Mark seemed to shrug off her rudeness. Perhaps she was always bolshy.
‘Much as I’d love to take full credit for Corum, it wasn’t my decision to buy it. Because I’m not that stupid, contrary to what you’re all thinking. Wendy?’
‘Email crashed again overnight but it seems to be OK. The server went down but hopefully we’re all OK now.’
Mark nodded and looked at Anthony. ‘What about you?’
Anthony gave a dramatic sigh. ‘Six laptops to fix. Two have broken screens, one had Cherry Coke poured on to the keyboard, two have broken power sockets and one was dropped down the stairs.’
‘Accidentally, we presume?’ said Mark, turning to look at Violet. ‘So, that’s it. Any questions?’
She tried to figure it all out. ‘How many sales reps are there?’
His eyebrows shot up. ‘Good question. About five hundred in total. They’re all field-based around the country so you never get to meet them. Some will ring twenty times a day. Some you’ll never hear from. Most of the younger reps seem pretty clued up about computers but the older reps resent having to use anything modern.’
‘So everyone’s got a laptop?’
‘And a printer.’
Violet thought hard once more. ‘And we answer questions on everything?’
Mark nodded. ‘Absolutely. They’ll call if something’s not working or they don’t know how to use or find a certain function on the laptop. But don’t worry. Just pick up the phone and then pass it on to one of the other guys. If they’re busy, take a message and tell them we’ll get back to them. OK?’
She nodded.
He pointed at the black telephone on her desk. ‘That’s the hotline. It’ll always ring at your desk first, although anyone can pick it up.’
Violet jumped as the phone suddenly rang and looked up at Mark. ‘What do I say?’ she asked, feeling panic stricken.
‘“Good morning, Hotline” is normally a good start,’ he said, grinning at her. ‘Go on. Off you go.’
Oh God. She wasn’t ready for this. But he was watching so she picked up the ringing telephone and spoke into the handset.
‘Good morning, Hotline,’ stuttered Violet.
‘Thank God! You’ve got to help me!’ screamed a woman down the line. ‘I can’t believe what’s happening! My screen has gone mad! It’s swirling around and around. I think it’s going to explode! There’s something wrong with it. It’s a brand-new laptop – it shouldn’t be doing this. You’ve got to sort it out!’
How was she supposed to handle this? Thankfully, the woman took a breath in which Violet managed to interrupt with, ‘Could you hold for one moment, please?’
She covered the mouthpiece with her hand and looked up at Mark. ‘She says her screen has gone mad. It’s swirling around and it’s brand new.’
He took the phone from her and spoke.
‘Hello? Who’s this? Hi, Mary. OK, what happened?’ Mark suddenly broke into a smile. ‘That’s your screen-saver. If you nudge the mouse slightly it will disappear. You see? Well, it’s for security so nobody can see what’s on your screen. It’ll appear when you leave the computer for a long time. That’s OK. You’re welcome.’
He put the phone down and shook his head. ‘Welcome to the department. You’ve just had your first hopeless case. If you need confirmation, look at Anthony’s mouse mat.’
He gave her a quick smile that lit up his face before going into his office and closing the door.
This left Violet alone with the other three members of the department. Her desk was opposite Anthony’s. She could just see his eyes above the low partition between them.
‘You wanna see?’ he said, holding up his mouse mat high above the partition.
It read, ‘BANG HEAD HERE’.
She smiled at the joke.
‘You wait,’ said Wendy, from the desk next to Anthony’s. ‘I had someone ask me how to play the other side of a CD yesterday.’
‘Do you know anything about computers?’ barked Julie.
‘I’ve used Windows and Microsoft Office,’ Violet told her.
She sniffed. ‘That won’t get us far.’
‘That’s a wealth of knowledge compared to Felicity,’ said Wendy. ‘She couldn’t even switch her own computer on, let alone help anyone else with theirs.’
‘We’ll see,’ sniffed Julie.
Violet shrank back in her chair and stared at the phone as it rang out once more. With a deep breath, she picked it up and said, ‘Good morning, Hotline.’
‘Hi,’ said the male voice at the other end of the line. ‘I’m trying to print but the computer says it can’t find the printer. I need someone to fix it now!’
‘Could you please hold,’ said Violet and covered the mouthpiece once more.
She thought back to Mark’s descriptions and guessed that Anthony was probably the most likely recipient for the phone call.
Wendy leant across her desk. ‘Do you want me to show you how to transfer a call?’
Violet sighed with relief. ‘Yes, please.’
Wendy showed her how and Violet transferred the call to Anthony’s desk.
‘What?’ he said, looking at Violet as he picked up the phone.
‘This customer has a problem with his printer,’ she told him.
He sighed and pressed a button on his handset.
‘Can I help you?’ he said, his tone no different to the snappy one he had used on Violet.
Anthony listened for a minute before speaking. ‘Is the printer switched on?’ Another pause. ‘Well, you have to let it warm up first.’ Finally, ‘You’re welcome.’
Anthony slammed down the headset, muttering, ‘They really are useless. I’m too busy for these idiots.’
It seemed to be a general theme within the department as the morning went on. Everyone appeared to be overworked, each of them sighing whenever a call was passed on to them. Especially Julie.
After yet another growl and scowl in her direction, Violet fled in the direction of the coffee machines. She had just got a Mars bar out of the vending machine when Wendy came into the kitchen.
‘Sorry if we’re all a bit tetchy,’ she said, smiling. ‘There’s always so much work to do. It’s crazy. They keep taking on more and more sales reps but don’t add any more staff to the department. I think Mark’s pulling his hair out.’
Violet took a sip of coffee.
‘And don’t worry about Julie,’ she carried on. ‘Felicity used to drive her mad. She’ll tar you with the same brush but Ant and I think you’re a big step in the right direction. At least you can answer the phone!’
‘Thanks,’ muttered Violet.
But the compliment didn’t sit well. Did she mean a big step or just big?
Violet took a big bite of Mars bar and pushed the thought away. Hopefully she would be able to prove to Julie that she could do this job. And maybe she could prove it to herself at the same time.
Chapter Nine
THIS WAS IT. D-Day. It was Friday and the first day of Violet’s diet.
Write down everything you eat, said the New You! leaflet. Her list for today was going to read cereal bar, milkshake and some kind of healthy dinner that she hadn’t quite got round to thinking about yet.
As soon as the hotline phone was silent, she got the cereal bar out of her handbag and stared down at it. Apparently it had zero fat. She took a bite. Zero taste too. The cereal bar fell apart as soon as she touched it and scattered crumbs all over the desk.
Violet sighed and crunched on the bar without enjoyment.
Mark had been talking to Anthony about some new laptops and glanced across at her over the partition.
‘Looks like that stuff you insulate your loft with,’ he told her with a frown on his face.
Violet swallowed hard. Tasted like it too.
Her boss shook his head and went away again.
Wendy peered around the corner. ‘Is that Dr Shaker’s Dream Bar?’
Violet shook her head. But Wendy was wa
iting expectantly so she had to carry on. ‘I’ve joined a New You! Club,’ she said, very quietly.
‘Ooh! You’ll have to tell me how you get on,’ said Wendy. ‘I’m desperate to lose my baby weight.’
Wendy was tiny and didn’t really need to diet.
‘What’s for lunch?’ asked Wendy.
‘Some kind of shake.’
‘The strawberry ones normally taste better than the chocolate ones.’
Two hours later, Violet decided that Wendy was wrong. The lunchtime strawberry shake tasted bad. It looked bad. And the smell was pretty grim too.
The diet booklet had suggested making every meal an event so Violet had poured it into a plastic cup. Poured might have been an exaggeration. It had sort of plopped out of the carton in one gooey mass. She contemplated slicing one bit off at a time but in the end decided to gulp it down. The goo lodged in her throat and Violet was close to gagging by the time she got to the end.
Feeling sick, she glanced up as Mark headed past the desks.
‘What is this? Weird things you can eat at work day?’
Violet shook her head. ‘Lunch.’
‘Want me to garnish it with a Crunchie bar?’
She scowled at him. ‘No, thank you.’
Yes! screamed her body, as he carried on walking away. For the love of God, yes!
Time passed quickly on the hotline. Suddenly it was Friday afternoon and everyone was talking about their plans for the weekend. Violet kept quiet and listened in, as normal. She wasn’t sure what Sebastian had planned for their weekend.
The phone rang but she had managed to quell her fear of the hotline. Each time, she picked up the phone, listened to the problem and passed on the call. It wasn’t exactly taxing on the brain. Plus the customers had no idea what Violet looked like so that was another big worry off her hands.
Violet picked up the receiver. ‘Good afternoon, Hotline.’
‘For God’s sake!’ shouted the male voice down the phone. ‘This laptop you’ve given me is bloody useless! What kind of crap is this? It fails all the time. I want a brand-new one sent to me this afternoon.’
Violet looked up but Anthony was away from his desk.
She took a deep breath. ‘I’m sorry but the person you need to speak to isn’t here at the moment. Can I take your name and ask him to call you back?’
‘For God’s sake!’ shouted the man. ‘What’s the point in ringing if there’s no one there to help. Christ! A five-year-old has got more brains than you …’
On and on he raged and Violet shrank lower and lower in her seat. The customer was very aggressive and getting nastier by the minute. She bit her lip, trying not to cry.
‘And another thing—’ shouted the man.
But he never got to finish. The receiver was suddenly snatched out of her hand by Mark, whom she hadn’t realised had been standing nearby. He listened for a minute before putting the phone down, cutting the line.
Violet was shocked. The man would ring back even madder, surely? She stared up at Mark, who shook his head at her.
The hotline rang but Mark held up his hand and picked up the phone himself.
‘Yes?’ he snapped. He listened for a short while before speaking. ‘If you ever talk to my staff like that again, I’ll have you sacked and then I’ll hunt you down and cut your balls off with a rather blunt knife. Understand?’
Then he slammed the phone down and muttered what sounded like swear words in a foreign language.
Violet was still upset but had managed not to cry by biting down on her lip.
Mark perched on the edge of her desk and looked down at her.
‘Look, you’re going to get idiots like that from time to time,’ he said gently. ‘But you don’t have to listen to them. You don’t take that kind of crap from anyone, OK?’
He sat close to her until Violet had no choice but to raise her eyes to meet his. He looked at her for a moment, his sea-green eyes holding hers. Then he walked away, leaving her to stew over his words.
On Saturday morning, Violet lay in bed and waved the third finger on her left hand. It was a week since she had become engaged to Sebastian and she was still getting used to wearing the ring.
‘You like it?’ said Sebastian, lying on his side and watching her. ‘Do you know what we should do to celebrate?’
Violet’s mind flitted briefly towards the chocolate gateau in Marks & Spencer.
‘We should go and tell my parents.’
The chocolate cake exploded.
‘Really?’ Violet stammered.
‘Absolutely. After all, they’re going to be your family too, aren’t they?’
Violet hadn’t quite realised that was part of getting engaged. It wasn’t that Sebastian’s family were unpleasant. At least, not in an obvious way. They just made her feel uncomfortable. But perhaps marrying their son would change all that.
So Violet gave Sebastian a fake smile and nodded enthusiastically.
They arrived at his parents’ house just before noon.
As Sebastian rang the doorbell, Violet wiped her sweaty hands on her trousers and fixed a smile on her face.
The door was thrown open with a cry of ‘Darling!’ Sebastian was then swept into a smothering hug by his mother. Miriam Parkes was very slim and perfectly coiffed. She finally released her son and glanced over to give Violet a large smile. But it didn’t reach her eyes.
‘Hello, Violet,’ she said in her posh voice. ‘How are you? Do come in, both of you.’
Sebastian’s mother Miriam always sounded as if she had been born with a plum in her mouth but she and her husband only lived in a suburban semi. It was all cream carpets, gold accessories and china tea cups.
Donald, Sebastian’s father, put down his Saturday Telegraph and glanced up.
‘Hello,’ he said, standing to greet them.
He shook his son’s hand awkwardly before doing his normal dither of whether to hug or kiss Violet. In the end, they did neither and just smiled at each other in embarrassment.
‘Do sit down, everyone,’ said Miriam. ‘Coffee?’
Sebastian and his father tiptoed the conversation around the previous weekend’s football results whilst Miriam fussed around in the kitchen.
She eventually returned with a tray laden with cups and plates full of Victoria sponge.
Sebastian grabbed his drink and took a large glug of coffee. ‘Needed that,’ he said, leaning back against the sofa.
Miriam tutted and shook her head. ‘They work you too hard at that office. You must rest properly, darling.’
Sebastian smiled. ‘I’m fine, Mum.’
Sebastian was always fussed over by his mother. He was the crown prince, the only child of a couple who had started their family late in life. Therefore, he was adored and smothered in equal measure.
‘You had that flu in December and the body needs time to recover. Especially a gentle constitution like yours. Did you get that echinacea I sent you? Your immune system will still be fragile and you mustn’t catch another cold otherwise you’ll be suffering for months to come.’
Sebastian put down his cup and took Violet’s hand in his. She hoped he didn’t notice how sweaty it was from nerves.
‘Enough of the doom-and-gloom talk. I have some good news for you.’ He smiled at his parents.
Miriam’s face clicked up in expectation.
‘Violet and I are engaged!’ said Sebastian with a flourish.
‘Darling!’ cried his mother, leaping up from his chair to hug her son. ‘How wonderful!’
‘Yes,’ barked Donald, staying put in his seat. ‘Congratulations, son.’
Miriam then gave Violet a very awkward hug before moving quickly back to her armchair.
‘When’s the big day?’ asked Miriam.
Sebastian and Violet looked at each other. They hadn’t got round to planning the wedding day yet.
‘Not sure,’ said Sebastian. ‘We only got engaged a week ago.’
‘And you didn’t cal
l before now?’ said Miriam with a pout.
‘We wanted to come and tell you face to face,’ said Sebastian, knowing how to placate his mother.
Miriam nodded. ‘Of course,’ she said, smiling once more.
‘Where were you thinking of having the reception?’ asked Donald.
Violet had thought of a few ideas regarding the big day and turned to say as much to Miriam but Sebastian placed a hand on her knee. ‘I’ll answer that, darling.’
Violet nodded. Of course. This was his family. It was right that he should be the one discussing the details with them.
‘Actually we were wondering if you had any ideas,’ Sebastian said.
Violet was stunned. Why did they need to ask Sebastian’s parents for ideas?
Miriam smiled at her son. ‘Well, you’ll get married at St Winifred’s, naturally.’
Sebastian nodded.
‘So the reception can be at the Hyde Country Club.’
‘Good choice,’ said Donald, nodding.
In fact, everyone was nodding with approval. Apart from Violet, who had never even heard of these places.
She looked up and found Miriam watching her.
‘Obviously, I know the unfortunate story of your parents,’ said Miriam. ‘Have you any other family to help with the arrangements?’
Violet took a deep intake of breath. But Miriam was right. There was no one. She shook her head.
‘Oh dear,’ cooed Miriam. ‘Well, we’ll cope. And I suppose we could fill your half of the church with some of the more distant members of our family. Great-uncle Geoffrey, for example.’
‘Absolutely,’ said Sebastian.
Miriam turned to face Donald. ‘A lot of the aunts and uncles are getting on a bit so the heat of summer is really out of the question. Autumn is a busy time for me, what with the bazaar and flower festival.’
‘Indeed,’ murmured Donald.
Violet glanced across at Sebastian but he was staying silent. She couldn’t believe he was going to let his parents choose the venue and now the date for their wedding.
‘I know!’ said Miriam. ‘New Year’s Eve. The Christmas rush at church will be over. It’ll be lovely with the tree and we won’t have to buy flowers for the church. Plus we won’t have to attend John’s dreadful New Year’s Eve party for the tenth year running.’
The Desperate Bride’s Diet Club Page 6