taken by the captain of a ship in imminent danger of sinking."

"So, what are we going to tell the siblings this afternoon?" Michael asked, raising his whisky glass.

"That they must comply with the provisions of the law..."

"You see it wasn't that difficult?" interrupted Michael, guessing what Stephanie was going to say. "Now, I really need you to change into something that matches the amount we're going to charge the brothers this afternoon when we tell them we're going to save them a ten-year legal process."

"This afternoon?" asked Stephanie, somewhat nervous.

"If you don't come to the conciliation meeting in appropriate attire, you might as well not show up at all, girl, and don't even think about coming back tomorrow. Have I made myself clear?"

Stephanie nodded her head.

"Now take that folder and write the conciliation document that I'll be presenting this afternoon."

Stephanie obeyed Michael and, as she sat in front of the computer screen, she couldn't stop thinking about how she would solve the clothing problem because she didn't have any money in her bank account, nor a credit card or any means to pay for something so expensive.