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Tweak says, "Batskates!"

Lucy Spinks (addingvalue) wrote in finnigans_rpg,
@ 2015-03-25 14:27:00

Entry tags:

character: lucy spinks, character: richard summerby

Job Prospects
Who: Lucy and Richard
What: Talking about employment options
Where: Office of International Exports LTD
When: Wednesday 25th March, 1.30pm
Rating: SFW

It had been a hell of a week. Actually, on consideration it had been a hell of a month - even a hell of a year. Ever since her unfortunate bout of Vanishing Sickness, Lucy had been scrambling to keep her life together. She'd been seriously considering a move back to the wizarding world for some time - but Monday had been the catalyst. She'd have preferred to do it all more slowly, think out her options, make sure she had a job and a place to live before quitting but it become more and more difficult to maintain two lives and when she'd quit on the spur of the moment on Monday afternoon, she'd only felt the relief of having finally faced the inevitable. And as it turned out, it looked like things were falling into place more quickly than she'd have thought possible. Susan had a spare room - more than just a room, really, which Lucy was still trying to wrap her head around - and she'd had offers of help with the job situation from Alicia and Susan, as well as Rich.

Her biggest concern now was how much magic she'd be expected to do during the course of her work in the wizarding world. Simple spells worked sometimes, more complicated ones hardly ever. She doubted she'd be able to work at the Fawley Foundation under those circumstances, and was hesitant about employment with the ministry which had never been all that supportive. International Exports was a different matter. They had a fax machine, actual muggle technology, which Lucy hoped would mean the office was run more on electricity than magic. Leaving magic out of it, her qualifications were good - she was organised, cheerful, financially savvy and great at anything numbers-related. She'd dressed in her 'interview suit', just to make a good impression, and she arrived a little after half one at the address Rich had given her. After checking in with the receptionist she was told to wait.

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the_richard
2015-03-31 04:05 pm UTC (link)

"That will have to do then," he nodded.

"Bank holidays?" Rich couldn't help but chuckle. "It's that whole world is round, time zones, our holidays aren't theirs thing. International Exports hasn't shut completely down in a couple of hundred years. I'm available twenty-four-seven-three-sixty-five. If you decide to stick with this madhouse, I'm hoping after training you'll be able to spell Millicent and I with taking over some of the on-call days. On the other hand, all time off is paid and we do our best to set things up so everybody has at least two days a week completely free, and more time off if we hit a lull."

His smile took a wry twist. "Tax men. The Dementors of the business world. It gets... complicated. I'll schedule you for some time with the tax boffins in Accounting. I maintain a presense in both worlds, so I pay taxes and fees in both, but there are the appropriate forms that more or less keep you from having to pay double taxes if you want to do the same." Rich picked up a sheaf of paperwork from his desk. "P&L and budget predictions, have a look if you like. By my most pessimistic estimates you should come close to a half mil this year; I can get you an appointment with the outside firm I use to keep you in good with both governments."

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addingvalue
2015-04-01 01:11 pm UTC (link)

So much for having a nice four-day weekend to get her life sorted in, then. Lucy didn't mind too much, she hadn't been planning on going home for Easter anyway, though she normally did. Things were just too chaotic now, she needed a few weeks to really come to terms with the massive change she'd made in her life. "Doesn't sound too bad," she said, smiling. She wasn't going to pretend to be thrilled - but two near-guaranteed days off a week was more than she'd got in her first job, and of course the pay was significantly better.

"It's something I need to find out about," she said, thinking about taxes, and the possible benefits of or reasons for paying in both worlds. She didn't intend to completely abandon the muggle world, after all, so she'd have to give it some consideration before she decided. She reached for the papers he offered, glancing through for now, but making a mental note to take some time to look over them when she had a moment. "Thank god I'm good at not getting my paperwork in a tangle," she said. Even the prospect of a combination of muggle and wizarding forms to fill out didn't daunt her too much - especially since she'd be getting advice.

"Anything else I need to know?" she asked, finishing the last of her coffee. "I'm sure I'll have more questions, but I don't know what they are right now."

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the_richard
2015-04-02 03:23 am UTC (link)

"Not much more," Richard replied, shaking his head. "But, maybe the most important thing you should know is how we do business. Ethics. You'll come across a few 'handshake' deals jotted down on a bit of paper. Our clients trust us enough to do them because our word is always our bond. Written contracts may be fairly finely detailed, but there're no lawyerish weasel clauses. Everything is straight forward and fair. Now that doesn't mean we won't charge extra for rush or special services, but everything is plainly spelled out. We don't ever lie to the customers or each other. I, we, pay our bills on time, and even give the tax man his exact due. Charity, or pro bono work, or even just giving somebody a hand up... sometimes, it's just the right thing to do. And maybe that sort of sums it all up; if there's some choice that has to be made, choose the right thing to do."

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addingvalue
2015-04-02 12:46 pm UTC (link)

Though it hadn't occurred to her to ask - Lucy was still reassured by the answer. "I assumed as much," she admitted. Perhaps she was a little naive in the ways of business. Though her first employers had been by no means particularly fair or above board with their staff, they hadn't been cheats, and she'd been working in charity ever since. "For a start, Hufflepuff, and then if you were being underhand you probably wouldn't be interested in hiring someone with my background." Not to mention, Rich had offered to help her out despite not really knowing her personally - and that spoke to a certain amount of good ethics.

"I think it's going to be a good change," she said, feeling more certain of that now than she'd felt this morning. Actually having a concrete job to step into and knowing more about how it would all work was doing a great deal to ease the anxiety she'd felt about throwing her life into chaos. "Thank you, by the way. For taking an interest in the first place."

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the_richard
2015-04-03 01:44 am UTC (link)

"Yeah, we'll... Don't put too much faith in the Hufflepuff thing. Bloody Hat tossed around Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff for me. Didn't really understand why until the war years. It's a long story, part of which has to do with why for a pureblood I'm so at home in the muggle world. Maybe I'll clue you in some day over a couple of wine bottles."

He shrugged. "As far as your special case... I was in Auror training when He-Who-Pushes-Up-Daisies' crew took over. I saw all the Quislings. So, any excuse is a good one to take a poke at the Ministry. And, it was the right thing to do. You needed a hand, and I'm in a position to give you one. To be honest, I did think of finding you a job as a bean counter somewhere safe and sedate, but... anything worth doing is worth overdoing. You seem to have a drive to get somewhere. It shows in how far you've come without any of the usual certificates. Seemed to me that if you could apply that drive to learning this crazy game we play here you could have the best revenge of all on everybody who tried to hold you back, keep you down; a successful life with an income in eight or nine places a year. The sort of life where if you do need those certificates, you can hire somebody who has them."

Rich raised one eyebrow. "What do you think?"

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addingvalue
2015-04-05 09:54 am UTC (link)

"Still picked Hufflepuff, though," Lucy said, meaning either Rich or the Sorting Hat itself. "That says something." Logically, she knew that all Slytherins couldn't bad bad - even though in her school days that had certainly been her experience. At least she knew better of purebloods - Ernie had always been good to her, and never once blamed her struggle with magic on her heritage. "Not that I'm turning down conversation over wine. Sounds like your story is far more interesting than mine."

She listened as he related some of his history, almost surprised by how he spoke against the Ministry. She'd always assumed - or hoped - that it was better now the war was over, but Rich wasn't the first person she'd spoken to who still seemed to have reservations. Lucy's own experience hadn't been positive, though she did have to balance that against knowing that Susan and others still worked in and supported the Ministry. "Mmm, safe and sedate isn't really my style," she said, giving a slight laugh. Danger in the magic world still scared her, a little. She certainly didn't want to go through another war, but 'sedate' didn't really describe her life in muggle London.

She nodded. "I don't know how much of it is down to drive and how much is down to... doing what I had to do, with some luck thrown in. Hogwarts wouldn't take me back and my family don't make enough to support me indefinitely. So I had to get a job. It turned out I was good with numbers, so I moved up. I didn't remotely have a plan." Still, it was nice to hear it classed as 'drive' rather than pure coincidence.

"I think it'll take some getting used to," she said honestly. "But I'm willing to try."

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