Work had been a drudge recently, doing nothing much for much of the time. This was a shame really, because she used to enjoy the work side of work quite a bit, working for a big city law firm had been fun. She had always enjoyed the social side; drinking and fucking, but that enjoyment was increased because she had also really enjoyed the bits in between the drinking and the fucking. Now the work was starting to bore her, the social side was also.
Today was not better. All she had planned was the same old, and then an IT supplier meeting before lunch, that was a thrill. And it was going to be a nightmare because her boss had asked her to meet a long-time supplier and try to get their prices down.
She hated doing these meetings because her boss, Dave, had already screwed them to the ground so hard that they had nowhere else to go with the costs, and she thought her boss did it just to make her feel useless. Whatever his motives, she was sure this meeting would be as fruitless as the rest.
Anyway, the day had started slowly and lethargy had kicked in before ten, she was fucking bored.
It got worse, because her boss was also in fucking jovial mood, telling everybody in the office that Amanda was seeing another supplier to use her fantastic negotiating skills again. âWe will probably be paying more than we are now once she has finished negotiating with them,â was his Joke-de-Jeur. âFucking smart arse,â was muttered under her breath more than once every ten minutes or so.
The meeting was booked for eleven, and she had said she would take the supplier across the road for lunch afterwards, so her diary was pretty much filled till mid afternoon. That was a bonus at least.
Amanda had booked a meeting room and checked it was in order about ten minutes before eleven and thought she might as well wander down to reception and wait for her visitor, better than sitting at her desk listening to more negotiating jokes.
She was chatting to the receptionist when they arrived; she had only been expecting one, Steve, but he had brought a colleague with him, a woman, older than Amanda and looking like she could fend for herself in an argument, stern appearance obviously being the look she was after that day.
âAmanda, Steve, nice to meet you at last,â he held out his hand, âAnd this is Jane, my boss, she is just doing a few meetings with me today I hope you donât mind her being here.â
Jane held out her hand, which Amanda took, surprised by the firmness of the grip, her hand held for longer than a normal handshake would require.
âNice to meet you Amanda,â Jane looked her directly in the eye, âsorry we didnât let you know before hand.â
Amanda shook her head.
âNo worries at all, luckily I booked a big room, so we just need to get some more coffeeâs ordered.â
Amanda asked the receptionist for more coffee and then guided her two visitors to the second floor meeting room.
It wasnât a customer room, the partners had sole use of those, and they were nicely decorated. This one was reserved for internal and supplier meetings, no windows, and at the back end of the building where nobody bothered to go unless a meeting had been called.
âSorry about the room,â Amanda thought best make a joke of it, âwe only take the suppliers who give us good discounts to the nice ones,â she laughed, Steve laughed, Jane didnât. She smiled, but it wasnât a well done your funny smile, it was a âFuck youâ smile.
They sat and talked as the coffee was delivered and then Jane got down to business.
âOK, Amanda, Steve tells me that this is just a general catch up meeting, but that you wanted to discuss discounts with us?â she emphasised the last bit.
Amanda was surprised at the directness, although it made her job easier because she hated bringing up the discount issue, normally skirting around it right till the end of the meetings, when the expected âno chanceâ was uttered and she could get them out of the building with little or no added embarrassment.
Steve hadnât said a word yet, so it looked like Jane would be running it from their side, great fucking account manager he was.
Amanda shifted in her seat.
âWell yes, it was meant as a general catch up meeting, but Dave did ask me to bring up the discount question and see if we could come to a mutual understanding on it,â it was Amandaâs most professional voice and she tried to sound as forthright as Jane had been.
âHow is Dave the old bugger,â Jane lightened up for a second,â I havenât seen him for an age, is he still a bloody pain in the arse thinking heâs a comedian most of the time?â Jane was obviously well connected and she wanted Amanda to know it.
âHeâs fine, funny as ever.â
âYes, I guessed he was behind the discount question, heâs always trying to screw us down,â Jane smiled, âand always gets one of his people to try it for him so he gets to give them a hard time afterwards,â Jane certainly was well informed, âdonât worry, I know his MO Amanda, and know youâre his fall girl for the day.â
Amanda didnât like knowing less about her boss than a supplier, and it was obvious Jane knew Dave much better than anybody she had met before. Although looking at her Amanda imagined that maybe heâd done more than just screw her down in price in the past. Well, any pretence of slipping the discount question in at the end had been blown immediately and Amanda guessed that this might be a very short meeting indeed.
âWell, as you know, we are continually reviewing our supplier pricing and discount arrangements, and yes Dave has asked me to enter into negotiations with yourselves to make sure we continue to receive best value pricing.â Amanda was sticking to the company line; she didnât know Jane and therefore wasnât going to become too familiar.
Jane smiled again and looked across at Steve.
âWell Amanda, I guess our opening position would be to say that the discount you get is as much as we can offer and therefore we really donât see any negotiating position being open to us. And you can tell Dave to go fuck himself if he thinks I am bending over and letting him fuck me from behind for an extra 5% discount,â Jane didnât change her tone of voice throughout the speech.
Amanda nearly choked; she had never been spoken to like that by a supplier. Dave had obviously fucked Jane and then fucked off, she was certainly not fucking happy about something.
âI guess I could go tell him that Jane, but getting fired wasnât on my list of things to do today,â Amanda was searching for something to say outside of the obvious, fuck off. âI would have hoped that you could give me something to take back to Dave to just show good faith between our two companies.â
Jane lent back in her chair and smiled.
âHeâs been taking the piss all morning hasnât he Amanda?â Jane definitely knew too much, âAnd if you donât go back with even 1% extra discount you life is going to be hell for weeks to come, I know his form donât worry.â
She hadnât finished yet though.
âWe will still get the business anyway because heâs not doing this to get any extra discount, he just wants somebody to take the piss out of in the office, and youâve been selected Amanda for some reason. So lets not kid around, you know you need the discount more than Dave does, because he doesnât give a fuck about it.â
Amanda was in shock. She really had never been spoken to like this before and she wasnât enjoying it. This fucking woman had either been briefed already by somebody or knew her boss far too well.
Dave was such a fucker. OK she did fancy him, and yes she had fucked him once, just the once, and then told him she didnât want to fuck him again, but this was a fucking nightmare.
Amanda had a horrible thought. Jane knew far too much about the whole thing, and she had obviously fucked Dave at some point in the past, so had he set her up? The fucker hadnât briefed Jane before hand had he? He had been unusually a major twat this morning; more than usual definitely, so perhaps he had been laying it on thick just to prepare himself for the onslaught later. Fucking hell, she was sure he had.
Jane hadnât said anything while Amanda was thinking, just sat there smiling her fucking face off.