A good first day [Cara]

[jillaroo]

The woman at the front desk had given her directions on where to go, and Julianne had flown back to her car and dropped off her rucksack. This place was so big; she thought it would take her ages to figure out where everything was. But at least the barns had been easy enough to find. She walked briskly, since the receptionist had mentioned Katherine Carr was often busy and hard to get hold of.

Katherine Carr. Julianne turned the name over in her mind, wondering what her new boss would be like. She was so engrossed in her thoughts she almost missed a turn. She came to suddenly, when she realised her mistake, and looking around to see if anyone had been watching, Julianne ducked down onto a short hallway. It was early in the morning and it seemed most of the students were in class. She was only grateful she wouldn’t have an audience for her first day.

Julianne stood outside the door and waited. It sounded like the woman was talking on the phone, and she felt like she would be intruding if she walked in. She had worked enough back in Virginia to know it was important to start off on the right foot at a new job. So instead she knocked at the door, blushing red with embarrassment when she realised how loud it sounded.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Katherine was in the middle of a conversation with her spirited daughter who was ranting about a new insturctor they had for their jumping class. "Calm down, Demi." She said softly into the phone. "Just becasue you have had one disagreement with your instructor does not mean you are going to throw your whole live away." She held the phone away from her ear as Demeter replied. "You have a week coming up where you can come and stay here. Don't bring your horses, just come to Blue Ridge and chill out a little. Maybe you can help out some of the students here." She looked up as there was a knock on the door and remembered that a new barn worker was starting today. "You know that I love you, and I respect you to make the right decisions. I look forward to seeing you soon. Bye Dem." She replaced the phone in it's cradle and shook her head at the way her youngest got fired up so easily, when the girl's twin brother was so mellow about everything he did.

She looked up at the door with a smile already on her face. "You can come in." She called.

[jillaroo]

Julianne shoved her hands into her pant pockets. She took them back out when she realised it didn’t look very businesslike. Glancing down at her watch, she saw it hadn’t even been two minutes. She was just about to knock again, when suddenly a voice called out to come in.

Julianne pushed open the door, and peeked in. Even though she’d done this a hundred times before, she still couldn’t push aside the nervous twinge in her stomach. But Julianne thought it was a good thing the woman was smiling, at least she didn’t look like she was annoyed at being interrupted while on the phone. Julianne relaxed a bit. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

It seemed the woman was waiting for her to say something, and as the silence dragged on, Julianne blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Hi, I’m Julianne Sippel. I hope I ..um, haven’t come at a bad time.” Sometimes, she thought with a grimace, her own worst enemy was her mouth. It was always getting her into trouble.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Katherine gave a gentle laugh. "Not at all, Julianne." She said as she motioned for the woman to enter and take a seat. "My daughter attends another academy and has just had a fall-out with her new jumping instructor. And because of this is willing to throw away her talent."

She folded her hands on the desk in front of her and raised her eyebrows in askance. "I understand that you are here to help out in the upkeep of our barns? Tell me about your strengths, please." Katherine decided that she had used the wrong choice of words as this wasn't and interview, the woman had already had one of them, but the senior manager wanted to hear what Julianne felt her strengths were and how they would help her with her job, as it would also give Katherine a good idea of what jobs the new hand could handle.

[jillaroo]

Julianne wasn’t sure whether she was supposed to answer or not. She opened her mouth and then closed it, and instead, only smiled at Katherine. The woman was regarding her carefully now, and Julianne smoothed down the front of her white blouse. The woman's question caught her off guard, and her mind went blank. Julianne furrowed her brows, trying to figure out what to say. She’d never been good at talking, and now here was Katherine waiting patiently for an answer.

Julianne gulped. She squirmed uncomfortably where she stood. Oh well, here goes nothing, she thought and crossed her fingers behind her back. “I suppose I’ve worked at a lot of barns back in Virginia so I know how to handle myself in this kind of environment. I guess I would call myself a perfectionist, but I don’t know, I just like to do things right the first time around.” She trailed off, glancing at the woman for help. This was even worse than the interview! At least then she’d had time to think of what to say.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Katherine pressed her lips together when she saw how uncomfortable she had made the woman who had entered her domain. "I am sorry, making you wish the ground would open up and swallow you was not my intention." She said with a warm smile. "It is good to know that you like doing things right the first time, it stops a lot of double handling. It is also good that you have a bit of work like this in the past as it saves me having to talk you through the job." She steepled her hands and rested her chin on her fingers. "The students here are responsible for the care and well-being of their own horses so you won't have to worry about cleaning out every single box. They are allowed to ask for help every so often, especially when there is a show coming up, but I want to hear the instant you find yourself cleaning up after the same student time and time again." She pressed her lips together as she thought of whatelse needed to be mentioned. "There is a mare in this barn, Phoenix. All of her care is done by her owner as Phoenix doesn't take too nicely to anyone other than her owner, Cara. English or Western?"

[jillaroo]

Julianne was overcome with relief when the woman stopped her mid-sentence. She tried to keep a straight face, but her blue eyes sparkled with amusement, and she had to look down at her shoes to keep from smiling. “It’s okay. I’m not very good at explaining things,” she admitted truthfully. “But everything you’ve told me sounds fine. I don’t mind pitching in anytime you need help. I’ve been working enough that I’m used to long hours and early starts.”

The woman mentioned something about one of the horses, and Julianne blinked at the sudden change in conversation. “Oh, I used to compete a lot back in high school," she ventured carefully. “But I took a break when I went to college and have only just gotten back into it. I was hoping to one day make the shortlist for the Olympic team, but for now, real life comes first.” Julianne shrugged. “I guess everyone realises some time or another that dreams don’t really pay the bills, and it’s so hard trying to find a sponsor.”

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Katherine laughed. "No, dreams don't pay the bills." She agreed sagely. "But they sure help keep you going when you have the worst job on the face of the Earth." She had done so many menial jobs to help her pay her way through college and if it hadn't been for her dream of what she wanted to do in the future, she didn't think she would have ever made it through college, and if she'd dropped out of college she wouldn't have two beautiful children and she wouldn't be here.

"If you ever feel the need to ride the horses, there are a number of school horses that would love a little attention, a few that would even love to see a competition or two." She smiled and raised her eyebrows. "I think that's about everything. Since you've done this job before I'm not going to walk you through everything. There's the normal list in the feed room of the quantities the horses get and their stalls are all numbered like the chart. I'll let you go and get yourself settled into your apartment. Unless you have any questions of course?"