Nerd Girl(20)

She extended her hand to welcome me. “Hi, Julia! We’re all so glad you’re finally here.”

“Thanks, Catherine. I’m really happy to be here,” I added genuinely.

“So did you have a good weekend?”

“Yes, I did. Thanks.” I paused but Catherine looked at me expectantly, so I added, “I took a long, three day weekend and played it pretty mellow. I went shopping and did some much-delayed spring cleaning. I had some good downtime to relax before starting the new job.”

“Good for you for taking some time to relax before the craziness.” She emphasized the word craziness.

“Did you enjoy your weekend?”

“Yes … and no,” she said thoughtfully. I could tell she was thinking of what or whomever was behind the “no” part of her answer. “I spent some of the time catching up on work. I also spent most of Sunday with my dad, which was due.”

“Well, it’s a bummer you had to work over the weekend, but spending time with your dad must’ve been nice.” It was more of a question than a statement.

“Sort of.” Catherine paused and squinted. “He’s in an adult care facility. He has Alzheimer’s. It’s not exactly what I would call fun, but it was good to spend some time with him. I don’t get to do it as often as I would like to lately.”

I was surprised, yet touched, by her honesty and her willingness to bring up such a personal topic. I empathized with her immediately. “My grandfather had Alzheimer’s while I was growing up.”

“Really?” She sounded surprised.

“Yeah, he passed away when I was sixteen, but I have a good idea of the difficulty and progression of the disease.” I gave her a knowing look that she acknowledged with a small nod and tight mouth.

“Well, fortunately, my dad’s in a really good care facility. My boyfriend helped me work through all that several years ago. So, Dad’s as comfortable as he can be at this point and being well taken care of. That’s the best I could ask for.”

I smiled back with understanding. “I’m really glad to hear that.”

I found myself speculating on what type of manager she was. Catherine had a solid professional reputation, which was one of the reasons I wanted to work for her, but it was nice to see something personal, something that showed her vulnerability. There was something reassuring about knowing that your boss had a human and emotional side to her.

“Thanks, Julia.” When she looked back up at me, her professional face was back on. The small talk was over. “So, these next few weeks are a bit crazy for me. I think I mentioned during your interview that I’d be traveling for most of August. I’ll be in Paris through this weekend and then Singapore and Japan the week after. I’m leaving tomorrow so I can get time with EMEA HQ team before they all disappear for their August holiday. I thought I would also get in a long weekend to hang out in Paris.” She winked.

Who could blame her for wanting to get a couple extra days in one of the most beautiful cities in the world? I would certainly take advantage if the opportunity ever presented itself.

She tightened her lips and continued, “I really hate doing this to you on your first week on the job, however, with GA I need to get out to the regions to make sure we’re all coordinated for the launch.”

The GA, or aka General Availability, launch date was set for late October, less than three months away. The whole company was in a frenzy anticipating the next generation of Portals.

“So, while I’m out, I have a few things I’d like for you to work on.” Catherine took her time explaining my assignments for the next couple of weeks. She needed me to update the global marketing campaign scorecard first thing. It was basically a fancy status update that required the coordination of feedback from all MS region marketing teams. The hard part was figuring out what to report in as few PowerPoint slides as possible.

“I know it might sound a bit overwhelming, but you can ask your teammates for guidance and assistance. It’s a great opportunity to start reaching out to folks in the subs and start building some of those key relationships.”

I gulped and smiled nervously at her. “Okay,” I replied bravely. “I’ll figure it out.”

Catherine wasn’t finished yet, though. “When you’re not working on the scorecard template, I’d like you to research the upgrade offer materials for Portals 8. We have a lot of digital marketing assets that you’ll need to become familiar with to provide the subsidiary teams guidance, prior to and after GA. I would also get intimately familiar with the campaign cookbook for Portals 8.” She continued to ramble on while I desperately tried to type all of my notes into my laptop. “Kyle Warren is a great resource in the US sub. He could actually give you some guidance on the scorecard, and you can review how the US sub is marketing the upgrade offer.”