The Sales Assistant

Chapter 1

Bradlee Morris made her way through the office, stopping when she reached the annex. It was fairly empty other than Toby- who Bradlee met at her interview, a peppy looking woman and young man who looked to be about her age. Clearing her throat, Bradlee tapped the young man on the shoulder and took a step back.

Ryan swiveled around on his chair, looking irritably at the person who interrupted him. Expecting it to have been Dwight, Ryan was shocked to see someone unfamiliar. After a few seconds of awkwardly staring at each other, Bradlee cleared her throat once more and said "Uhm- hi there, are you Ryan?" Ryan nodded, standing up so that him and the unfamiliar woman were face-to-face. When he didn't make to say anything, Bradlee continued, sticking out her hand. "Nice to meet you Ryan. I'm Bradlee Morris, your sales assistant." Ryan shook Bradlee's hand, not quite understanding what she was talking about.

"Sales assistant? What do you mean?" he asked. Before Bradlee could explain, the peppy woman got out of her chair and ran over to the two of them. "So you work here now? That is so awesome! It'll be so awesome to have another woman in the office! Will you be here in the annex? Awesome! I'm Kelly! Ryan's my boyfriend." Ryan sighed, dropping his head into his hands.

Unsure of what to say to that, Bradlee smiled and nodded. "Yeah, nice to meet you Kelly, I'm Bradlee Morris, Ryan's sales assistant." Kelly eagerly shook her hand and then said to Ryan, "I didn't know you were getting a sales assistant- that's awesome! What's a sales assistant?"

Ryan shrugged. "I didn't know I was getting one either..." he replied with obvious confusion. "Wait, Michael didn't tell you?" Bradlee asked, surpised. Ryan laughed, "Apparently not."

"Hmm- alright, well then I better get explaining!" Bradlee exclaimed akwardly. "So you've never made a sale. But Michael doesn't want to fire you- likley because he thinks you have the personality of a good sales person." To that, Ryan rolled his eyes. That is definitley not why Michael's kept him at Dunder Mifflin. "That's where I come in. I can persuade absoulutely anyone into doing whatever I want. Based on a few pieces of information about a person, I know exactly what needs to be done in order to have them buy a product. But I have no social skills and cannot read people. So, in order to utilise my persuasion tactics, I need a middle man- someone who deals with the human interactions. That, Ryan, is you."

Kelly's jaw dropped. "You can really do that? That is so awesome! Show us! Show us!" Bradlee smiled. "Sure, tell me a few things about Toby." Ryan scoffed. "There's not much to know. He never says much. He's divorced and has a daughter. I think he has a thing for Pam- the receptionist. Michael hates him and he acts depressed all the time."

Bradlee grinned. "Oh too easy. Kelly, you talk a lot so I'm sure he is used to tuning you out. Ryan- you'll have to be the one to talk to him. Excellent practice for us working together. So, you'll go over to Toby and say something like 'hey man, what are you doing tonight?'. He'll answer and no doubt he's free, then you'll say- 'Kelly and I are going on a date tonight but she really wants to make it a double date. We haven't been on one before. Do you know of a couple who is free tonight?'. Toby will not have a couple in mind, which leads you to say, "that's too bad, hey it's too bad you aren't seeing someone- it would've been nice to have you there. After all, you are one of my favourite co-workers.'. Saying this will make Toby feel good about himself. You say 'hey, you should ask Pam to go with you! She was totally eyeing you when you came in this morning and I've I heard she's really great with kids.' and then you've got him, he'll go ask her out."

When Bradlee finished sharing her plan of action, Ryan and Kelly were staring at her slack-jawed. "What are you waiting for Ryan, go try it out!" Kelly said, giving him a push. Ryan reluctantly made his way over to Toby, and Bradlee decided to get to know a bit more about her new partner during his abscense. "So Kelly, what's Ryan like?" As soon as Kelly took a large inhale of breath, Bradlee knew she made a grave mistake.

Five minutes later, Ryan returned- Kelly still rambling on about him, and lead the two girls over to the kitchen door to show them his accomplishment. There, at the reception desk talking to Pam, was Toby Flenderson. "Oh my god- Ryan isn't this so cool! Bradlee did that!!!!"

"Uh yeah- very cool." Bradlee smiled to herself, pleased that she impressed her new co-workers. "We should probably head back to our desks before he returns though," she said. They all hurried back to their desks and shortly after, Toby approached them. "Hey Ryan, sorry we won't be joining you two tonight. She said no." Ryan nodded uncomfortably while Toby walked away. As soon as he was out of sight, Kelly began freaking out. "He actually asked! Bradlee, you made him ask! You and I are going to be best friends, I've decided! Wow this is awesome!" Ryan grabbed Kelly's hand. "Calm down Kel, Bradlee and I should probably get to work now." Reluctantly, Kelly went back to her desk and Bradlee pulled up a chair to Ryan's desk.

"Michael said we had to share a desk," she reasoned. "Oh," Ryan replied. "So how long are you here for? It's a temporary partnership, right?" Bradlee's face fell. "No, it's a permanent thing. As long as you work here, so do I. Please try to keep your job, alright," she joked. Bradlee was a little upset that Ryan seemed to be so against working with her, but based on the information she got from Kelly, she knew exactly how to change that.