Only Sad Girls Smoke

6

"And, finally, the intercom button, which you can use to reach me with, is located here." Achilles, her new, assigned assistant said, finishing his tour with a bright smile. Aliyah softly smiled at him. Having known him for about an hour now, she didn't quite understand as to how someone could be so overly optimistic and enthusiastic about everything, all the time. And, without a slip. She was quite baffled. More than that, she was not feeling too well today, but tried her best to keep up the facade that she was equally optimistic and happy. 

"Thank you, Achilles. A wonderful tour." Just as Aliyah was about to ask a question, she was interrupted by a loud, booming voice.

"Aliyah, darling, how are you finding everything?" She turned around, a smile ready on her face for her father-in-law.

"Papa, everything is wonderful. Achilles here just gave me the most informative tour, and now, I am ready to work."

"Aliyah, as much as I love hearing you refer to me with that endearment, we must keep it professional here. It's either Mr Zohair or Sir from now on."

Even though a voice inside of her head was thinking 'that was quick', she tried to make herself see the logic behind why. "Of course, Mr Zohair." She smiled, softly. Today was just not her day. She sighed internally.

"Good. Also, remember to-"

"Sir, sorry to interrupt. But, Mr. Lopez, the CEO of that shipping firm based in Lisbon that you picked out last week, is on the phone." A brunette, dressed in a white suit with her hair tied in a tidy bun, barged in, hurriedly. She had a nervous expression plastered on her stoic face and carried a mobile phone in one hand an an iPad in the other.

"Yes, and, what seems to be the problem, exactly?" Her father-in-law said in an annoyed tone.

"Sir, he only seems to be communicating in Portuguese."

"Well, aren't you proficient in many languages. Why did I hire you?"

"Sir, I can speak English, Spanish, French, German, Russia-"

"I don't have time for this. Can you or can't you speak Portuguese?" The brunette, looking very terrified, looked down at the floor. "Leave. And, hand in your resignation letter to HR and-"

"Sir, sorry to interrupt, but, I can speak Portuguese. To an extent, anyway." Aliyah interrupted, thinking it was ridiculous that the poor woman had to lose her job over not being fluent in a language, which, by the way, did not even make it to the top five most spoken languages. It was sixth. "Allow me to talk to your client."

Her father-in-law pursed his lips as he scratched his short stubble, thinking. "Ok. Sandra, hand her the phone." Aliyah, nervously took the phone offered.

"Olá, Sr. López, essa é Aliyah Zohair." She paused as he greeted her back. Aliyah continued conversing Portuguese with the businessman. He seemed quite blunt to her. She declined the call.

"Well?" Her father-in-law asked.

"Sir, there is no one under his reign that can speak English. So, I took the liberty of cancelling our contract with him."

"You did what?" Her father-in-law said angrily, as she gulped. It's fine. You have a degree in this. Breathe.

"Sir, I strongly believe that it is not a good idea to do business with such a large language barrier present. Sure, we could use Google translate, or even hire someone who speaks Portuguese. In fact, even I could take over this client. But, it can get dangerous as the contract is worth, and I am guessing here, a couple million pounds. Google doesn't always have the perfect translations, and we couldn't just give a huge project like this to a newly hired stranger. And, I am not that well versed in the language of shipping. It's just not worth it." She stated. "Sir, also, if you need a good, cost-effective shipping firm, I am very close friends with Tyrone Dumont of Dumont Trans-Atlantic. I am sure I can attain a very good deal from him." Aliyah finished, holding her breath, waiting for her father-in-law to fire her on the spot. And, on her first day, too. Today really just wasn't her day.