Chapter 10
JEREMIAH
“You know you can meet all of these people in the second round of interviews in less than an hour, right?” Neil asked, walking into the canteen beside me.
I hadn’t been planning on having lunch with the groups, but then I thought dropping in on them could be fun. Weed out the people who got flustered at me right from the outset. Two birds, one stone.
I smirked, sniffing the air in the staff canteen and pleasantly surprised by the aromas. “I know, but where’s the fun in the expected?”
“I’m all for fun,” Neil argued. The man did love himself a good time when he was away from the office. “But you’ll scare them away like this, and there are some great options.”
“They don’t belong here if they scare that easily.” Might be doing some of them a favor.
The canteen was set up with tables seating four to six people at each table. Mary Jane and Arlene divided the second-round candidates into groups and staggered their meal times to give me some time to get through the rounds immediately after lunch before they were all done.
As always, the two had done a brilliant job. Some candidates were already finished with their lunch and were now just chatting while others were still waiting in line to dish up. Scanning the room, I realized there were way more people who made it to the second round than I’d hoped there would be.
Men and women dressed in vastly different interpretations of professional occupied the room. The men mostly wore suits, but then there were a few who opted for jeans and button-down shirts and one guy who was wearing cargo pants. Pass.
I didn’t even have to talk to him to know he wasn’t going to hit the mark. If I started a company, sure. Shorts and T-shirts for everyone if you weren’t in meetings or seeing investors. But this wasn’t my company.
My old man would have a coronary if I pitched at the investors meeting with a guy wearing sandals or jeans. I mentally eliminated a few more men on similar grounds.
A girl wearing half a dress walked past me, her skirt so short I don’t know how she was going to sit down without exposing herself. Hard pass.
There were several candidates I would fuck at a club but wasn’t willing to work with for a day in my life. Just looking at them made alarm sirens go off in my head. I didn’t want a repeat of Jannie. She was and still is a nightmare.
Neil stood next to me, watching my appraisal. “There are some interesting looking ones, huh?”
“What happened to ugly and married only?”
“Couldn’t get it past the board,” Neil said, only half-joking. “Something about discriminatory practices being frowned upon.”
“Fuck discrimination. Young, beautiful single girls shouldn’t work for young, beautiful single men. Or vice versa, for that matter. It’s not good for productivity.”
“Firstly, never let HR hear you say fuck discrimination.” Neil was teasing, even though he knew exactly what I meant. “Secondly, you should be fine then. It’s the ruggedly handsome men like myself who would have problems.”
I shot him a glare, scratching the tip of my nose with my middle finger to get my point across. “Let’s go meet some of these people, shall we?”
Neil shrugged. “I met most of them, but sure. Let’s go. Hey, you know how when you pass a car wreck people know they shouldn’t look, but they always do?”
“Yeah?”
“Watching you with these candidates is going to be like that.” He was borderline gleeful about the prospect. “I can’t wait.”
Neil was like a second big brother to me growing up. More so now that Jack was gone. Times like these reminded me exactly why.
We approached the first group, and Neil introduced me. He couldn’t remember all the candidates’ names so he stepped back. The bastard was really only going to watch.
“Mr. Williams,” a buxom redhead crooned. “It’s so nice to meet you. Would you mind signing this napkin for me? My mom loves you.”
Her mom? She was younger than I was. Pass.
Another girl at her table sat up a little straighter, pushing her breasts out until they were straining against her shirt. I didn’t know if she realized it, but her nipples were rock hard. “Jeremiah, lovely of you to come to lunch.”
What was this? A Sunday afternoon get together? Pass.
Two guys sat at their table, both of them in decent suits. Their handshakes were firm, but as soon as the first one opened his mouth, he dropped off my list. “Dude, awesome to meet you. It’s always been a bit of a fantasy of mine to grab some shots with you and your crew.”