A friendly-looking girl with large glasses was standing next to Anne's cubicle.
"Hi, I'm Rebecca. I noticed you just started and I wanted to say hi."
Anne nodded and greeted the bubbly young woman back. "Hello, I'm Anne Thompson."
"Anne, it's wonderful to have you here. I hope we can get to continue working together for a very long time." As Rebecca said this, someone suddenly coughed in the office as if they were holding back a laugh, but when Anne looked up, everyone was still focused on their work.
"If you need any help, come to me, okay? I'll be over there." Rebecca pointed at her own cubicle.
"Alright, thank you." Anne returned her smile, watching as Rebecca returned to her seat.
Why does everyone in this department seem so friendly? Anne was already beginning to get overwhelmed by their kindness.
For the rest of the day, Anne carried out the work assigned to her and went to the cafeteria during lunch break. It was around five p.m, when work was almost over, someone suddenly exclaimed,
"It's already five, what are you still doing here?" When Anne raised her head, she found the girl who'd introduced herself as Rebecca a while ago.
"Oh, I'm... Clara said to wait for the team dinner."
Rebecca immediately shook her head. "Clara must have forgotten to tell you. Every newbie has to make a big contribution in order to prove themselves before they can fully be accepted into this department. Why do you think Clara hasn't introduced you to everyone yet?"
"Uhm..."
"Come with me." Rebecca didn't give her a chance to react and just dragged her away.
"Listen, I don't want you to lose the job you've just gotten, but Clara takes employee contributions to the team very seriously. She needs to know you're worth keeping. You know there's a second team of PR and they've been competing with us. To be fully accepted into PR Team A, you have to prove yourself. Every one of us went through this when we first came here, and you should too because I don't want you to have to leave so soon."
Anne didn't find anything Rebecca said suspicious. She'd seen how Clara seemed to praise anyone who worked hard at the office.
"What do I need to do?"
"You just need to represent our team at the public relations department in securing some of our investors who seem to want to pull out. To accomplish this task, you just need to have good social skills. If you can convince the investor to not just stay but invest more, Clara will be very impressed with you."
Due to how trusting Anne was whenever she saw a kind smile on someone's face, she didn't find any of Rebecca's words suspicious.
Anne had gone through the files that contained names and information about all the investors. She nodded thoughtfully as her mind began to spin.
"Mr. Caleb Scott and Joshua Briggs are the two investors recorded to most likely pull out this year due to unsettled differences between them and the company. If I can convince them..."
"That would be wonderful! Mr. Scott and Mr. Briggs are the most difficult to convince. If you manage to do that, we might even be rewarded for it." Rebecca instantly spoke upon hearing those names. Anne only saw excitement in her eyes, missing the devious glint hidden beneath.
"Then I'll start working on it tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" Rebecca exclaimed, as if the idea of waiting till the next day was appalling.
"Look, if you ask me, the only way to appeal to someone is during their downtime. If you go tomorrow during business hours, then they'll just dismiss you like they always do to us all. I think you should go now. Matt can get you intel on their current locations. You know, as public relations staff, we have to be thick-skinned. Make sure to find them even if they don't want to see you."
Anne felt genuinely touched by how nicely Rebecca was helping her.
She was someone who was usually slow in making friends, hence she appreciated how Rebecca made it easier for her.
"Matt, we need info on investors Scott and Briggs for the evening."
Mathew was busy typing away on his laptop when he heard that. He turned to Rebecca with eyes wide.
"Scott and Briggs?" he exclaimed, then, noticing Anne was around, he quickly quelled the shocked look in his eyes. "Sure thing," he said with a chuckle before he continued typing and gave Anne a location afterward.
Mathew: [Damn Becky, you're so bad. You sent her to Scott and Briggs right off the bat? And we thought she would last a week. Will she even be able to submit her resignation tomorrow after going to Scott and Briggs? They'll work her to exhaustion.]
Jessica: [Wait, Becky sent the new girl to Scott and Briggs so soon? I thought we were going to ruffle her feathers a bit before going for the ultimate kill?]
Rebecca: [Guys, it wasn't me. It's not my fault she actually went through the files Clara gave her. The idiot mentioned Scott and Briggs by herself.]
Lukas: [The newbie was actually serious about her job. She actually went through the files so diligently and chose some of our top investors.]
Rebecca: [I so can't wait! I wish we could get to watch everything go down live. Scott and Briggs are going to ruin her.]
Mathew: [But guys, what do we tell Clara?]
Jessica: [We'll come up with something. Working in this department is so exciting. I wish they would bring newbies every day so we can have our fun dealing with them.]
A year ago, Anne had dropped out of college in her final year of studying marketing. It was a memory Anne hated revisiting.
Due to the fact that her qualifications weren't complete, she hadn't been able to land any jobs other than waitressing and bar hostess, or personal assistants. This was actually the first time she'd managed to land a stable, moderately earning job, and she would keep it no matter what. She didn't want to just be seen as someone riding others' coattails—she wanted to prove that she deserved the position.
From all the multiple theories of marketing Anne could use to approach this problem, she chose to go with her own method.
Before going to the Nightscale, the location Matt had given her, Anne went to the washroom first.
In order to keep an investor, it was imperative one studied their likes and dislikes.
She ruffled up her hair, tying it up in a wavy ponytail, applied a little bit of color to her cheeks before leaving. But when she arrived, she was shocked to realize that Nightscale was a rowdy club.