TNP 03 "Nancy, My Manager"

A Chapter by dw817

My time and life in working for the government during the Savings & Loan Crisis of 1990 with a beautiful woman who took care of absolutely everything for me in my employ. And I mean EVERYTHING.

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THE NANCY PRINCIPLE

My time in working for the government during the Savings & Loan Crisis of 1990 with a beautiful
woman who took care of absolutely everything for me in my employ. And I mean EVERYTHING.

© July 2013 Written by David Wicker
Please do not reprint without permission

CHAPTER 3 - NANCY, MY MANAGER

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then SEND me a URL of the website containing your art and I will insert it directly in the writing,
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To track the artists listed in this chapter, click on the illustrations where they appear below.

Rated: EVERYONE

While I was in Mr. Sunder's office, I shook Jeanette's hand and hesitated a tenth of a second before giving it back because her grip felt so nice in mine.

She gave me a quick quizzical look at my reluctance to return her hand but dismissed it as first-day jitters. Then we left his office and went this time, all the way to the right, against another buzzing door where she entered a code on a keypad next to it. She carried on for a bit talking about stuff as we walked a fairly good distance.

She was mentioning what the company did and who it was for but I was definitely not paying any attention to that and doubted I would actually be quizzed on these facts later.

It was not until we were approaching the elevator I started listening in again, noticing we were all alone in the hallway and that it was dimly lit besides.

As we waited for the elevator she said, "As I told you earlier, you'll be working in B3, that's 3 levels underground. Have you ever worked underground before, David ?"

"No ma'am." I said, and then quickly corrected myself, "Miss, I mean."

She gave me a funny smile and dropped the height of her clipboard for a moment as if she was discouraged slightly and said, "David, you can just call me Jeanette. Ok ? You save that 'yessir' and 'nossir' for Mr. Sunders. Not me, okay ? I'm just a data-entry clerk like yourself." and she grinned politely at me.

"Ok, Jeanette." I said carefully.

She continued seriously, "Now, my original question was, have you ever worked underground ? I'm asking because some people get claustrophobic or scared without windows or sunlight for extended hours and I want to make sure you'll be okay with that."

"No, Jeanette," I replied back, and then I got excited remembering something from the past. "But I was under a car onetime looking for my cat and I imagined I was underground cause it was all dark and spooky and did you know that cat's eyes glow in the dark ?" and then I crouched suddenly down on the floor to peer ahead to show her how it looked when I did it.

She suddenly laughed out loud because I guess I looked sorta silly at the moment and I looked up at her a little hurt as I stood back up as if I was trying to relate something serious to her conversation.

She finally covered her mouth a bit with the folder and sheaf of papers she was carrying apologizing, "I'm sorry David, I've had too much sugar today, come this way please."

So I followed her in the elevator as it opened. We went inside and it was a NICE elevator with mirrored walls and everything. She said," Go ahead David, and hit the floor we need."

I was a little nervous so I asked to make sure, "B3 ?"

"Yes, David, B3." I could tell from her tone of voice that if I continued to work here, I would have to lose my uncertainty to fit in.

So I hit the button then and the light for it went on and then off again as I let go. We sat there for a moment. She gave me an odd smile like she knew something I didn't. The door didn't close. I hit the close-door button and the elevator did.

Then it started to smell like the perfume she was wearing but still the elevator didn't move. I looked to her as if I did something wrong ?

She smiled at me and then looking behind me politely patted the dirt off the back of my pants from crouching down earlier. She looked wistfully for a moment, then finally reached in her pocket, and I noticed she was wearing a kind of attractive vest underneath her business coat.

She got serious and said, "We are very tight around security here, David." and then pulled out a funny key. I never saw a key like that before !

Curiosity got the better of me so I said, "Jeanette, can I see that a second, please ?"

She smiled at me, "Sure, David."

Illustration by CPT-Plaid

She handed me the keyring so I could look at it and the key was metal and round like a cylinder on the end of it but had little square teeth around the ring. After I finished examining it, I gave it back to her and she stuck it in a round slot below the buttons and then turned it clockwise. A small green light appeared to the right of it.

"Try our floor again, David." she offered politely. I hit the button and the elevator was underway ! After a short distance and bumping, the door re-opened and I saw where we were now. It was wall-to-wall cubicles ! There were cubicles as far as the eye could see. And absolutely everyone was typing as fast and as frantically they could.

And then we walked by the main carpet. It was not good what was happening now though because as I walked by it I was greeted with unhappy, no, that's not the right word -

It was downright ANGRY looks, realizing I was a new employee there and how DARE they put a GUY to work this close-knit with an army of such attractive women data-entry specialists as if I were a dog in a field of cats.

To take my mind off the invasive stares, I asked Jeanette, "Are we really under an emergency right now ?"

She nodded in approval, "Yes, we are, David. So we'll have to hurry on this tour, and please pay attention to what I show you."

She quickly showed me the cafeteria, where I could get coffee, the men's room (which I used while I was there and could tell it apparently got VERY little use because of the shininess of the floor in there), and it was rather small too, with only 2 stalls and 2 urinals.

And Jeanette showed me her office, whom I was supposed to report to if I had any problems.

She was definitely in a hurry and when we were in the hall with the other main offices her high-heels clicked quickly to finally show me my own cubicle, 47A. I sat down and she looked at me for a bit as if deciding something.

Finally she said, "David, we really don't have time to show you what needs to be done here, but do you remember the test you took when you first arrived ?"

I nodded my head.

She seemed relieved, "Good. Well, this will be sorta like that, but it's not a test but the real thing, and accuracy is REALLY important, okay David ?"

I nodded again. I definitely wanted to do a good job here.

With that, she reached under the desk to pull out a copy-holder and then opened up a lower desk drawer to retrieve some papers and load up the printer. Then she went to the computer and turned it on. Waited a moment for it to have a sign on page.

Then she logged me in, apparently having already created an account for me. She typed in David W. followed by a complex password.

I watched all of it and as she wasn't paying attention to me right now I looked around to see I had apparently attracted quite a bit of attention now, and all of it, unfortunately, was negative. I don't think there was a single smiling face from any of the women that lifted their heads to glare at me.

One looked like she seriously wanted to strangle me across the way. All except the woman behind my own cubicle in 47B.

She looked over her cubicle for a bit to give me a shy and sweet smile but then hurriedly turned back around to get back to her data-entry typing as I watched on, fascinated by her long and pretty red hair and the sparkly barrette she had in it.

"David. David ? David !" I turned as Jeanette spoke a little crossly to me unaware of the friction I had caused, and I could see she was ready for me now.

"OK. Here you go !" And she reached in her folder and set down about 10 pages full of hand-written random-digits and letters with codes of page #, whose desk # I was supposed to return it to once I printed out what I typed, etc.

She said, "Now pay attention. Once you type out a page here," and she pointed to show the blank area in the screen from top to bottom. "You use the mouse and click HERE where it says print. Once it's printed take the printout and the original.

Use the stapler. Put the original on top and your printout on the bottom and staple it together. Set that in this box here. " And she pointed to a little box to the right of the computer.

She continued, "Once you've typed everything up. You take all your pages, there should be twenty in all, each with their original and your printout stapled to each other and then deliver them to everyone on the floor. Each cubicle is numbered so you shouldn't have any problem finding what goes where. Got it ?"

I nodded. She looked at her watch. "OMIGOD, I'm late !" she said with panic in her voice, "David, I need to go now, okay ? You're gonna be fine honey, just do this. Once you've done that stack come see me in my office and I'll have more for you.

I'm all the way down the hall and just before you hit the end and I'm to the left. Also through the day workers around you will set new papers in your INBOX for you type up for them. Do those too. That's it ! I gotta go !"

And she ran as fast as her little high-heeled shoes would to get back in her own office at the end of the hall starting at the end of the room and then darted to the left just before she reached the end. I mentally noted the location knowing I needed to go there once I finished.

So - well - I looked at the computer and it was asking for page #. So I typed that in, "1" followed by [Tab] then Desk # it was supposed to go to. I typed that in. Then the screen cleared and it was ready for me.

Naturally the keyboard was perfectly horizontal, definitely not what I was used to so I rotated it slightly, bringing even more undue attention to myself as it squeaked noisily on it's stubby plastic little legs against the super-clean table.

I was certain everyone in the whole building was looking at me now, but I couldn't let that get to me now, so I started typing.

I hadn't gone more than a quarter of a page when someone, braver than the rest, got up to walk to where I was in her high-heel shoes, scuffing the carpet as she walked.

I could see she wasn't happy, like everyone else, with my appearance, and definitely the way I was typing, which was also unusual, with only my index fingers and thumb and occasionally the middle finger from my right hand.

I used no other fingers to type with. In a way I was proud of this today because by using less fingers it forced absolute accuracy out of me to type efficiently forcing concentration on those 4-fingers instead of 10.

She came up over my shoulder and spoke nonchalantly with a smirk on her face, "First day ?"

"Uh-hum." I said, trying to concentrate on the typing so I wouldn't make a mistake.

"I really don't think you're going to fit in here." she said carelessly and tilted her head playfully at me to see how I would react to this accusation.

I stopped typing to turn and look at her. Like all the women on this floor, she was in her 20s and strikingly beautiful.

But I could also tell there was a bit of a monopoly on this floor and it seemed that each and every woman, aside from doing data-entry, competed against one another to look prettier and sexier than the last to the edge of not getting written up for it.

And my appearance would disrupt this everyday routine and unspoken game they viciously played daily with each other.

"Really." I finally said, frustrated, for her to tell me I wouldn't fit in. Couldn't just be left alone right now ?

"Yeah, really." she replied back evenly and slanted her eyes at me.

I hated to argue and I really didn't know what her position was there so I finally looked away and said, "Look, I need to finish these up, then we'll see where I stand, okay ?"

Illustration by CPT-Plaid

"You do that." she said raising her voice, "Then you get your BUTT off this floor cause we're doing just fine without you." she said succinctly, and then left for that to sink in.

And it might've been as simple as that simple except what she said got to me. And I hate to admit it, I found myself going slow, not even as fast as I was when I was tested. I felt a few tears fall from my eyes down my new clip-on tie and I really felt all alone again.

Then I felt movement behind me and realized the girl sitting behind me, remember the nice one, had gotten up, apparently not only hearing our conversation but seeing I was crying now too.

"Hey, what's the matter ?" she offered empathetically. "First day jitters, huh ? You're gonna be just fine. My name is Trudy, okay ? I sit right behind you." she said and gave me a reassuring pat on the back.

Seeing I wasn't going to answer back but still be lost in my sad thoughts she asked, "So, what's your name, honey ?"

I turned my chair to face her, "David." I sniffed back.

She was really quite nice, "Well, David, they wouldn't put you down here without a reason. So what are your job skills for this position ?"

"I type well." I said, and I said it just like on the phone, pausing between words. It was really and ultimately the only job skill I had.

She paused giving me time to see if I would say anything else, but I didn't. I knew it was awkward, and I couldn't help it. Right then I started crying. And she was definitely there to console me, by patting my hand which was curled up in my lap to look into my face with concern.

Then I heard someone quip from their cubicle to my left, across the main walkway, apparently watching the two of us. "He's hopeless. Get him out of here."

Trudy was quick to defend me, "No. He needs a manager, that's all." and she pulled back for a bit to look at my face. I had stopped crying at her intense look as I am certain she didn't want a crybaby on her floor, but I was definitely going to take all the help and support she was willing to give right now so I could fit in.

"No manager could help him." said a woman with an irate voice, much closer, as she was in my cubicle directly ahead of me, who had turned her chair around to see what the commotion was, thoroughly amused to see a washout on the first day.

And better still, it was going to be a guy, proving once and for all that this floor belonged solely to these women and no-one else.

"No," Trudy said flatly, determined to defend me. "He just needs NANCY, the Manager."

It got quiet then and everyone started talking excitedly. It was like everyone was still busy busy at their work but were now whispering like mad to each other as they did it, as if something incredible and exciting was going to happen next.

Trudy got up from her crouched position over my chair and walked away whistling down the hallway for several minutes to the main offices as I turned my chair to type more stuff. I really didn't know what to expect, but I figured I had better look busy when it does happen.

After she left the whispers got much louder. I could hear many voices.

"She'll straighten him out."

"He won't put up with her ! He'll quit first !"

"God, this is going to be fun, I can't wait !"

Finally Trudy returned a few minutes later with a much taller woman, I hadn't met before. Trudy spoke a little loudly and said, "David, pay attention, this is important."

I turned my chair to look, as well as everyone within earshot.

She said, "I want you to meet Nancy. Nancy this is David. This is his first day here and he - " and she paused on the word - "types." Trudy then sniffed audibly as if that was the correct way to end a perfect sentence and got up to leave me and Nancy alone so we could talk.

Nancy looked around for a moment. It was like where she looked with her eyes were some kind of quieting beacon. All the mean whispering about me died completely, the heads poked out over their cubicles returned back down and all you could hear was everyone busily typing again.

When she was sure she had peace in the workplace again, she turned back to face me completely and gave me a really reassuring smile. I smiled back at her my nicest.

Her eyes got really big at that, as if somehow I did something wrong just with my smile. And she said, "OKAY." very slowly like she was summing me up entirely just from my smile and then finally pulled up a chair someone brought to turn around backwards to sit in it and held out her hand for me to shake.

She introduced herself, "David, I'm your new manager, Nancy."

I shook her hand. It was a very firm grip. I leaned forward to look at the name-card on her and noticed it said something else besides Nancy but she got cross when she noticed I was trying to see if that was actually her name.

She raised her voice like a teacher at me and said, "Look at me, David ! up here. Eyes here ! Ah ! Peek-a-boo ! There I am ! How about that ? We can play that game later. Okay ?"

Someone giggled from a cubicle but then tried to cover it up by fake coughing. Nancy looked over her shoulder for a minute angrily. Then she turned back to me and tucked a whisp of her pretty hair around one ear. I looked back at her.

Finally I asked, "Nancy, who else are you the manager for ?"

She replied crisply back, "Just you, but that's not important right now, David - " and every time she said David, she paused, a REALLY long time, to let me know I had better be paying attention, like in a classroom. I got used to this quickly and realized she was talking to me. But in a way I really liked it !

It was better than anyone else ever talked to me in my life ! "David - " she said again, and did that really long pause again, then she added, "Don't speak unless spoken to. Okay hun ?"

She waited to see if I would speak again. I didn't. She looked at me. It was quiet between us for nearly a minute. I didn't know if we were staring at each other or what. I finally nodded.

She smiled when I did that and congratulated me, "Thattaboy. David, that's the way we do it here. What is important is that you mind what I tell you and you are to address me as yes ma'am or Miss Nancy. You are not to talk to anyone else in this business unless they talk to you first, do I make myself clear ?"

I said, "Yes ma'am." in my best and most serious voice, and she gave me a really funny smile as if my voice sounded weird or something.

Finally she laughed and said, "Oh my God, David, I think we are definitely going to be the best of friends with this - " and she paused on the statement, "- positive business attitude - of yours."

END OF CHAPTER 3

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Featured Review

Riding the Rainbow

Wow!
This chapter was full of new details about the place of work and about David's collegues(awful, btw) and about his new Manager..Miss Nancy..
When he started to cry, I wanted to hug him so bad..I know the feeling..he felt alone and worthless..poor thing..

Posted 11 Years Ago

1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

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11 Years Ago

I don't know. You see, a LOTTA people think Nancy was mean to me. And now you're saying Dad was mean.. read more

11 Years Ago

I lived through hell and I see when something is not right..I'm sorry but Nancy wasn't nice..

11 Years Ago

Well in the fictional write of her which I'll do after I finish the mental ward, it does turn out he.. read more

Reviews

The dark story

Nice chapter. I find Nancy intriguing and quite nice. Yet I really didn't like when he cried.that was really touching.

Posted 11 Years Ago

1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

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11 Years Ago

I can thank Trudy for that - and yes, she is carried throughout the novel even when it enters the fi.. read more

11 Years Ago

yeah..she is very nice. but now that i have read gone few chapters ahead...i dont know but i think t.. read more

11 Years Ago

It's not until near the end do I realize that I am not the first, "secretary boy" for this position... read more

MandaBear

I am a little slow at reading but what I have read so far is really good. I don't know that I could handle not having sun light for to long lol I need it lol Great stuff!

Posted 11 Years Ago

1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

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11 Years Ago

I love the library I like to get history dvd's though sometimes books

11 Years Ago

I haven't been so impressed with the DVDs from the library. Since I like cartoons mostly, I'm findin.. read more

11 Years Ago

I usually get History Dvd's mostly

Ellie EM

Total page turner... :D love it

Posted 11 Years Ago

1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

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11 Years Ago

That's the power of writing at a re-read level. You write down what happens in your life, but you us.. read more

11 Years Ago

Oh okay...I gotta catch up tho! Ur writing faster than I could read! xD

11 Years Ago

I am a bit of hyper-typer, minju, most of these chapters were saved in Notepad draft format so it's .. read more

ron

I like were this is going. Dont worry about the crying, some times it happens.

Posted 11 Years Ago

1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

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11 Years Ago

Metiphoricly speaking.

11 Years Ago

Metaphorically then. :)

11 Years Ago

:) good to go. An yes I use to play Dand D.

Wall of Words

I love it! It's funny, and the detail is amazing. The way you explain each and every character! The dialogue is so real, and the whole setting is just... WOW. Haha.
You did an amazing job with this. The whole way in which you tell the story, makes all your thoughts and emotions go right into reader. When you're crying, I felt so sympathetic. I felt the hurt and humiliation and uneasiness... It was just perfectly done.
Great writing!
Sylvia.