The Fifteen Minute Novel is a novel written fifteen minutes at a time with each week day’s section starting with the sentence from the previous day. At least it is attempting to be a novel. For now I am just aiming at one continuous story, worked on for fifteen minutes each day. Started Friday January 1st, 2021 (in case you want to search for the beginning. I can’t wait to see where it ends up. It could be good, or it could be a mess. We’ll have to see. For now, here is today’s fifteen minutes.
Day 59: “Let me guess, you’re Linda?”
“Let me guess, you’re Linda?” James said.
She smiled. “I don’t have Linda from HR stamped on my forehead again to I?” she asked.
“No,” I was just told to expect a Linda to guide me through the mysteries of my first day.”
“Ah,” Linda said. “That would be Mr. Talbot. I doubt he would have introduced himself. He assumes everyone knows him.”
“And is he noteworthy?” James asked. Linda walked over. James could see she carried a set of files. They looked suspiciously like the ones that were on the receptionist’s desk.
“That would depend on who you ask,” Linda told him. She set the files down on the edge of his desk. His grandfather started the company, his father ran it and his father sold it to Jel-Stone International a few years back when he retired. Part of the deal was that Mr. Talbot stay on until retirement. Retirement is in about three years. It’s Mr. Lewis who runs the day to day, but Mr. Talbot thends to forget that and thinks of it as his company.”
“Ah,” James said. “I’ll just be polite then.”
Linda laughed. “I doubt it will come up. If he has any issues with you he’ll take them up with Mr. Lewis and let him sort it out.”
“So I’m not on his level,” James said. He nodded. “I’ve been there before,” James said. Admittedly it was usually when someone belittled a member of his staff. He suspected he had been more or less in Mr. Lewis position before and it was interesting to be the ignored cog.
“Well you are in good company,” Linda told him. “As human resources I am not on his level either, which trust me, is for the best.” She looked at his computer screen. “You got my e-mails then?”
“I did and I filled out the first set of paperwork and was just reading through the handbook and initialing the pages.”
“Ah the first day paperwork. Such fascinating stuff. I’m sure you’ve seen it all before. But just in case…”
“Ypu are here to go over it with me,” James finished.
“I am.” Linda pulled up a chair and sat down at the side of his desk. Slowly they began to wend their way through all of the necessary forms that needed to be filed in person and not filled out electronically. His driver’s license was taken and photographed and before leaving him to go through the rest of the manuals, Linda walked James through the various systems. Payroll was something he was familiar with as they used the same system as his company did.
The expense accounts were new and along with the locations of codes and items that were allowed for claims, James got some details about some of the people in the building. He still wasn’t entirely certain what the company and those who worked with it did, but he did know a bit about them. He knew that Timothy Jensen would try to claim cat food for his pet Siamese as an expense when he went out of town. He found out that Leslie would claim hair dressers appointments before every out of town meeting a business expenses.
Ten til Midnight 