Charlie Foxtrot (Book 2 of Love is War Series)

Chapter 3

Auden crossed her legs once more as she watched the last bit of the most recent orientation video. She knew it was par for the course for any company to have various videos you had to watch when you first started a new job, but she’d seen this one before, and it always seemed to trigger her. s****l Harassment at the Workplace. While it was necessary, it was always uncomfortable, and the root of the reasons she’d left a couple of her previous jobs in Ft. Lauderdale where she was living until a couple of months ago.

Sighing, she switched legs, bouncing her spikey heel over one knee until she wanted to crawl out of her skin. Five minutes later, the 55-minute cringe scenarios were finally over with. These days they made it pretty open-ended on what could be considered harassment, in her opinion, and some of the milder scenes with compliments didn’t really seem to be much of a problem, in her eyes. She even enjoyed a compliment or two herself, so long as it wasn’t stepping over the boundaries and wavering on a flirt. She was horrible at flirting, herself. Couldn’t have functioned well if her life depended on it. It just wasn’t part of her personality.

The room was quiet after the video was over, and soon enough, Jim Lavezzo came into the room to greet her. Clay had set her up with the videos and apologized for their necessity. It was company policy, he said, and the insurance company would have “flipped their s**t” if he didn’t make all his new hires watch their safety videos, videos on s****l harassment, and incompatible activities. They could lose their coverage unless each was watched, and they even had a short quiz at the end of each section of the safety video, just to make sure you were paying attention. At least she only had to do some of these videos once a year, if she even lasted that long at this job.

“Done with the yearly torture we put our employees through?” he asked her with a smirk. “I guarantee that’s the most painful part of the job, having to sit through watching some high school dropouts and Hollywood extras that couldn’t get a talking part in some shitty B movie.”

Clapping his hands together once, he moved deeper into the room and held out a hand to her. She stood from her seat and shook it a couple of times, her grip semi-firm.

“My name is Jim Lavezzo, and I’m the CEO’s personal assistant and, to be completely candid, best friend. I’ll be giving you a pretty comprehensive tour of the building right now, though some rooms are not used all that much, and I won’t be showing you any offices that are currently in use or closed off for meetings. It would be disruptive to the staff. The basement is off-limits on this tour as well since they have some work going on in some of the rooms. Come with me.”

He guided her out of the room and shut the door behind them before looking down at her, a puzzled expression on his face. It seemed like he was much less comfortable with her being this close, and he blinked a few times before turning to the right.

“Like I said, the basement isn’t somewhere you will see today, so we’ll start right here on the first floor for our tour.” He started to slowly walk down the hallway, jabbing a thumb back to a couple of empty rooms that were behind them. “This floor, from what you’ve seen, is mainly the lobby and some conference rooms. Some of the architects employed by CBC prefer working in the conference rooms if there is a big project, but they do need to give notification or schedule their time in the event that it is already set to be used. We try to keep them open mainly for meetings, but sometimes projects, like the Megamall last year, are so big that there is a need for a larger workspace so we’re not cramming people into someone’s smaller office. Karen from scheduling usually hands off the duties of retaining conference rooms to her new assistant, Jess. She’s pretty new to CBC as well—or, at least, relatively new. She’s been with the company since midsummer.”

Jim came to a stop at the end of the hallway and hesitated before turning to his right.

“We have some extra rooms down here with the older files that are well over the allotted time we should keep them in physical form. We get them e-recorded once a year, which should actually be happening soon. It’s just simpler to have it all recorded year by year, every time at the beginning of the new year. The company who takes the records will come around the middle of the month, so you might see some of the back-office staff coming and going down this hall, just making sure that everything is in order. It’s all alphabetized, of course, but sometimes mistakes happen. Once they are all stored on the company servers, they will shred the papers and, in some cases, recycle what they can.” He smiled to himself and shook his head like he was admonishing himself. “You’ve seen the lobby a couple of times at least, so I think we can skip it. Elevator or stairs? The building is only five floors, and much of it is office or storage space. We even have rooms for years the business has been open for the past ten consecutive.”

Auden spoken up. “But what about huge projects? Ones that can go on for years? Do you store them in the year they were completed or the year they started?”

Jim’s face brightened, and the man looked honestly surprised at the astute question. “Well, that’s a good question, and one I don’t usually get while giving a tour.” In fact, he usually never gave tours to guests or new hires, but Auden was an exception since she was Mary’s niece and Clay wanted to make sure she was being taken care of. “We store them by start date because there is so much paperwork and we never know if a project will get pushed back or delayed for some reason. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, you want to be able to look back in the same place for something you might have missed or need for a permit. The Megamall, for instance, started last year. It’s set to be done later this year, but there’s hurricane season to look forward to still, and that’s always hit or miss. Most years on the Gulf Coast we might get sideswiped gently from the outer rings of a storm, but you can never tell which way the wind will blow. Stairs?”

Auden nodded, not expecting such a detailed explanation. She had assumed that they would keep the files from the most recent backwards, like they did at her last place of employment. “Sure. Stairs would be fine.”

Jim walked over to the T in the hallway and opened a heavy white door. It had EXIT posted over it, and he tapped it before adding something he felt was important. “In the event of a fire, we do have a sprinkler system, but should it go off, we have a set evacuation route leading to the visitor’s parking lot where we will all meet. Jess will have a list of all the visitors in the building as well as the employees in the event of a fire. She is also who you would need to email if you need a day off, but we ask that you CC me as well as your direct supervisor so we can set up something with the temp agency. Unless it’s a sick day and can be avoided, we ask for three days notice, though it’s preferable for more if you need more than one day off.”

“Got it.” She walked through the open door and started up the stairs. She could hear and feel Jim’s gaze on her, but maybe that was just her imagination. She’d worn a tight pencil skirt with a looser light blue blouse neatly tucked into it, but she’d never had any lack of attention due to her round ass and perky breasts. She sighed and walked higher before coming to the top of the first flight and saw a door with the number 2 plainly displayed under a small window. Waiting for Jim to reach the top of the steps, she put her hand on the knob before it was brushed gently aside by Jim’s and was turned.

“Sorry, but it’s ingrained in me from a young age to open a door for a lady.” He pushed the door open with a set smile and kept it wide for her to pass through.

On the other side, it was all carpeting, unlike the first floor. Plush and a light tan, it was either not used much or was shampooed regularly. Deep pile carpeting, she thought it was called.

“This is the floor where many of the architects and back-office personnel work. To make it easier for current projects, there are several rooms just for files in the western portion of the floor.” They walked to the east, and Jim showed her the 2nd floor break room, as well as popping in to say hi at some of the open doors. In order to keep her from being overwhelmed by new faces, he only greeted the friendlier employees, most of them having worked with the company for many years. He made sure to steer clear of Grant Peskin’s open door. The architect kept it ajar for air circulation, but was ornery at times, especially when in the middle of drafting a project.

“Anyone in the building is allowed to eat in any of the break rooms on any floor, and some employees will come down to the 2nd floor or eat in the atrium on the top floor for some sunlight during the day, especially in the winter months when the office starts to empty out at twilight. Working in Florida, you get accustomed to sunshine, so it’s a little aggravating for office workers. When Clay’s father took over the company from his dad, he moved all the management team to a lower floor to renovate the top for the atrium. That took about 9 months, but Clay Jr. did say he noticed an improvement in the morale of the employees. Plus, there was less turnover as a result. Also, the 4th floor is where you will be working. A lot of newer hires work there because many of the older staff are set in their ways and don’t want to move their offices. Even offered a few of the old hats more office space there, but they have so much stuff scattered about their spaces that I think it would take a week for them to just pack their stuff for a move. It is what it is.” He shrugged and continued down the hallway.

They continued their tour of the facility, all the way up to the 4th floor. She’d already been familiarized with the 5th from when she’d interviewed with Clay. It was actually busier on her floor than Auden anticipated, but the open floor plan allowed for better ambience, and she was introduced to some of the other new hires and the woman who would be taking over for Jim in her training, Sandra.

“I’ve got it from here, Jim.” She beamed up at him. Sandra was the employee that had been employed at CBC on this floor and was head of the clerks department. She was middle-aged and pleasantly plump, and always had a ready smile and an eager ear. Married with 2 teenagers, she had a caustic wit at times, though Auden had only seen her in passing once before.

“Sandra, my love, when are you leaving that crotchety old husband of yours and running away with me to get married?” Jim posed the question melodramatically and eventually dropped to one knee in a faux-entreaty or proposal.

“Hmm, well maybe when you stop eyeing every pretty little thing in a skirt around here, I’ll give it some deep thought.” She looked over her reading glasses at Auden, a twinkle sparkling in her eye. “I hope this cad in a monkey suit was well-behaved on your tour of the facilities. A hopeless romantic he is not, but he’s usually a gentleman—that is until you get to know him better.”

“F-fine,” Auden spluttered while Jim popped up from the floor with a burst of laughter.

“Touché, my pet. I’ll continue to play the part of insufferable flirt, and you can continue to spurn my affections and play the role of dutiful wife.” He sighed, again theatrically as he clutched at his chest as if he was wounded to the core. His fake grimace held a hint of impish glee, so Auden’s own lips twitched with sudden, delightful amusement.

Well, at least things will never be dull here, she thought to herself as Jim walked away with one long, backward glance at her. She waved at him briefly, and he gave her a wink before pretending to tip his nonexistent hat at her.

“Well, dear, let’s get you set up at your desk and I’ll show you the more intricate details of the job.”