Temptation
It was the start of another year Down Under and with it, yet another new job. Not that I was complaining, the funds were low and more importantly, the cellar was dry. Wayne was to be my trainer for the next month. The plaque at his desk was emblazoned with “Best supporting actress.” He had apparently won that esteemed award at the Christmas office awards. He was a friendly guy. Now, I’m not being big headed or anything but I reckon he was attracted to me big style.
The sly looks at me from behind his pink-laden desk and his excuses to come over and engage me in a conversation about my plans for the weekend on the Monday were two of his more subtle approaches. I took it like a man as he was good for the coffee run and extra smoke breaks. The gas thing is I don’t even smoke!! Each weekend I would come in and tell him an elaborate tale of illicit misdemeanour involving a lucky lady but my attempts to highlight my obvious masculinity only seemed to make him more interested in the fascination that is Paul.
I was nearly a month into the job and the “training” was coming to a grinding halt. In fairness, he was brutal at his job. He let me at it after lashing through one claim while allowing me to watch. Hardly, a man who takes great pride in feeding the next generation of hungry insurance claim technicians? I was lucky that most of the claims I was to be processing were fairly similar i.e. cars hitting kangaroos.
Getting through the screens seemed to be the qualities required for this job. Luckily for me, I’m a past master at defying screen after screen, a by-product of my computer playing days. While getting through another screen, my inbox lit up. Well not so much an email but a couple of menus Wayne had invented. Being a backpacker, he had done his homework and knew that the way to ensnare me was through my stomach!
I was tempted but I turned down his kind invitation to join him in his pad for a lavish banquet. Not being one to take no for an...