Ms. Davis

“Ms. Davis will see you now.” said the secretary.

Riley’s breathing was a little heavy, she hadn’t felt this giddy in a long time. This was her big opportunity to get her foot in the door with Goldman Sachs.

She stood up from her seat, shook herself off, put on a big smile and walked through the office door.

Ms. Davis’ office was a little smaller than she expected, it was cluttered with binders and folders stacked up around the small room, like mini skyscrapers. Hilda Davis was on the phone looking up grinning, signaling with her index finger to wait a moment. “I actually have an interview so I’ll have to catch up with you later, thanks again for the call Frank,” She hung up the phone, “Hello!” she started, “So sorry for the mess,” she stood up from her desk and started walking towards Riley, extending her arm out, “I hope the wait wasn’t too long.” They shook hands.

“Not at all,” Riley answered.

Ms. Davis, quickly turned and walked back to her seat, “Are you thirsty, did Hillary offer you a bottle of water?” “No, no, I’m fine. Thanks for asking.” responded Riley.

Riley was still standing with her left hand clutching her resume binder. “Please take a seat Hun or else your feet are going to hurt if you stand the whole interview.” Riley pulled out a seat.

“Okay, where are you.” Ms. Davis started to search between the many papers which cluttered her desk, “Where is it… I just had it.” She flipped through papers and folders, sliding piles of files out of the way, “Here we go, Riley Peterson.”

Hilda Davis had such a motherly tone of voice, like she had never said “No” a day in her life. She wore dingy old glasses, nice lipstick but on her lips it looked cheap. She was wearing a yellow slim dress with lots of flowers all over it, with heavily padded shoulders which made her look even tinier with her skinny frame. This was not the woman Riley wanted to work for, but she needed her start in the company.

Hilda quickly skimmed through Riley’s resume, “Interesting, so why Goldman Sachs?”

Riley started, “Well everyone knows Goldman Sachs for one, and it’s a great com-“

“Let me stop you there,” Hilda Davis’ jolly voice was now a bit more serious, she took off her glasses looked directly into Riley’s eyes, “Do you really want this job… I don’t want any bullshit from you okay, give me your full honesty and maybe I’ll give you a shot.” Her face was stoic and unflinching.

Riley was caught off guard, Ms. Davis had quickly switched up on her. Riley had two choices, to keep up the fake smile and play stupid, or to be completely blunt with Ms. Davis.

Riley took a deep breath, “Okay, you want to know the truth, I’m here to make money and grow as fast as possible, and you are my IN” she stopped, almost unable to believe what had just come out of her mouth. She played it cool with her shaking right leg being her only tell, that she was the most nervous she’d ever been in her entire life.

“Wow, you almost told me the truth, but not completely.” Hilda smirked, “Let me ask you the same question in a different way. Why Goldman Sachs and not JPMorgan… and this time don’t hold back.”

“What was the point of this question, is this some kind of test?” Riley thought. She paused again for a moment and took another deep breath, “Honesty…” she thought.

“I’d much rather be working for JPMorgan, they are a larger market cap, they have more room to grow and honestly the pay would probably be higher, but right now they aren’t hiring and you guys are.” Riley finished, she had never been so free to say what she thinks before, it almost felt wrong.

Hilda nodded her head, tapped her left thumb on her desk a few times and bit her upper lip.

Riley knew she had trashed her chances with the company, she should of just kept the fake smile.

All that work she had put in, all those years at university and she just threw a great opportunity out the window by being too honest with Ms. Davis. She almost got right up and ran out the door in shame but stayed glued sitting in her seat, waiting for Hilda Davis’ reaction.

“Wow, if that’s the truth then I probably shouldn’t even consider you for the position…” she started, “but the one thing I value more than Loyalty, is Honesty, and plus…. I think I can change your mind about Goldman Sachs…. Can you start tomorrow?”