Carol Pulls A Sicky !

""You won't believe it, Carol's called in sick. She ate a dodgy kebab allegedly" Diane laughed. "Why are you laughing ?" asked Aditty. "Because it's a little bit like the old Carol" Diane explained. "She persuades Debbi that they have to do it naked and then she pulls a sicky to get out of doing it herself. I was in two minds about including her anyway. I think it's best really to keep all the attention exclusively on Debbi. It's not a problem, she can do an extra turn on the catwalk to make up for Carol not being there."

"So she'll be doing eight 'costumes' now ?" chuckled Aditty. "Eight naked 'costumes', yes. I just need to rewrite what I was going to say for Carol's plus size turn" replied Diane. "Why don't we round it up to ten ?" Aditty suggested. "Why not a round dozen ?" added Stew. "Or thirteen, a baker's dozen" laughed Aditty. "Hell, why not twenty ?" cried Stew. They all laughed. "No time. But a dozen sounds good" Diane decided. "I've still got time to add some more to the script this morning."

******

Debbi was meanwhile unaware of Carol's absence. She had gone straight up to HR that morning to meet the graduate intake she was to sell the company's offer to. "Can I ask a favor Karen ?" she said to the HR manager. "Can you take them to lunch in the canteen at 1215 ? Keep them away from reception ?" "Why's that ?" Karen smiled disingenuously. "I hear there's one of our monthly events ? That sounds just the thing to show them what a fun place this can be to work." Karen was teasing Debbi. She did not know the details but from past experience and the description of 'The I.T. Manger's New Clothes', she had a good idea what to expect. "Karen, it'd be embarrassing to carry on the afternoon tour of the offices with them if they'd seen that" Debbi urged, without going into specifics. "Just kidding you. I'll keep them in the canteen" Karen agreed.

Debbi was introduced to the prospective intake and she escorted them to the board room on the upper floor, standing at the head of the table as they seated themselves. There were six of them, four male and two female. Each had been provided with a welcome pack. "You can look through those later at your leisure" she began. Debbi was dressed conservatively in a grey pinstripe suit, the skirt of which fell to just below her knee. She wore a crisp white blouse, navy blue tights and sensible shoes. She was not interviewing the candidates, they were all pre-qualified. Rather, it was her task to sell the company to them. She ran through the history and successes, helped in this regard by the well known public persona of the company's erstwhile founder Eamon. She detailed the company's current activities and outlined some of the perks of working there.

"What about career progression ?" asked one of the girls whose attitude had struck Debbi as being spikier than the others, less passive. "Isn't the pathway going to be blocked ?" she continued. "There's lots of different avenues" Debbi countered. "Project management, R& D, sales, customer liaison. And let's be honest, the idea of staying with the same company for life is very 20th century" she added, to nods of agreement."But what sort of a place is it to work at ?" the same girl asked. "Oh, it can be quite a fun environment. You know, work hard, play hard" said Debbi, hoping that she had not turned red.

"Ah, here's Karen" Debbi was relieved to see. "She's taking you to the canteen for lunch. I'm sorry I can't be with you, I've got something else on. But we'll meet back here at two" she apologized. "Before we go, may I just take a photograph of you all with Debbi for the company magazine ?" said Karen, producing her camera. The group gathered around Debbi and they all smiled dutifully for the camera. "Great" said Karen.

"Nearly two hours in the canteen seems a bit of a bore" the troublesome girl opined as they headed to the door. "I was given this leaflet on my way in; 'The I.T.Manager's New Clothes.' Can't we go and see what that's all about instead?" she requested. "Er. I don't want you all to get hungry" Debbi objected desperately. "I'm not that hungry" one of the boys said. "And we'll still have time to grab a bite surely ?" "Yeah, let's go see what this is" agreed the other girl, taking the leaflet and looking it over. "Sorry" Karen mouthed silently at Debbi.