The world of work “So,” Francesca smiled, pouring them all coffee, “How can I help you?” Effie Arbon, not content with constantly bugging her with her frankly inane attempts at running charity events had now also roped her into speaking with her sister. It was something to do with work. The middle Arbon wanted it, and she was the world’s expert, apparently.
“I’m looking for work,” Delphine began. She had asked Effie to set up this meeting, seeing as her sister knew Francesca a little from their Sonora days, and had been getting to know her more since. However, she found the other witch somewhat cold and intimidating, and wasn’t sure at all how to begin with her request. She had quickly realised that the intermittent translation work she was getting, and the relatively poor rate of pay she was receiving for it, were not going to be enough to sustain her and Araceli. Her goal was to get a proper, salaried job in enough time to be comfortably settled into her own apartment by the time their sister graduated, so that she didn’t have to return to the poisonous atmosphere of their family home. “But I don’t really know where to begin. Where to find jobs.. How to present myself. What I can expect to earn. We weren’t taught those things growing up. You were.”
Francesca softened. Certainly, she did not regard her progression through life as simple or straightforward. She had had to earn her place at university, and it was very demanding. She would likely spend most of her career trying twice as hard to prove herself half as good as the men in her field, and so she had stopped counting, or perhaps never noticed, the many advantages she had been given simply by the way she raised. The expectation that, however hard, she would achieve these things, and the path as to how to do so laid out transparently before her.
“And what makes you want to work?” she asked, genuinely curious.
“You work,” Delphine retorted, unsure why someone in Francesca’s position, of all people, was questioning her on this.
“As you point out, I was raised to,” Francesca replied. “But forgive me - I didn’t mean to be impertinent towards you. I merely wondered what caused such a turnaround in attitude. It’s one I find admirable, and I will do my best to help you.”