Weekend with the CEO

I now have an intern with links to the boss

boss

If she were any other intern, I would give her a hard time, but since she is connected to the boss, I think is better that I keep my mouth firmly shut. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The last couple of days have been very interesting for me thanks to my intern. It all started two weeks ago, when the HR manager sent me an email saying, “we have noticed that you have a heavy workload and my need some help. In view of the current recruitment freeze, we will provide you with an intern who can help you with the more mundane tasks, she will start on the first week of October.”

I was taken aback by this email because I stopped whining about my workload on the advice of Shiro who told me that I must “demonstrate that I have bandwidth to take on as much work as possible.”

I called the HR manager and asked her, “I want to understand where this is coming from? I did not request for an intern.”

She then provided the full account of what happened. From her accounts, the CEO approached her asking if she could help him get an internship for one of his friend’s daughter who is on holiday from the UK.

I asked her,” why did you choose me?” She responded, “the girl has studied finance, so I thought she will learn from you and since you sit next to the boss, he can see how she is doing.”

I realised that this was a done deal and there was no use protesting about what had already happened.

On the day the intern was scheduled to start work, I made sure I arrive bright and early to make sure that all she needs was ready. I even went and bought some nice coffee and muffins from a nearby Java to make sure she had a good experience. Come 9am, she had not shown up and so I called the HR manager and asked if the intern (found out that her name is Brenda) was planning to show up. The HR manager assured me that she would be coming soon so I needed to be a bit more patient.

I decided to focus on my work since I have quite several reports to prepare. At about 9.40am a security guard walked into my office in the company of a young lady and said, “huyu ni mgeni wako.” I looked up to see this very sophisticated looking lady who was carrying a massive handbag and had placed some designer shades atop her weave (thanks to Shiro, I can differentiate between a weave and real hair).

She reached out and said, “Hi, I am Brenda. Sorry I got late, I kinda overslept and traffic got the better of me.”

To be honest, Brenda looks like she earns way more than I do. I decided to let the lateness on the first day pass and decided to take her through the initial paces and gave her a brief description of what I do.” Initially, she seemed interested in what I was saying but after some time she reached out for her phone and started texting. I had to tell her, “Brenda, you need to get off your phone so that you understand what I am talking about.” She smiled at me and said,” do not worry, I am multi-tasking, I can hear you.”

Well since then, my last two weeks have been somewhat interesting. On some days, Brenda shows up nice and early and manages to get a lot of work done. On other days, she shows up past 9 and tells me that she has a “hangover” and so I “should go easy on her.”

If she were any other intern, I would give her a hard time, but since she is connected to the boss, I think is better that I keep my mouth firmly shut. I also noticed that she drives a rather swanky Mercedes and so she clearly is in a different league from me.