Flirting with the HR Girl

Chapter 9

The HR office door was open, and Cynthia was seated at her desk. Todd was nowhere to be found so Jennifer assumed things were finally settled. She had stopped in the bullpen and grabbed her paperwork. She went to the file cabinet to put it away.

"Jennifer, I need you to type up our agenda for the sexual harassment training next Monday," Cynthia said not looking up from her own paperwork. "I need it as soon as possible for approval from Valerie and then we will show it to Todd. He will have to approve it as well."

"I thought the lawyers in New York were the ones who decided what our sexual harassment training should be," Jennifer said without thinking.

"Of course, they are!" Cynthia said slamming down her pen and looking up at her with fire in her eyes. "It's only to give Todd the sense that he has some say over his ridiculous ideas for this training. You and I both know that we are legally bound to complete the training according to our materials. But Todd called his director, who called his VP, and now they're all challenging HR training in general."

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize it had turned into such a big deal," Jennifer said sitting down and waiting for Cynthia to move out of the computer chair so she could work on the outline.

"Why would you?" Cynthia said waving her hands. "Todd is the only manager in the entire St. Louis area who could get away with this. And I am tired of it. Especially in this day and age, I can't imagine that anyone would want to challenge sexual harassment training."

Jennifer thought that he probably wanted to protect his friends, but she did not say that aloud to Cynthia. Her boss was already riled up enough and Jennifer didn't want to spend the next hour trying to convince her that she didn't know anything more about the old manager down in men's than she had already told her. They had spent days interviewing him along with women from throughout the store. When it was clear that he was the problem, Cynthia had acted quickly and that was one of the things Jennifer admired most about her. She knew that HR got a bad rap in the stores sometimes, but she really thought with the new director, Valerie, they would be working towards making their lives better as human resources was intended. When Cynthia got going on a rant, Jennifer also knew to keep her mouth shut and head down and it would pass.

"Well, I'm off to Chesterfield. I have to give my time to a store manager who actually values my opinion and listens to what I tell her," Cynthia said as she stood up and began to pack her bag. "If Todd gives you any grief about the HR training on Monday, you just let me know and I will deal with him."

"Will do," Jennifer said as she slid behind the computer. There was an office document already open, but it was a jumble of words that she had to make into some form of an outline. She went to Peterson's corporate site, pulled up the internal documents on sexual harassment training, and went to work. Her other work would have to wait because of a Cynthia emergency. As her assistant, it was Jennifer's job to step in and help Cynthia whenever she needed it. Unfortunately, it seemed to always come when Jennifer was busy as well. She just hoped that Todd would not show up to bug her about the training as well. She had a hard time saying no to him. He was the best salesman west of the Mississippi, after all.

"I will be back on Friday, my dear," Cynthia said with a flourish as she opened the door and bounced down the hall. She loved a good dramatic exit as much as an entrance.

Jennifer set to work finishing the outline and didn't realize the time until she heard a soft knock on her door. She glanced up and saw Austin. She knew from the immediate butterflies in her stomach that she was still in trouble, despite her newfound determination.