Many of the employees had a type of confused expression on their faces after the manager made that statement. Why do they have to wait for some minutes before he'll tell them the reason for this gathering? Was something holding him back from speaking now? That was what was running through the minds of most of the employees, but they dare not say it out.
Leonard was a little confused also, but he's got to keep his confusion to himself, he's got to keep mute. The manager brought out his phone from his pocket, and after some seconds, he began speaking to someone on the phone. And the conversation ended with the manager saying,
"OK, you're close to the company already, we're waiting".
Seems like someone was coming according to the manager's statement. After waiting for some minutes more, the door to the company opened and a young guy entered. He was dressed in shirt, plain trousers, bow tie, and casual shoes, you know, that type of office dressing. The guy walked to the spot where the manager was standing and stood close to him.
The manager glanced at the young guy, then he glanced back at the employees, with a bit of smile on his face, he voiced out,
"You guys remember the most recent worker in this company, that's Leonard. He filled in the blank space in the marketing department. But you guys remember that it's two workers that left, one from the marketing department and one from the finance department. The marketing department has filling already, what remains is the finance department...this young guy over here is gonna be filling the blank space in the finance department".
There was a little applause from the workers, not everyone clapped though. Then the manager continued speaking,
"Just like, Leonard, this guy over here is really good at the construction sector, and he also knows a lot of stuff regarding the finance department. What surprises me most is that he's still very young, but he knows a lot of stuff regarding these things. He recently just graduated from the university...oh! my bad, let him do the introduction himself".
The manager glanced at the guy and said to him, "Introduce yourself to everyone".
He uttered the word, 'OK', then he focused his gaze on the employees and began speaking,
"I'm Mark by name, I'm 22 years old. As the manager said, I graduated from college recently. I've been in search of a job now in a construction company for a month, but to no avail, no vacancy. But that ended when I found out that one of the departments in this company needs filling, and it's part of what I studied in the university under construction...finance,
I met with the manager, and he gave me the job. You know, I love anything concerning construction, and the love I have for it made me study construction in the university, and I focused more attention on finance...that's mainly why I'm aware of everything under the finance department. I reside with my parents and my siblings, but I hope to get my own apartment soon as things unfold. That's all you need to know about me".
Now that he was done introducing himself, the manager spoke, "He's done introducing himself, you all know how it goes when there's a new worker in this company, you all will introduce yourselves to him also".
And that's the next occurrence that took place, the workers began introducing themselves to him as they shook hands with him...they did nothing more than tell him their names. After the introductions, the manager told all the workers in the finance department to come out. Just as he did when Leonard was newly employed, he told Mark that this was his team, he should cooperate with them always.
The other employees had no concern with what was happening now, so the manager told them to go to their different desks. Leonard and Felix discussed as they sauntered,
"That guy is pretty young". Leonard said.
"Yeah, 22 years and just out of college has already gotten a job in a construction company. Well, he isn't inexperienced and he deserves it, he studied construction in school, so what do you think? You both are the newest employees in this company".
"Yeah, true".
They strolled until they reached the staircase, then they mounted it and arrived on the first floor...then they strolled to their desks. Mark would most likely be coming to the first floor 'cause most of the workers in the finance department are on the first floor. Not too long after everyone had settled down, the workers in the finance department arrived on the first floor and sauntered to their desks.
Then the manager and Mark arrived on the first floor, then the overseer of the finance department showed him his desk. The manager told the finance overseer to show Mark around this company, he needed to become familiar with it. This was just as Felix did to Leonard when he got employed in this company.
The overseer did as the manager instructed, he began dismounting the staircase, and Mark followed him from behind. Then the manager glanced at the employees on the first floor and voiced out,
"We'll have a discussion soon in the meeting room. I don't know if it's today or tomorrow, but we'll discuss soon...all workers in this company must be available".
After making that statement, he began walking away, Leonard glanced at him as he strolled saying to himself in his thought,
'I just hope you'll agree to give me my salary though it hasn't been up to two weeks since I started working in this company...I hope so. If you don't, manager, am gonna die'.
The manager strolled until he entered his office, and that's when Leonard took his gaze from him. Even if he wanted to continue staring at him, he couldn't 'cause he's entered his office. Leonard focused on his work, and so as everyone.
The day passed by slowly, and everyone continued working, what else could they do? Though it isn't just work and work, once in a while, the ones whose desks were close to each other chatted from time to time. The close friends chatted, Leonard and Felix conversed from time to time also, they wouldn't just work and work?
But Leonard was trying to prove something to them, he wanted to show them that he was hardworking. So sometimes, when Felix would be trying to distract him unnecessarily by conversing with him, he'll just snub him...and Felix would understand. The finance overseer finished showing Mark around the company, and the both of them arrived on the first floor.
Mark seemed to be a lively person, he greeted everyone on the first floor though they had introduced themselves to each other on the last floor. That was the last floor, he was on the first floor, so he wanted to become very familiar with everyone on the first floor. After he had greeted everyone round, he balanced on his desk, and the finance overseer began showing him some things on the computer in front of him.
The rest of the day's activities took place, it got to noon, and everyone went to the lunchroom to eat...whatever the cooks prepared, they trusted them. Mark was informed about how things work in this company regarding feeding. The cooks preparing different meals everyday, they eating for the whole week without paying anything and settling the bills next week.
Each of the employees settled the bills of what they ate throughout last week, and Leonard settled his also...he had money on him. If he had wasted the money on gambling, then what would he have done? After eating, they went back to work. And before they knew it, it was time for everyone to go home. Leonard stopped what he was doing, it was time to go home, and he wanted to go home.
As usual, he and Felix sauntered to the staircase, dismounted it, reached the last floor, and began strolling again. As they sauntered, Leonard made eye contact with Rita, she was still sitting on her desk, but she wasn't working...from the look of things, she was preparing to go home. She didn't give him that seductive stare, at least, she had had a taste of him. She just gave him the look of, 'We are one'.
He glanced away as he and Felix continued sauntering. They got out of the company, strolled some meters away from it, and as usual, they parted ways. He wouldn't trek to his apartment, he was gonna board a cab...he's got money.
He halted a cab, told the cabman where he was heading to, and the cabman let out just two words, 'Hop in'. He entered the cab, and the cabman sped off.