At last ‘A life’
By Julie D Cole
Chapter 14 New job new problems better life

It was a bit of a shock since I expected to just be discussing a salary adjustment so all I could mumble ‘What do you mean?’

Dave said that he was shocked and disappointed in me and that I had been the talk of the building the day before according to his assistant. He looked at me and said ‘Chris you are a man, what are you playing at, what on earth has possessed you to dress like this?’ I was speechless and mainly disappointed since everything had been going so well these last few days and especially today. He sat patiently waiting for me to speak and I had tears in my eyes so I fumbled in my bag for a tissue. He stood up and walked to the window and so I finally spoke out.

I told him that as Chris my life was going nowhere and that in fact I felt I had no life at all. My job had deteriorated to that of an office assistant and Jessica had been promoted above me and the management seemed to have more support for the women in the department who were getting treated better and being giving more opportunity.

I said that the Company seemed to be performing better because of this and that Kate Harper had brought in the changes and everybody respected and followed her. I actually also felt that she was a good leader and felt I had been given a chance to be in her team that I'd have never got as Chris.

He said ‘So was that the only reason for you to suddenly change sex? You can’t just flick a switch and wake up female because it gives you chance for a better job or more career prospects.’ I just looked at him and then he said ‘Look Chris I know that you are good at your job and if you’d come to me we could have dealt with the prejudice, there are procedures for this.’

I just looked at him and said ‘Oh Yeh really?’. I spoke out for once and surprised myself and told him that he wasn’t in the office enough for people to feel they could go to him. Most people felt HR were there to just set rules on behalf of the management. Was this Chris or Christine speaking? He sat back down.

Then I said that I’d had the most fantastic few days and that I felt like a different person. I’d met new friends and my work colleagues liked me better as Christine and mum and my sister even seemed to be very easy about it. In fact I felt closer to my sister now than ever before. I felt like a person and people seemed to like me. What is wrong with that?

He took a few notes and said that because it was me he'd taken time out to talk. Under normal circumstances he would be taking strong action and would be sending me home because it is disruptive to our Company and may cause embarrassment to other employees. Also he felt customers might have reason to complain.

But after a few minutes of further reflection he said that since Kate Harper seemed to know all about it and was supportive so he’d have to think more and consult. He decided to meet her and discuss how to deal with this but his feeling was that I really ought to consider returning to my Chris persona and to think about my future and the difficulties I’d have to face as Christine. I just burst into tears.

Then he looked at me with concern and came around the table and put his hand on my shoulder and said. ‘Chris whatever I say officially you are very beautiful and I’m amazed at your transformation. I said thanks and he said ‘OK maybe I have to keep a more open mind so let me see what I can do,’

He wanted to help so he followed on to say ‘.. but don’t build your hopes up too much yet as I have to consider if there are any guidelines for such events and everything depends on my discussion with Kate after I explain the possible implications to her. He asked me what I did for the bathroom as Christine. Then he said ‘Didn’t any body complain when you used the toilets?’ I told him that all the girls in our office had been fine and treated me as a girl and infact it was their suggestion.

So he then asked me to go back upstairs and he’d changed his mind so that on reflection I could carry on for now in my new job as Christine until he came back to me.I was relieved but still apprehensive as I went back upstairs. Kate was waiting because I was 5 minutes late.’ What’s wrong Christine?’ I blurted out what Dave had said and she said to go to the bathroom and freshen up and not to worry as she’d deal with it. ‘Dave is only doing his job. Who runs this place me or him?’

She said her visitors were running late so we had fifteen minutes to prepare and she asked me to prepare some coffee when I got back and then pull up their account details and print off a report that she’d prepared and saved. I was feeling better already.

As I looked at myself in the mirror it was obvious that I’d been crying and my eyes were red and my mascara had run. I had a shiny nose from the tissues since I’d wiped away the foundation. I washed my eyes in cool water and cleaned my face and put on fresh make-up. I looked much better and I looked long and hard and then decided that I was going to be strong and positive and stand up for myself. Everybody is supporting me and I’d almost convinced Dave so now I had to show him that I could handle the situation.

Kate smiled at me and said I looked nice again so welcome back. She’s just spoken to Dave Roberts and agreed they’d meet in the afternoon at 3pm to sort everything out. She said ‘I just found you and I’m the boss around here and I’m used to getting my way. You mustn’t give up if this is what you want and I’ll help you as long as you are doing a good job.Come on Chrissie we have to hurry now so please get that coffee going.’ I felt like kissing her and giving her a big hug. She knew my feeling. I just know she knew.

I then got a call from Shirley in reception that Kate’s visitors had arrived. So I told Kate and set off to greet them and bring them upstairs.

Shirley was very nice and said I looked especially nice today as I arrived. She lifted my morale immediately.

I introduced myself and asked them to follow me upstairs. Mr Johnson was the CEO of a retail Company who supplied a lot of big stores for ladieswear and Kate told me that their style was modern and quite fashionable. Mr Johnson imported everything from China and owned a Company there which produced the products. He had 2 people with him. One was his fashion designer Ms Katie Wilde and the other his Commercial Manager Peter Frampton.
Katie looked very elegant and she smiled and shook my hand with confidence. Mr Johnson was a little grumpy and just said ‘Morning, bloody traffic!’. Peter looked me up and down and I felt uncomfortable in case he doubts about me but then he looked in my eyes and said he agreed with Shirley that I looked beautiful and that he was pleased to meet me.

When we entered Kates office Mr Johnson beemed and dashed over to Kate saying he was delighted to see her again. He was much more animated than he’d been downstairs and took off his raincoat and handed to me to hang up without even a glance. Then he introduced Katie and Peter to Kate. She asked them if they’d like a drink and I brought in the coffees. Then Kate asked me to make a lunch appointment for 1pm and find the number for a wine bar that was in her top 5 list under 'special lunch venues'.

So I left them to it and found the wine bar, reserved a table and of course they knew Kate immediately and so I let her know that everything was confirmed.

That gave me chance to sit down for the first time that morning so I called Julie and arranged to meet her for lunch and then I called Sally.

Sally was very exited to hear from me and we agreed to try this same wine bar that evening to check it out. She wasn’t very busy so she said she was going to leave work early to shop a bit and would meet me there at 6pm for wine before dinner. I said OK but not Chardonnay please. She laughed since it is usually her first choice because she never remembers any other type. personally I like Pinot Grigio but she couldn't remember the name.

I was feeling more confident by now so I called Anne downstairs and asked if anybody had missed me and sorry I hadn't been down. She laughed and said of course not. "We just found a young girl from an agency who is just as capable of doing your job as you and she is very sweet and organised in fact everybody likes her.

I was just about to say something and then she laughed and said she was joking. They all wished me well but were hoping it was just a temporary arrangement. They wanted to meet up after work that night but I told Anne it was difficult because I was meeting Sally to chat about next weekend so she said she’d fix Thursday instead. I never had to juggle my diary before. I have gone from ‘Billy no mates’ to Billie Lotsamates in a week.

I waited for Kate to finish her meeting and just popped in to double check they’d be finished in time for lunch and supply some fresh coffee. I’d quickly checked the details of Mr Johnsons Company on the internet and I saw that dispite his grumpiness he was obviously a very successful businessman. His success seemed to come because he'd hired a good team of designers and invested in low cost production. He had only been in China for a few years but already had one thousand employees.

Kate seemed to be in fine form and had them all exited and they were drafting out a contract having reached some agreement. She didn't have any legal support or commercial people and was very confident in what she was doing. She told me they’d soon be ready for lunch and to arrange for some champagne to be put on ice.

Peter was looking at my legs and I felt awkward and then looked up and smiled. He looked across at Katie and she just politely coughed so it made me nervous as it seemed like some sort of code. They were soon told to focus on the meeting and they responded immediately.

After they left for lunch I called Julie and then hurried to meet her since she’d been waiting in Costa Coffee for ages and she said she was almost ready to give up on me.

We agreed we should stay there since she already had a table and I did like the look of the cheese and ham toasties. It was my treat and I only wished it could be a five course dinner for the support that Julie gave me with mum.

Julie said she had bought lots of clothes for me and thought I'd like them but she’d left everything in the car. She told me that next time she was taking me along since it’s more fun to shop in twos so one can advise the other.Also somebody to carry the bags.

After we finished eating she looked at me seriously and said that she had something to tell me.

To be continued……