Reserved Attraction – Part 1

It had been raining for the past few days and it was frustrating Samuel who had always hated wet days. He didn't like the feeling of wetness as it meant untidiness. You see, Samuel was a clean freak and he liked to keep himself dry and clean. In fact, he was such a perfectionist that he liked everything to be kept neat and tidy.

Samuel worked in a multi-national logistics company as its assistant marketing manager. He had recently been promoted to the managerial post just after three years as a marketing executive. He had always been an industrious worker who took pride in doing his job well. He had proven himself to be a reliable employee and had been in the good book of his senior manager. However, the same could not be said of his relationship with his fellow workers. They felt that he was a weirdo whose working table was too clean and too neat for comfort.

"A couple of students from the polytechnic will be here tomorrow for attachment and I want you to guide them," said his senior marketing manager.

It was common to have polytechnic students coming to his company for their job attachment and Samuel had even worked along side some of them. But it would his first time playing the role of a mentor and he wasn't sure if he was up to it. He wanted to decline the assignment but felt that it wouldn't be appropriate to do so especially when he had only just started climbing the management ladder.

Samuel began to panic as he didn't want to make a fool of himself both in front of his colleagues and the trainees. He went round seeking the advice from those who had done it before. But much to his disappointment, they weren't of much help or they weren't willing to offer any. The main idea he got was that he just needed to keep the students busy with the routine paperwork and to give them endless assignments so as to give them a taste of the real 'working world'.

That night, Samuel wasn't able to get to sleep. He was turning and twisting, worrying that he wouldn't be a good mentor. He tried to visualise how the encounter would turn out but the harder he tried the more disturbed he became. He decided to get into office early the next morning to do some role-playing with a couple of his subordinates who played along reluctantly.

It was about nine o'clock when the senior marketing manager appeared in front of his cubicle with two young ladies. He introduced them to Samuel and told them that he would be their babysitter during their short stint at the company. The youth introduced themselves. Sufen and Shirlyn. Both were attending the same logistics course at NYP and were glad to be doing the attachment together.

Samuel began by telling them a bit about the history of his company and briefed them on their scope of work. The gals listened attentively to Samuel, trying hard to hide their nervousness. Sufen was the first to break the ice and asked some other related questions. Next, Samuel took them for a short tour of the premises and ended it by showing them to their table. Once settled down, both youngsters heaved a sigh of relief. And so did Samuel as he made his way back to his cubicle.