Well, at least I can introduce myself and volunteer my friendship, Heather thought and then quickly walked to the new-hire’s desk to be one of the first to greet her.
"Hi," I am Heather Winter! I work in the sales department not too far from your department. Welcome to our company! Let me know if I can be of any assistance to you." Heather volunteered.
"Thank you!" the new hire replied softly, barely looking up from her desk.
She is either extremely shy or not particularly interested in meeting me, Heather guessed. Well, I probably didn’t make the best first impression either. I wonder what people were thinking of me then?
"Huh!" Heather snickered. The way people have been acting around me lately, they most certainly must have guessed wrong.
Bob acted extremely excited after finding out about the latest addition to the company. Standing at a comfortable distance, he’d gawked at Brandy for almost the entire morning while busily talking about her with anyone around him.
"Ooh! She looks so hot and sexy, I just love the way she moves and waves her hips." Heather overheard him telling another male coworker.
"Do you think she’d go out with a white man?" Bob asked Heather before the first hour had passed.
"Sure! Why wouldn’t she?" Heather replied. "That doesn’t necessarily mean she’ll go out with you though."
"Ach, you’re so nasty!" Bob hissed. "I bet the reason why you never go out with me is because you’re really a lesbian."
"Looks like some guys don’t handle rejections very well." Heather responded, feeling a little offended by his remark.
By noon, Bob finally had mustered up enough courage to walk over to Brandy’s desk. Standing real close to her now, he was trying his damnedest to impress her with his "charming" and "witty" personality. Heather was surprised hearing how well Bob could pretend, if he wanted something bad enough.
Her pal, George, had asked Heather to come over and visit him at his desk, just so they could both listen in on Bob’s conversation with Brandy. Hearing Bob, drool and squirm, George and Heather found it difficult keeping quiet. They both tried not to look at each other to keep from laughing, but soon had to run for distance so that they could burst out with laughter. Bob sounded just way too cute.
"Can you believe this?" Heather asked George. "Just yesterday Bob was yapping to me about how lazy black people are because so many of them are on welfare, and now he is sucking up to a working, black woman. I hope she doesn’t get fooled by him!"
"Nah! No way!" George waved his hand. "She’ll see right through his act."
Three weeks later Brandy still hadn’t quit. Since the sales staff kept Heather as their personal work slave, Heather hadn’t been able to break away and get to know her better. I truly have to make an effort today and make her feel more welcome in this company, Heather promised herself just before the company personnel manager walked into her workstation.
"Please follow me to my office?" Paul requested firmly.
"Sure! Can you tell me why?" Heather tried to sound as unconcerned as possible.
"Just come into my office and I’ll explain."
Heather couldn’t imagine what Paul could possibly want with her. Wait, a minute, Heather suddenly thought she might have the answer. Maybe Paul wanted to ask her if she was interested in applying for the new position. Nah! Heather shoved her idea aside quickly. Paul had his favorites but Heather wasn’t one of them. She wouldn’t be the first one he’d ask. Paul probably wanted to scold her for not recording her tardiness one morning, though it had only been a few minutes.