6 First Impressions

“Sleep tight” Carol had said, but unfortunately it was not the case. I was feeling so nervous about starting as Sir Charles’ PA, that I tossed and turned all night and only slept fitfully. At least it meant that I was up early in the morning, which was good for two reasons, it would not be quick to get myself ready, and also I would need a lot more time to get to work.

I hardly needed to shave as I still grew only a very light beard and a close shave lasted me at least a week, but I wanted to make sure that there was absolutely no sign. After a quick shower , drying off and powdering, I brushed my hair back into a ponytail and wound it into a chignon as I had been taught yesterday, made myself up and got dressed in my business outfit. It was still too early for Carol, so I just had a quick bowl of muesli, picked up my bag and set off for the train station, I had decided that it was too risky to drive at the moment, looking as I did.

The head office where Sir Charles was based was in Cheapside in the City of London, just behind St Paul’s Cathedral, in the heart of the traditional financial district. It was almost an hours travel to get there, which was something I wasn’t used to, and the journey was even more stressful as the train was crowded which meant everyone was squeezed together quite closely and I was convinced that someone would pick me out as a man in a skirt. Other than the normal hassle and bustle and the occasional ’accidental’ brush of a hand on my bottom or bosom, nothing untoward happened and I arrived at the office, well ahead of the time I was due to be there.

I composed myself at the entrance for a minute or two before going in and walking up to the reception desk.

“ Good morning, i’m Danielle Jenkins, I’m starting to work for Sir Charles Montgomery this morning.”

“Oh yes, we have been expecting you. Sir Charles is not here yet, but you can go up to your office on the eighth floor. You need this pass keycard to get through all the control doors and to use the lift to that floor. Turn right out of the lift, your office is just on the right, there should already be your nameplate on the door. If you have any problems just come back down and I will get someone to take you there. I’m Chloe by the way, nice to meet you. When you get to the office, if there are any problems just buzz down to me, dial 101, and I will get someone to sort things out for you.”

“ Thanks for your help Chloe it is really appreciated.” I thought to myself that there is at least one friendly face here, and reflected on that I was doing the same job as Chloe less than a week ago.

I found my way to the office with no bother and was astonished at the size of it and the quality of the furnishings and the amazing views over the City, but then I was now the PA, even if only temporarily, to one of the most senior figures in financial services. I soon found where everything was and settled myself in.

Sir Charles called me to say that he would not be in until late morning, and that if I went next door to his office, in the top drawer of his desk I would find a report that Margaret, his previous PA, had compiled before she left in a hurry, which he asked me to read through to check that there were no typing errors or anything which I thought strange or questionable. There was also a copy on the computer on my desk, stored in its internal file, not on the linked main company server.

I read it through thoroughly, corrected any basic mistakes and highlighted a few points to discuss with him on his return.

After finishing working on the report I needed a coffee and something to eat as I had only had a rushed breakfast and rang down to Chloe to ask where the staff restaurant was located.”It’s on the floor just below you, it has wonderful views and they make super proper coffee. If you are still on your own, I am going for a break in five minutes, I could see you there if you want a chat.”

When I got there, Chloe had not yet arrived, but I noticed a group of women at one of the tables and went to go over to introduce myself and join them, but they all got up and left as I approached.

Over coffee and a sandwich, Chloe filled me in as to who was who in the organisation and gave me some of the office gossip. Helen had been right, I was not the most popular person for just waltzing in and taking a prestige job, and Chloe warned me who to watch out for. She suggested that it was not just a coincidence that the other group had left as I approached them but that it was a deliberate snub as their noses had been put out of joint by my appointment. Her phone suddenly buzzed and she told me that her stand-in had just texted that Sir Charles had just arrived and that I had better get back to my office.

“Good morning Sir Charles, would you like me to make you a coffee or anything.”

“ That would be good, I’ve been rushing around this morning. Welcome to the office Danielle, I hope you managed to find everything ok. You are looking a lot different from when I saw you in Canterbury, a big improvement, more professional, and if I am allowed to say it nowadays, a lot more attractive.”

“ Thank you for that, I have tried hard over the last few days to improve my image to go with my new responsibilities. Everything is fine, the office is well organised. I managed to have a look at that report for you and there are a couple of things I think you should look at, there were a few typing or grammatical errors which I have marked on the printed copy for you and changed on the computer file, but I suggest that you need to look at the figures on page 10. The company you are proposing to make a major investment in has today been hit with a massive law suit and its share price has gone into free-fall this morning and it not nearly as attractive as an investment as it was last week when the report was compiled.”

“ I’ll have to discuss that with some of my colleagues, thank you for that, I have not had a chance to look at the stock market this morning. As you will be aware, as you have obviously read the report in detail, this is not a matter for Cunninghams, I am a non-executive director on the board of several other companies and this is a matter for one of those, Makepeace Investments. Anything relating to those other companies, and anything that I tell you is particularly sensitive and confidential, I would like you to deal with personally, anything else you can pass any typing over to the general executive secretarial pool downstairs, but make sure to check it carefully before giving it to me for signature. If you wish you can go to lunch now whilst I go over that proposal.”

As it was a nice day, and as the office was in a characterful historic part of the City.I went out for a bit of fresh air in the sun, did a bit of sightseeing and when I returned to the office I stopped for a chat at reception.

“ Hi Chloe, other than the in-house restaurant where is the best place to get something to eat around here.”

There are all the normal chain sandwich shops around but I prefer the little deli just around the corner. If you want a cooked meal, as you are in the financial area, and next to the tourist area around St Paul’s, most of the places are quite pricey, but there is a quaint little backstreet pub ‘The City Arms’ quite near to here which is better value. If you wish I will go with you tomorrow, if we can coordinate lunchtimes.”

“ I look forward to it, I’ll call you when I know what the boss is doing, as I will have to work around what he wants me to do, bye for now.”

Back in the office Sir Charles called me in, he already had a visitor and I was expecting to be asked to make coffee or tea.

“Sit down please Danielle. This is Gareth Makepeace, a fellow director on the board of Makepeace investments. You spotted the problems with that investment proposal before his own extremely highly paid analysts, and we both would like to thank you for that, well done. I wanted Gareth to meet you as he will be calling me occasionally or we will be having meetings together, and it is always nice to put a face to a voice on the telephone. After a few minutes of pleasantries, i went back out to my office, where I sat down and took a deep breath, I couldn’t believe that I had made such a good impression on my first day.

Back at my desk there were a few documents that had been dropped off from the secretaries’ office downstairs that they had prepared for Sir Charles the day before I arrived. I remembered the warnings from Helen and Sir Charles to check them thoroughly before passing them to him for signature and was disappointed to find many basic spelling and grammatical errors, they were obviously very sloppy or they were trying it on with me to try to make me look bad. Buoyed by the good impression I had made with Sir Charles i decided to go down to their office to sort it out and went to see their supervisor Marilyn,who turned out to be one of the ones who had walked out on me in the restaurant.

“ Hi, as I am sure you know, i am Danielle Jenkins, Sir Charles’ temporary PA. I have just received these letters and files that your team have prepared for him and am sorry to say that they will have to be redone, correctly this time. Please sort it out with whoever prepared them and check them yourself before bringing them back up to me. I hope this is not typical of the standard of work in this office, otherwise I will have to speak to HR about organising some further training for your team. If they come back in a much better state, there will be no need to advise Sir Charles of this as I wouldn’t want anyone to get black marks on their next staff appraisal.”

At that I turned on my heels and left, with a grin on may face but feeling the daggers being glared into my back. However it did work and within an hour they all came back absolutely perfect.

At my official leaving time I went into his office to see if Sir Charles wanted me to do anything before I Ieft.

“ No Danielle, everything is fine, you have done enough today, get yourself off home, you have a long journey ahead. I take it that you are coming in by train, there is a company credit credit in the envelope in your desk in your name, get yourself a season ticket, it is a lot cheaper and more convenient, and you deserve a reward after that issue with Makepeace.”

By the time I got back to Carol’s I was absolutely shattered from the travelling and the nervous tension of the first day in the office, and was delighted that Carol had prepared a dinner for us.

“ You look all stressed, go and have a soak in the bath and unwind, put on something casual and we’ll sit down to dinner and you can tell me all about your day.”

I cleaned off my makeup, had a quick soak in the bath, dressed and went to have dinner much more at ease. Carol was right , her cooking skills were not up to mine, but I still enjoyed the lamb casserole and crusty bread, it was filling, nutritious and most of all warm and comforting. After telling Carol all about my day, and her saying that she had been asked at work many times about what had happened to me and had I been fired, we had a general chat for a while and I went off to bed dreaming about my wonderful new career.

The rest of the week went just as well, I soon adjusted to my new role at work, and my new role in life.

Sir Charles gave me challenging tasks to do as well as the more normal PA duties, investigating and reporting on the background and financial details of companies he was interested in as part of his other directorships. There was a team of analysts in the office that dealt with similar reviews for Cunningham Investments, but his other roles needed to be kept apart and confidential. As well as the companies he had asked me to look at, I also reported on a few where I had seen reports on financial websites and which I thought may be of interest. This began to take more and more of my time and he was becoming more and more content with what i was suggesting to him .

I was also becoming more comfortable and natural in my role as Danielle, chatting a lot more to the women in the secretarial pool, although they were a still a bit cool towards me. Chloe was the only really friendly face around and coffee and lunch breaks became regular meetings for us, and I even went shopping with her for a new dress for her weekend nights out, and picked up a couple of new tops for myself.

Carol did give me the option over the weekend of spending some time in Danny mode, but I decided that if I did that it would be more difficult to switch back to Dani again on Monday. To keep me mentally in girl mode, Carol took me clothes shopping with her, asking my opinion of things she was interested in, and just treating me as if I was Gemma her usual flatmate, and when it came around to work again on Monday, it was as if Dani had never been away.

to be continued