Yes Chef, No Chef - By Susan Willis Page 0,44
name if you were a girl.”
Katie had heard this story a hundred times but smiled while she drove slowly listening patiently to her.
“He’d just finished reading a novel where the heroine was called Katie and stated that if you were born a girl then that’s what we would call you…”
Katie pulled up outside the bingo hall and taking her hand from the gear stick she reassuring squeezed her mum’s hand before she got out of the car. “You’ll just be in time for the last game,” she called out to her then turned and waved goodbye.
The next morning Frances had rung to say she wouldn’t be into work until later because her mouth was still sore from the dentist’s handy-work and Katie had told her to take it easy. Therefore, when she anxiously made her way along to personnel for the meeting she still had no idea what it was all about. She sat down opposite from David Shaw in the small windowless room and smiled tentatively at him. Susan arrived soon behind her and sat next to David facing her and immediately asked how she was settling into Claire’s flat. Katie assured her it was fine and then decided the atmosphere, whilst not exactly tense, seemed a little strained, almost as though they were waiting for something big to happen.
David was in his early sixties with a large face and huge bushy eyebrows that she often thought would actually start knitting together if they weren’t kept trimmed apart. He folded his big, chubby hands together in front of him on the desk and tried to smile convincingly at her.
It didn’t work and the hairs on the back of Katie’s neck stood up and her palms began to sweat - she clasped her hands together under the table to stop them trembling. Something awful was going to be said she could just feel it and her mind raced, wondering if she’d done something horribly wrong with one of the projects.
David started telling her what a brilliant team leader she was and the contribution she made on a daily basis to the department was exemplary and thanked her for the application for the project manager’s role. She breathed deeply deciding after this praise she couldn’t have made any huge blunders but shuffled uneasily on the plastic chair - her whole body was perspiring now in trepidation.
“But, unfortunately the decision to recruit anyone for the post has been taken out of my hands and no applicants are to be selected,” he explained. “Our chief exec has parachuted in a high flier with vast expertise in project managing, albeit not in a food category,” he said and then deliberately avoided any eye contact with her.
She couldn’t believe it and looked wildly between him and Susan.
David grunted trying to clear his throat. “Erm, apparently he came in yesterday and was interviewed by the MD and our personnel director who have decided that his outside experience and promise of new strategies will be a fantastic asset to the new advertising campaign and in turn, the company.”
This couldn’t be happening her mind screamed, after all the hard work she’d put into the department they were bringing in someone else over her head. Was it legal she thought frantically, but there again, who in their right mind was going to argue with the MD and chief executive?
She stared hard at Susan who although in size, shape, and colouring was the total opposite to Frances, she did have the same protruding grey eyes. They were downcast now as though she too couldn’t bring herself to look Katie in the eye and she stared at the white parting in Susan’s hair where the black colour had once been. Susan continued with more babble about how sorry they were that on this occasion promotion was not an option but that she must rest assured her application had been noted and that she would always be the first to be told about any future advancement.
David stood up to leave. “So, I know I can count upon you to welcome him onto the team when he arrives next month,” he said picking his folder up from the table. “Now, if you’ll both excuse me I have to be at another meeting in five minutes.”
Katie stared at him hurrying through the doorway and still felt too shocked to comprehend or say anything back to either of them. Susan then stood up and mumbled an apology and muttered that she’d only found out this