Chapter 5 #2
‘Well’ – he hunched his shoulders and I steeled mine for what was to come – ‘you see, that’s not how we do things around here, is it? It’s a bit like poaching a client.’
‘It’s not poaching a client; you’ve still got the big fat fish. I’m just picking up the minnow.’
‘The minnow that’s already attached by line to the other fish.’
I gritted my teeth. The annual billing for Mackenzie would be about a twentieth of that of P perhaps it was for show, like everything else.
‘Fine. I’ll message the client and let them know that you’ll be taking over, and I’ll send you over the contract for you to review. ’
I could imagine what Mags would say when she heard about this.
The same thing she always said, that this was another sign that the two of us should start our own business.
We were never going to get anywhere here.
No matter how hard we worked, we couldn’t escape the fact that we didn’t belong to the same club.
We were the wrong sex. We’d been to the wrong schools.
‘That’s great. Thank you, Lucy, for being so understanding. I’m sure that you’ll find another client to bring on board. You’re so good at finding new business.’
‘Hmm,’ I said. I wish the same could be said for keeping it; there often seemed reasons to move them to someone with more capacity or someone with a corner office.
‘Anyway, send it across and I’ll introduce myself ASAP, let them know that they’re being handled by a senior account manager; those kind of titles always impress people. Makes them think that they’re getting that extra special treatment, don’t you think?’
‘I personally think all my clients are happy with me. I haven’t had any complaints.’
Francis laughed, and I smirked back. Mags was right, we needed to get out of here.
‘I’ll go and do that all right now,’ I said.
‘That’s great. And if you want to send over any of the account work you’ve already done. Brainstormed ideas, initial proposals, that would of course be helpful.’
‘I’m sure it would.’ I wondered if he wanted blood next.
‘Great, thanks, Lucy.’
He turned his attention back to his PC.
I walked back across the office and with each step I took I felt angrier and angrier at the injustice of it all.
I’d been over the moon to get on the graduate scheme at a London marketing firm, which was a stepping stone to an account manager role along with a decent wage, pension and bonuses. But sometimes I wondered if the financial stability was worth all the crap that came with it.
I took the long way back to my desk, so I could sneak over to the sales department where Mags worked.
‘What’s Fucking Francis done now?’
‘How could you tell?’
She patted the top of her desk for me to perch on.
‘The flaring nostrils. What is it?’
‘Oh, just the usual,’ I said with a sigh. ‘He took my new client because they’re a subsidiary of P he doesn’t need to scoop them all up.’
‘It’s all point-scoring, isn’t it?’
‘You just know he’s going to outsource all the work to you.’
‘Yep, I do all the work, but this way he gets all the credit.’
Mags took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes.
‘You know what we’ve got to do, don’t you?’
I nodded my head.
‘One day, Mags, one day.’
She rubbed her glasses clean and slid them back on.
‘They’re a nice shape; are they new?’
‘Hmm,’ she said, ‘I bought them off the internet.’
‘Since when can you buy glasses off the internet?’
‘I got them from the States, about half the price that they are in the opticians here.’
‘They’re nice.’
‘Thanks,’ she said. ‘But stop distracting me.’
‘What?’
‘Complimenting me on my glasses. I know what you’re doing, missy. You want me to stop talking about you know what.’
It was true, it made me nervous when she hinted at leaving the company whilst we were at the office.
I got nervous enough when we talked about it outside of work.
I might hate working with Francis, but there was something to be said for having a steady job.
One that paid well. I was earning enough to start paying back my student loan, unlike a lot of my friends, and I rented a flat in Battersea that was light and bright without a hint of mould.
I couldn’t see how I could still do that and have seed money to start a company.
Let alone coming up with an idea that’s good enough to be viable.
‘When you come up with the million-pound idea,’ I said, with a shrug.
‘You’ll be the first to know.’
I started to shift uncomfortably in my seat wondering if I’d be brave enough to make the jump with her when the time came. I got the impression that it wouldn’t be long before she thought of something, I’d never met anyone quite so determined.
‘Just be ready for when I work it all out.’
‘Yeah, yeah.’
I headed back towards my desk and what would presumably be a cold coffee by now, because that was just the kind of day I was having.