chapter 2

Ian soon realised that there was more to this job than met the eye. He was shown around by a plump middle aged woman with a bubble cut. He looked scathingly at her as he followed her around the building. Did she not realise she'd put on weight? Her pencil skirt was at least one size too small. It was so tight that it kept riding up her legs. She had to take tiny little steps because they skirt restricted her movement so much. Her matching jacket was no better. It was too tight around her shoulders, causing the fabric to wrinkle and pucker. But, if he thought that was too small, the woman's blouse must have been two sizes out. It was buttoned down the front, but the buttons gaped so much that he could see her flesh trying to ooze out of the gaps. He knew it was after lunch, but she should have thought about using a serviette or bringing in an emergency change of clothes. He could hardly look her in the face because he was so distracted by the two tomato stains down the front of her blouse. Did she not care what her clients thought? If she'd brought in tomato soup for lunch, she should expect a few spillages. She should have taken precautions.
He was horrified when she stopped at a snack machine in the hallway before she started the tour and bought a bar of chocolate. A woman like that had no business eating snacks!
She asked if he wanted anything. Of course he refused. He had no need for snacks. Anyway it was very unprofessional to be eating on reception. It did not show respect for the company or the clients.
The woman clearly did not care a hoot what anyone else thought, because she actually opened the biscuit and caramel based chocolate bar and took a big bite as she showed him where the fire alarm and the fire extinguisher was. She had so much in her mouth that he could barely understand what she was saying.
Ian was back at reception in less than ten minutes, but the secretary was already back at the snack machine buying more chocolate.
She returned to his new desk, still eating. Instead of showing him how the photocopier worked, she showed him a selection of menus from local businesses who would all deliver. It was part of his job to take their orders in the morning, so they had plenty to eat over lunch.
The boss didn't mind anyone eating at their desk, in work time. Work was hard enough without having restrictive out of date rules that you had to abide by. He didn't mind anyone going out for lunch and coming back late, as long as they had enjoyed a tasty meal.
Ian sighed with relief when she had gone. The snack machine was out of order as far as he was concerned. No way was he ordering a takeaway for himself at lunchtime. He was not going to get into bad habits that was bound to add a few pounds.
He started checking the drawers in his large semi circular desk. He needed to find out where the essentials were. The stapler, paperclips, extra paper for the printer, that kind of thing.
He could not believe what he saw. There was not just a few menus in 'the takeaway drawer.' The drawer was packed full of well thumbed menus, with greasy fingerprints and hastily written scraps of paper with huge orders. He picked one of the notes up and looked at it. It was a list for McDonald's. He was not aware they made deliveries, but then again for an order this size they might make an exception:
2 double cheeseburgers
6 Big Macs
3 chicken McNuggets
12 extra large fries
4 mcflurries
4 hot apple pies
3 extra large shakes
5 extra large cokes
1 extra large Fanta
Wow! He supposed they must be treating some clients that day because there was only six of them in the office, plus two psychologists. But why would they treat a client to a greasy burger when they could go to a slap up restaurant?
He threw out the scraps of paper and straightened out the menus before opening the next drawer.
He thought it might have contained some policy files or some information about the company. That was not what he found. The whole drawer was filled with discarded bags and food wrappers. The crumbs were everywhere. He checked out the other cupboards and drawers and found that everything had sticky fingerprints on it and was covered in strange food stains,
He cleared everything out and managed to fill two bin liners of sweetie wrappers, snack bar wrappers, wrappers from packets of biscuits, crisp wrappers, sandwich wrappers, doughnut bags, pizza boxes, kebab cartons, fish & chip papers and other fast food containers.
He did not understand it. He furiously scrubbed the bottom if the drawers. Crumbs attracts vermin and bugs. Why had her predecessor allow her desk to become so untidy?
He presumed the cleaner came in every day to Hoover and empty the bins. All his predecessor had to do was to walk a few yards to the bin over there.
He had a sudden picture in his mind if a woman that was so huge that walking across the room was an enormous effort. He quickly dismissed the idea.
He was making a new start. It did not matter what had gone on before. He was going to make a good job of this! It would be good if he could make his position here permanent.
He would investigate the local area. Maybe he could persuade the secretaries to start ordering healthy salads instead of their usual fare.