Back to work
Even with BioSoft only 75% back up to full staffing, it's been a hectic couple of days. Every woman I come into contact with, I'm trying to figure out whether perhaps she was the one who cornered me in that bathroom last week. Of course, I can't let on that I'm trying to figure that out, which means I'm constantly trying to do two things at once. Meanwhile, I'm trying to re-route a bunch of people to voice mail because Mark, Dimitri, Janet, Lizzy and a few others are taking the week off, or the people on the phone don't want to leave a message, they're too important for that, and want to speak to my supervisor or the supervisor of the person they were trying to reach. Telling them that that supervisor is on the phone with the last person who couldn't just leave a message, so suck it up, is probably not what a good receptionist does.

And it's probably a better idea than usual to be a good receptionist right now, because I get the feeling that Maureen is the type that will file anything she considers unprofessional away to use it against whoever she doesn't like when it suits her needs. She's the new office manager the company hired to take over now that Judy's retired, though Judy is sticking around through tomorrow to show the new girl the ropes. Anything Judy misses, I'm expected to teach her. Which means I'm spending more time in her company than I'd like.

Of course, had a Maureen been hired at any of the companies I'd worked at as Martin, I likely wouldn't have felt that way. I might have made a comment to co-workers that she was prettier than the person she was replacing, and enjoyed her being sort of flirty or chatty around me. Heck, it's not even a boy-girl thing; Kate and Jen seemed to be pretty impressed with her when the five of us (including Judy) had lunch yesterday, so she could get to know all the other single young women in the office. She probably would have come along today, but Judy was only going to be in until two and there were a bunch of people Maureen had to be introduced to.

Kate and Jen seemed surprised when I said I didn't much like her, since Maureen had been nothing but nice to them. Of course, I told them, it's not like she can lord her "associate's degree in office management from one of the state's finest two-year Christian colleges for young women" over them. Or pretend to hide her disdain at how there appeared to be something other than collegial cordiality passing between me and that colored gentleman ("Did she really say colored?" "Oh, yeah - but followed it up with 'as in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People'."). Or cluck over how sad it must be to spend the holidays alone - how she can't imagine not having someone who would want her to come. As Jen put it, "Mrooowr!"

I felt a little catty myself, saying this, but does anyone, male or female, like that kind of two-faced person? She seems sweet enough, with her soft voice, girlishly-slim figure (in a professional setting, she almost makes the curves I inherited seem vulgar), and reddish-brown hair that seems to hang straight back in a way that looks completely unaffected. And she's probably no kind of evil mastermind, at least not like whoever stole my body. She's probably just got some friend - perhaps a classmate at one of the state's finest two-year Christian colleges for young women - who's eminently qualified for a receptionist's job and sees me as an obstacle to be removed. She's just striking me as a pain in the ass I don't need.

Have I tried to link her with "Shelley"? Of course. But Maureen's voice is too high by half. So no luck there.

-Marti
- posted 11:49 PM - - (archive use only)