I flipped through the paperwork and immediately knew she wouldn’t last longer than a week. She was just like every assistant he’d recommended to me before. Ivy-league educated, years of experience in hotel management, utterly destined to fail. Even her personal statement of why she wanted to work for me rang a familiar bell of imminent failure.
I truly believe that I can help make Preston Parker be the best CEO he can be by becoming the best executive assistant he’s ever hired.
I’d never mentioned it to George, but I found it quite ironic that I rose through the ranks of the hotel industry before getting my business degrees; that the first hotels I took over were achieved out of my hunger and desperation for success, not anything else.
Why haven’t we ever taken a chance on someone like that?
“As you can see, she graduated from Yale at the top of her class.” George smiled as he spoke, saying the same words he’d said hundreds of times before. “Not only has she worked in the hotel industry for over ten years, she’s spent significant time with the marketing and branding departments at the Hilton, Marriott, and Starwood brands. I think you should pick her brain for inside tips on the competition.”
“I’ve been number one for ten years. I don’t have any competition.”
“You will if you don’t start getting any backup help.” He groaned. “At some point, you have to accept that you need one hell of an EA to help you keep this company running. Someone who can not only help you here, but someone who can go in your place to meetings whenever you finally decide to take a break, or God forbid, take a vacation like a normal person.”
“Fine.” I shut the folder and handed it to him. “Give me a few weeks to pick out my next one, and if she doesn’t work out, I’ll go with your choice.”
“Fair enough,” he said. “I need to sit in on all the interviews, though.”
“Why? Don’t you trust me to pick her?”
“Now that I know you have women texting your phone about their pussies, and you’re hell bent on your next assistant being a ‘she’? Absolutely not.”
Two
Preston
A few weeks later
Please don’t be another disappointment …
“Can you tell me a little bit about your previous experience at Toys ‘R’ Us, Miss Jackson?” I asked the redhead sitting across from me. “Your resume says you used to work in their senior sales department.”
“Well, yes.” She smiled. “I um, did a lot of accounting and unit shipping.”
I tapped my fingers against the desk. So far, she seemed impressive, but something about her was off. She blushed every time her eyes met mine—typical, but any time we asked her a question, she looked down at her palm, as if she’d written a cheat sheet.
Who the hell needs a cheat sheet for an interview?
“I’m sorry that the company was ultimately forced to close its doors in the end,” George said. “What do you think you can bring from your experience in the toy world to the hotel world?”
“A lot. I have tons of experience with making sure that customers are satisfied, ensuring monthly sales goals are met, and providing top quality service.”
George nodded, looking somewhat pleased. “Did you ever work on any projects with my good friend Tim Lause?”
“Who?”
“Tim Lause,” he repeated. “The chief of senior sales. If you worked in senior sales, you would’ve worked on at least a few projects with him. Correct?”
“Oh, yeah. Right. Totally. Lots of projects with Mr. Lause.”
“Can you tell us what kind?” I asked. “As in, with some actual details?”
“Oh, um …” Her cheeks turned red, and she looked down at her palm again. “I … My …”
“We’re very impressed that you know all your vowel sounds, Miss Jackson,” I said. “I’m more interested in the details of your previous projects.”
She didn’t speak.
“Do I need to repeat my question?” I asked. “Do you not understand what previous projects mean?”
“Okay, look.” Her eyes went wide as she sat up. “I only put Toys ‘R’ Us down because they went bankrupt and I figured there’d be no way for you to call anyone and ask for a reference. I usually use other out of business companies for my most current job, and I guess I should’ve just stuck with those for this time. Damnit.”
“So, you’ve never worked at Toys ‘R’ Us?” George asked.
“I used to shop there all the time.”
“Do you really have a law degree from Yale?”
“No, but I went to one of their summer programs when I was a senior in high school.” She looked between us. “I had a perfect GPA. And before you ask, I didn’t lie about being good at customer service. Ask my manager at Starbucks. No one makes a pumpkin spice latte quite like me.”
“Okay.” I shut her folder. “You can go now.”
“Can I expect a call for a second interview?”
We gave her a blank stare.
“So, is that like a no?”
“It’s like a hell no.” I pointed to the door. “Out. Now.”
She huffed and grabbed her bag, slamming my door on the way out.
“If you even think about giving her a second interview …” George said.
“I’m thinking about giving her a bill for wasting my time.”
As I was scratching her name off the list, a financial executive, Linda, stepped into my office.
“Sorry to bother you without an appointment, Mr. Parker,” she said. “But I just finished recalculating the profit and loss reports from The Grand Rose Hotel.”
“And?”
“It looks like those recent losses can’t be traced to anything in particular, and they’re pretty minor. It’s only fifty-five hundred dollars a month.” She walked over and handed me a sheet with her notes.
I clenched my jaw. No loss was “pretty minor” in my company, and I always needed to know where every dime was going.
“Is it safe to assume that someone is stealing from me?” I asked.
“Quite the contrary, sir. The Grand Rose’s managers are certain that the losses have to be due to a guest. Actually, they say they’re due to a non-guest.”
George and I exchanged glances, and I knew without a doubt that someone on my staff was lying and stealing from me. I’d thought that by personally ruining the careers of the last few people who’d dared to steal, that I would never have to worry about this again, but someone was about to get a harsh reminder about how ruthless I could be.
“Tell them I’ll be there next week so they can kindly explain how a non-guest can steal thousands of dollars from me without ever checking in,” I said, my blood boiling. “Tell them I want everything printed out, and if every single penny isn’t accounted for, I’ll fire them all and make sure they never work in this city again. I’ll fire you as well, if I find out you’re covering for them. Is there anything else you need to tell me?”