Chapter 5
‘Don’t sound too devastated,’ my mum says with a laugh.
‘Sorry, Mum, it’s not that I don’t love the idea of living around you all again,’ I reply. ‘It’s just that moving home feels like so, so many steps backwards.’
‘People move all the time,’ she reminds me. ‘It’s merely a coincidence that we’re already here.’
‘Except it isn’t,’ I remind her. ‘I’m moving there because you won’t charge me rent.’
‘We bloody will,’ Dad calls out from the background – what a fun way to find out I’m on speaker.
‘We won’t,’ Mum practically whispers. ‘Plus, it means you will definitely be here for your grandad’s birthday, and maybe you can patch things up with Hannah?’
‘Hannah doesn’t want a patch-up, she wants a punch-up,’ I joke – well, half joke. I’ll bet she’d love to hit me.
‘She’ll come around,’ Mum tries to reassure me.
‘She’ll – oh, Mum, I’ve got a call coming through, can I ring you back, please?’ I say.
‘Of course – go,’ she replies.
I go straight from one call to another.
‘Hello?’ I say.
‘Hello, Liberty? It’s Paige Pool. We met earlier today,’ she replies.
Do I act like I’m excited to hear from her? Do I play it cool? Do I pretend I’m trying to remember her? What do I do?
‘Paige, hello,’ I reply. ‘I hope you’ve had a productive day.’
Oh, the cringe. What am I doing?
‘Yes, thank you,’ she replies. ‘I’ve found someone for the assistant position.’
Crap.
‘Great,’ I reply. ‘That’s great…’
‘It’s you,’ she replies. ‘Although I’m sure you’ve already figured that out.’
I really hadn’t, I’m not that optimistic.
‘That’s fantastic news,’ I reply. ‘I accept.’
‘Well, wait until you hear the job description first,’ she says – now that doesn’t sound good.
‘So, we are in the process of taking Matcher worldwide. It’s been a slow process, but we’re starting to feel like we have a good base in all of our key territories; however, our focus at the moment is on growth. The competition is tough.’
‘I understand,’ I tell her, because I do, in the vaguest sense.
‘So, we send teams to different locations, for a number of reasons,’ she continues. ‘I need you to be on standby, in case I need you to go anywhere and… assist. Presumably, you’re okay with travel? You have a passport?’
‘Yes,’ I say, as calmly as I can. I clear my throat. ‘Yes, that all sounds fine.’
What I want to do is jump up and down screaming with glee because not only do I have a job, but it sounds amazing.
‘I’m going to send you an email with all of the details, everything we need to set you up as an employee here, requesting all of the various things I’ll need to set up potential trips for you.
I’ll also send you a link to our staff network.
We’re on WorkM8, I’m sure you’ve used it at your other jobs. ’
I haven’t.
‘Sounds great,’ I reply.
‘But, for now, if you could just make yourself a silly username – most people have one – and only observe. Get a read on the dynamics. No posting in forums, just read. Only until you’ve met everyone in person. We have a strict rule about no dating amongst employees. It’s a recipe for disaster.’
I hear that.
‘Yeah, sure, okay, so when do you want me in the office?’ I ask.
‘I don’t,’ she says quickly. ‘I need you to be on call, for when we do need you, for trips. We’ll get you set up in the office soon enough but, for now, this is what we need you for.’
‘But… will I still be paid? Or is it freelance?’ I check.
I suppose I’ll have to accept it either way but it’s not ideal.
‘You’ll be paid,’ she replies. ‘It will all be in the welcome pack so have a read, send me what I need from you, join the group – and welcome to the Matcher family.’
‘Thanks so much,’ I reply. ‘I really appreciate the opportunity.’
‘Well, given your skills, and your honesty, you’re exactly the sort of person we need,’ she says. ‘So, go celebrate.’
‘I will, thank you.’
I need to ring my mum and tell her the good news – and the bad news, I guess, because now I don’t have to move back home.
Not yet, anyway. First, though, I’m straight into my emails, to see the details of the job.
Okay, wow, it pays better than my last job, and I’m going to get to travel, and right now I don’t have to do anything, just wait, and get paid. What a dream!
I download WorkM8, which looks like an app lots of businesses must use, and sign up. NewGirl feels like a good username, for now, given that I’m not supposed to be interacting with anyone.
I click around the different threads, reading what people are saying, and it does seem like a nice place to work. Everyone seems happy.
MrLoveByte
Hello, NewGirl
A private message pops up from nowhere. Am I… allowed to reply to this? Was it only posting publicly that I wasn’t supposed to do?
MrLoveByte
Welcome to the team!
I feel bad, ignoring him. I’ll keep it short and sweet, I’m sure that’s fine.
NewGirl
Thanks!
I’ll leave it at that. I already feel like I’m part of a team, though, and I’m excited. I have a job and not just any job, but what seems like it’s going to be a great job. Perhaps my luck is about to change – and, ironically, because of Matcher again. Hopefully for good reasons this time though.