A Servant of the Company Read Online Free Page B

no longer called her Carol, but Miss Barcroft. The new owners did not want any of the staff as they had their own. There was the minimum redundancy payment plus holiday pay which would not last long. She needed a new job, and quickly to avoid losing her home.
    Of all the jobs applied for, only R.L.G. (1948) Ltd. had offered an interview. The others either remained unanswered or were regrets. She was prepared for some rejections but this was soul destroying. The timing of her redundancy could not have been worse. The country was on the brink of a catastrophic recession.
    ‘You’ll do Carol,’ she said to herself and set off with time to spare for her interview. She was travelling by bus which stopped close to the flat and would take her to within three hundred yards of the hotel where the interviews were being held.
    Things were going well. The rain had stopped, and the sun was making an effort to break through the clouds. And the bus arrived on time. Ten minutes later she stepped off the bus which gave her twenty minutes to walk to the hotel, visit the toilet and be prepared for the interview.
    Avoiding a large hole in the cracked pavement she almost bumped into an elderly lady walking in front of her. The lady appeared unsteady and suddenly she cried out, staggered across the pavement, clutched at a railing and slid to the ground. Carol was shocked into action. Trying to get a response from the lady she soon realised that the cause of the fall was serious. Her face was ashen and her mouth open trying to breathe.
    Carol was joined by another passer-by and between them they made the lady as comfortable as possible before Carol called for an ambulance on her mobile phone. Things did not look good and Carol thought the lady might have had a heart attack. The traffic was particularly heavy at that time in the morning and it seemed an age before she heard the sound of an ambulance siren followed by that of a police car. The ambulance crew quickly took charge of the situation and soon had the casualty on a stretcher, into the ambulance and off to the hospital. A policeman asked Carol and her fellow helper to give statements about the incident which took some time. Picking up her bag which she had left by the railings she then checked her watch and was shocked to see her interview time had passed. Quickly removing her shoes she ran as fast as she could to the hotel.
    In the foyer she saw the notice board detailing daily events and read that R.L.G. interviews were on the fourth floor. Dashing to the lift, she pressed buttons for both lifts. Nothing happened, one was stationary on the seventh floor, the other in the basement where Carol could hear noise of heavy items being loaded onto or off the lift. There was nothing for it but to find the staircase and run.
    On the fourth floor she saw the reception desk with an R.L.G. logo standing at one side of it. The middle aged lady sitting at the desk looked up from the paperwork she was holding and glared at Carol.
    ‘Good morning, I’m Carol Barcroft. Terribly sorry I’m late but ...’ She didn’t have time to finish the sentence before the woman cut in aggressively.
    ‘I know your type, can’t get out of bed in the morning. Can’t think how you can expect to get a job with our Company. You will have to wait until all the other interviews are finished then Mr Collins might see you. If it’s after five I’m afraid you will have missed it.’
    Carol was furious, the anger showing on her face. ‘My God, if there are people like you in the business I wouldn’t want to work for your company. I see that’s my application you have there.’ Carol reached over, picked up her application form and spun around towards the lift where the doors were just opening. The receptionist sat open mouthed watching Carol’s retreating back. By the time she had reached the ground floor her anger had turned to outrage. She would have her revenge. Calling at the reception desk she asked a member of