Engineers

On the first day of work, Leslie arrived early and greeted the receptionist in the lobby warmly.

"Good morning!" she said, holding our her hand. "I'm Leslie, the new design engineer." 

The receptionist, who was busily typing and so didn't look up until she had come to the end of the line, looked up at her with a puzzled expression.

"Leslie?" she echoed doubtfully.

"Yes, Leslie Nelson. The new design engineer." Her hand floated in the air for a moment longer before the receptionist gingerly reached up and shook it tentatively.

"Good morning, Miss ... Nelson, is it? My name is Carla." She continued staring at Leslie a bit longer than was comfortable, then her cheeks reddened. "I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting ... I mean, I thought ... You are working for Mr. Chandler, is that correct?"

"Actually, I was hired by Mr. DelVeccio. I was told I would be working with Mr. Chandler as part of the new design team. And I was also told that you would have a badge for me."

Carla's puzzled expression didn't change, but she regained enough composure to reach down into her desk drawer and pull out a piece of paper with badge attached. She held it out to Leslie, who took it from her and then held it up close to look at it. Her name was on it, along with the company logo. A thrill raced through her body and she couldn't resist smiling. She had a badge!

"You can clip it to your dress," said Carla, gesturing with her hand towards Leslie's stylish business suit. "Then I'll take you over to your desk."

"Thanks," said Leslie, "that would be wonderful." 

Carla got up from her desk still looking at Leslie, who recognized in it a bit of envy, and then led the way through the door at the back of the reception area which opened up into the a large hallway with another set of doors at the other end. They walked silently down the hallway, Leslie following behind Carla, until they reached the doors. Carla opened the door for Leslie, allowing her to enter the next room, and then followed her in and shut the doors behind them. The room was filled with desks, rows and rows of desks, most of them filled with books stacked and papers scattered upon them, with rows of flourescent lights hanging directly above and metal rolling chairs tucked underneath. Carla walked to a desk on the fourth row and pointed to it.

"Here is your desk. You can put your things here. Over there -" she pointed to a large table at the back of the room - " is the coffeepot. And through those doors -" she pointed towards the double doors at the far end of the room - "is the break room. If you need anything else, I'm at my desk all day."

"Thank you so much!" said Leslie. "I am looking forward to working with you."

Carla gave her a strange smile. "I hope things work out for you," she said in a somewhat wistful tone. "I really do." And then she turned and walked back the way they had come, disappearing behind the doors towards the front reception area.

Leslie set her bag on the desktop. The top was quite clean. She sat in the chair. It was comfortable. She pulled out the drawer; inside she found a pad of engineering paper, two freshly sharpened pencils, an eraser, and a coffee mug. She pulled out the pad and wrote on it with a pencil, writing her name. She pulled out the mug and set it on the desktop. There were already slight coffee stains inside. It wasn't new.

The door opened and a young man in a tattered suit and grungy tie walked in, carrying a stack of papers under his arm. He walked past her without looking up and sat down at a desk already cluttered with stacks of documents. He dropped the stack he was holding and dropped into his chair with an audible grunt and immediately began leafing through the papers as though searching for something.