New York City

Working in Hashé Book Group, NYC

I was really excited. It was the first day of my job. My job interview had been taken in Maine itself through video chat.

I was the assistant editor. That was a one in million chance. People would kill for the post.

With one promotion, I would become become chief editor. Thinking about it gave me goosebumps.

I had to work hard to get that post. After all Spain wasn't made in a day, or was it Rome?

Entering the lobby of my new office was the first step.

The place was huge. The streets of New York were different too. I was loving the city. The traffic, the crowded places and practically everything about the city amazed me.
The systems in NYC were really advanced.
To get in the office, there were card swiping machines. There were at least a dozen of them with double the number of security guards. Luckily, there was a reception too.

I went to the African-American lady who was at the desk and explained my position.

She said sweetly, 'Aw honey, do you have an email or something that can support your statement?'

I said hurriedly as I checked my bag,'Yeah, I do. It's somewhere here. Got it!' I showed her the emails between me and Hashé's members.

The lady nodded her head,'Hi! I'm Mary Williams. You'll be seeing a lot of me now. Here's your card and sign at the bottom, towards the right sweetie,' she said after handing an ID card to me. 'Take this card for your entry. Trust me, you don't wanna lose it. A word of advice for you, there's a Starbucks around the corner. You should probably grab a coffee and one or two bagels. You'll need 'em for the day's work. You have an important role. There's gonna be a lot of stress. Coffee's will help you with that. Also, the food in the cafeteria is terrible,' she said with a smile.

'Thank you!' I said, returning the smile.

Next step was to visit the chief editor's office. I knocked the door and heard a male voice say,'Come in.'

I walked in feeling confident and that faded when I saw the chief editor.

He was about 6 feet 2 inches tall, with blonde hair and the greatest grin I'd ever seen. He looked like he worked out a lot. His voice was deep with an Australian accent.

His voice interrupted my daydreams,'Libby right? The new assistant editor? I am Steve Smith. Well you're lucky shortie. We usually don't take short, small town people here. You are an exception. You'll do well if you're careful. The last girl assistant I had, was fired in her first 36 hours. You look like her.'

So much for being polite. And I had thought that he was my knight in shining armour.

By short, he meant that I was 5 feet 5 inches while he was some kind of giant.
By small town, he meant where I'd just come from. The typical kind of boss. Short sighted, sexist, prejudiced, racist, stereotypical and discriminative.
I was feeling blessed on the first day of work.

'Here girlie, take this junk,' he said handing me seven files, 'and go to your office cubicle and sort them out. By that I mean type the stuff written in it in the computer. There are 13-14 pages in each file. Complete this work by today night, brunette. Else you're fired.'

Great. All I got for being Assistant Editor was a cubicle and a bunch of files. No wonder the officials were so eager to give me this post. The older one probably ran away. I was stuck here with a horrible boss for 5 years.

As soon as I sat down in the world's worst cubicle, a head popped out from the left side cubicle. It was a friendly looking girl.

She spoke first,'Heyya! I'm Sarah Allen. On your right side is my half sister Tía Costa. She's not much of a sport, but don't worry, you got me here for company. You're Libby Fisher, the new assistant editor from Maine, right?'

'You got me,' I replied.

'All the best. I think you've already tasted the bitterness of editor's attitude. He's always like this. He hates girls, blondes excluded, and is a mean piece of crap. He also hates incompetent fools and people who seem to do better than him and can get his role while he might get fired. He fires those people first, especially if it's a girl. So you have to work in average standards. Not too good and not too bad.' she said.

I smiled and said, 'As for the info about our idiotic editor, I think I've pretty much understood it all. Listen, do you have any work now?'

Sarah shook her head.

'Good,' I said as I handed a half of the files to her,'Do me a favour and type this in your computer. Then mail it to me. I'm guessing that we are working in the same department at the moment so you'll know your work. Since I didn't sign up for this, I don't know how it works. Give me an example, won't you?'

'Sure. But first, me give you a tour of the office.'

And with that, I had found a new friend in one of the the busiest city in the world.
----------------------------------------------------------–-------------------------
The longest chapter till now.
Turns out Libby will have a hard time here. Sarah is going to be her best friend.
Read carefully. You'll love the next two chapters.