The Executive

Let me preface this story with a small and somewhat interesting sidenote. The receptionist at my office recently retired, and her job was posted on our careers site. Now, our building is a relatively new building, and the best part about it is the entry way (super tall ceilings, nothing but glass so as to enjoy the occasional sunny day). I've often walked by the receptionist thinking thoughts closely resembling jealousy. Silly, I know. Or maybe not. Because of the less than 500 people in my building, there were over 90 people who applied for the receptionist job. 90 people??!! What this says to me is our entry way is either the best one in the history of entry ways, or there are a lot of people who want out of their current jobs. For the record, I did not apply, but a friend of mine did, and she got the position. And being a friend of the receptionist means I'm sometimes privy to certain information. Like the following story about a certain executive who I (luckily) just missed when I went down to the gym the other day.

We've brought in several customers this week, all executives at what are very large companies, and because we want to keep them happy, they are naturally being given the star treatment...limousines and all. So when a certain executive decided he wanted to use our little gym during lunch, he came out in a huff and complained to the receptionist when he saw that there were no towels in there. "You're out of towels!" he said. To which she informed him that we do not provide towels. There are cleaners and paper towels for the machines, but we don't actually provide bath towels for everyone to use. This was not acceptable to the executive. He needed a towel, he was going to have a towel, we were going to provide him with a towel. Not really sure how he expected the receptionist to produce a towel out of thin air. Personally, I would have given him a dish towel from the cafeteria. As it was, we ended up sending someone to JC Penney to buy a towel and a bar of soap and bring it back to him. Maybe it's just me, but I find this whole thing ridiculous, and had I known who I was passing as we walked by each other (me going into the gym and him coming out), I might have glared a little. Or at least asked him where he got his towel.

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