This story was not written by me but inspired by me to Author Kyle. I have lost touch with Kyle and hope my submitting this we can reconnect
I always imagined myself becoming a business tycoon when I graduated from college. I went to a prestigious and somewhat costly business school in the midwest and felt that would be enough to land me a great position where my dreams and aspirations would take off. When everything went to hell in 2008 I was left unemployed by the economic downturn and my company's decision to downsize because of it. I had been out of school just three years and already had lost my first job at a brokerage firm. It was not long after this that I began putting together an updated resume and I started shopping myself around to a number of companies. As many of you know though, the competition was rough. There were a lot of people competing for a smell number of jobs at the time and it never seemed I could get past the first interview.
All hope seemed lost until I got a call from an old college buddy of mine, George. We had been part of the same class and become good friends when we found out we had many of the same classes. He had gone on to earn his Master's degree and had secured a great position at his dad's company as the head of their midwest division. He told me he saw my resume online and that although he did not have a position really worthy of my skill set that he was looking for a personal assistant. "It's at least something until you find another job or until something opens up around here." he said as we spoke on the phone. George had always been that guy that you could not help but envy. He came from a wealthy family and everything seemed to be laid out for him since birth. Not to mention the fact that he was also graced with great looks, athletic body, and a knack for killing with the ladies. I can't tell you how many times I came back and saw a sock on the outside of his door meaning for his roommate to stay out because he was getting lucky again. The only thing about George that was a little off putting was the subtle jabs he would take at some of us who did not quite have the wealth or resources that he did. Any chance he could point out how he was better than the rest of us he took. It really worked on some of the guy's confidence. I'm actually sort of surprised he was not punched out but instead the opposite seemed to happen. These guys seemed eager to please George in any way possible. They would go to his classes and take notes for him, clean his room, and I even caught one guy removing the mud and shining up his soccer cleats. I thought that he was probably getting paid but learned that he was doing it to "pay back a favor". I can't imagine what the favor must have been. Some of the tasks like the cleat cleaning seemed a little degrading and I was glad I never let George push me around like his servant.
So I decide to some in and at least talk to him about the job of being his assistant. I was a little scared of what the job might entail but then I remembered that this was a professional environment. How bad could he treat me? Especially since we were old buddies.
The place was spectacular. I had never been into the building but had seen it from the highway many times. George of course had a spectacular office, the kind I dreamed of having some day. "Kyle, so nice to see you again buddy!" he said enthusiastically as I entered his office. I took a seat and shot the shit for a bit and then talk turned to the job. "Actually about 25 other people applied for this job. I was rather surprised but with this job market I probably shouldn't have been. I was actually about to hire somebody that I thought would have been perfect but then I saw you were out of work, so I figured what the hell."
"So what exactly would I be doing?"
"Well, you basically would be my assistant. There would be some secretarial work like typing e-mails, getting me coffee, filing documents. You also would be learning the business which I see you have some pretty good references so you should have no trouble picking it up. There will be many days when I will expect you to take on some of my work load. As you probably remember I do not like working hard if possible." We both sort of laughed at this knowing it to be true. This sent me to another flashback of my college days. Ryan was a middle class kid with not a lot of money but he had got a full ride scholarship and was making something of himself. He seemed to be George's personal assistant. I can recall him doing his laundry, typing papers, cleaning George's room. It all seemed odd but nobody made a big deal about it. I wondered if I would be subject to anything degrading. Then I reassured myself that there would be nothing out of the ordinary.
The first day was pretty routine. The work was not challenging in the least. George showed me a number of things that I would be responsible for and I grasped them pretty quick. He seemed quite pleased by the development. "Kyle, I think you are going to work out just fine as my assistant." With that he slipped his feet out of his loafers and actually rested them on his desk. He has brown socks that matched his brown slacks and I could smell the perfume of his large meaty feet. George was definitely an alpha male and didn't care if others were offended by his foot scent. He was at the top of the food chain and flaunted it. One of his subordinates came in while we were talking to drop off some work that had been done. He stared at George's feet while he looked at the work. " Tony you will have to rework this, it still is not up to standard. Oh and by the way my loafers need polished. You wouldn't mind would you?" I could not believe it. Tony came around to the side of his desk picked up George's loafers and took them with him presumably back to his desk. "That dude will do anything I tell him. You need some guys like that around. That is why I hired you." We both laughed, me a little uncomfortably.
To be continued.
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