[PREQUEL STORY] Lyla Winslow's Rise To Head Of HR

15 Years Ago...

"Hmm. Mrs. Winslow, correct?" A mustachioed man is sitting behind a mahogany desk, papers and folders neatly stacked everywhere on top of it. He's wearing a light blue tie that goes perfectly with his dark slacks and shoes. The rest of him, however, is mostly hidden beneath his white coat. Minus the bizarre coat that made him look like he worked in medicine, he looked very professional, especially with his steely-gaze.

Lyla gulped. "Yes." She says nervously. This was her first orientation for a real job post-college.

The man nodded, saying nothing as he sorted some paperwork on his desk. Lyla looked out the window of the 5th story office. A city view was all that could be seen from there. There were skyscrapers and other buildings of similar size towering above the horizon. She took a quick breath before she came back to reality. The man's face changed expression slightly. It didn't look friendly, but it wasn't unfriendly either.

"As much as we at ADE would love to have you in..." the man paused to look at her application, "an 'executive position', we don't do that right off the bat for recent college grads." He set the application down and hit her with the steely look again.

Lyla was silent.

The man stood up and extended his hand, "However, we still have various openings around the building, if you would like to fill them. We can start you as a rotating assistant. We can evaluate your performance across the departments and then consider you for a leadership position in one of them."

Lyla perked up at that, "Oh, yes! Thank you very much!" She shook his hand firmly with a big smile on her face.

"Yes, yes. You're very welcome. Besides, one of our own heads here saw your application and he said he'd love to work with you again." The man went to put her file in a drawer. Without turning his back he said, "He's expecting you to start today, so if you would take the connection on B1 to the R&D building, or just walk there from the ground floor, you can meet him." The mustachioed man held out the elevator keycard in his hand, and she took it.

Lyla was already on cloud nine with what he had said to her, "Oh my goodness! I will get started right away!" She turned around and headed out the office. "I'm very excited!" she shouted. She bolted out of the room before they could even discuss compensation.

The man waited until she left to say anything more, then he laughed. "This generation, so eager to work." he chuckled to himself before he went back to his papers.