My
maps cataloguing project that I was assigned to down in the Dungeon is at an end. It took twice as long as the original month that had been scheduled, and I was feeling a little wary as I tramped up to Mrs Kambaa's office for a 'debrief'.
"Shut the door please Natalie."
Argh! No! I shut the door, fearing the worst.
"Take a seat."
I did.
"Now, Natalie, first of all, I'd like to thank you for the excellent work you've done with the maps over the last two months. Both myself and Mrs Liddesdale have been most impressed with your thoroughness and attention to detail."
"Oh, thank you."
"As such, we've dipped into the miscellaneous budget and have found enough spare change to award you a bonus for your work. We thought a $100 voucher for
World might be of some use to you."
"Wow! Really? Wow, thanks. Yes it would."
"Now we're not normally in the habit of giving out bonuses, so we'd prefer it if you kept this to yourself."
"Of course."
Strictly between me and my blog.
"Now, Mrs Strathsprey is back from maternity leave, so there's no need to move your secondment hours back to cataloguing, but it seems a waste to be using your talents on front-desk duty all day, so I've chatted with Mr Nonsuch of the web-team, and he seems to think you'd be able to help push through some initiatives they're working on at present."
"Great."
"The new responsibilities will come with a movement up in your salary band..."
Woo-hoo!
"...and will necessitate a review of your employment contract. Here's the amended contract, you might want to take it away to study in your own good time. There's nothing unexpected in there, just make sure you've read it through and pop it back to Mrs Liddesdale when you've signed it in the appropriate places."
Mrs Kambaa gave me the contract, and then we chatted a bit about the maps project, which made me realise that despite how lazy I'd felt doing the work, how much I
had actually achieved. Mrs Kambaa congratulated me again on the work, and showed me out of her office. I caught the lift down to the ground floor and skipped my way merrily to returns where I was due a shift, when I nearly tripped over Artemis, who was staggering out of the children's non-fiction section with his latest haul of books.
"Artemis!"
"Natalie. How are you?"
"Very well! And you, up-to-speed on
library security?"
"Or lack of, you mean."
"Er, well, perhaps. I meant to ask you what the interest was."
"Just that. Interest."
"You're not planning on robbing us, are you Artemis?"
"I would never rob a library, too little return for too great a risk."
"What would you rob, then?"
"Ah, well, there are several options."
At which point he realised he had, perhaps, said too much, and changed the subject...
"Natalie, would you still like to see that map I drew?"
"Very much."
"Can I meet you on Friday?"
"Sure. Just pop in and ask for me."
"How about at the cafe?"
"Um, yeah, suits me. I get a break about half past three. Can you make it by then?"
"Yes."
"You won't be robbing any banks before then I hope, Artemis?"
"No."
"Good. See you Friday."
"Yes. Goodbye Natalie."
He lurched off with his haul of books towards the issues counter, and I spent the rest of the afternoon wondering just what scheme he
is working on.
Roll on Friday!
[
continued here... ]
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maps [
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