Out of the Office

By Louisa Masters

Whoever thought achieving career goals could be boring? Not Duncan Witten, but here he is at forty-one, in his dream job… and hating it. Throw it all away for a challenge? Yes, please!

If only Dunc had known his challenging new job came with Paul Hanks, a man who redefines "stubborn." They need to work together to meet targets, but thanks to Dunc's idiot predecessor, Paul won't take his calls or reply to emails.

There's only one solution: travel across the country and confront Paul face-to-face. It's time to take things out of the office.

This is an 18,000 word stand-alone novella with a HFN ending.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Louisa Masters
• Release date: Jul 25, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393429722

Louisa Masters

Louisa Masters started reading romance much earlier than her mother thought she should. While other teenagers were sneaking out of the house, Louisa was sneaking romance novels in and working out how to read them without being discovered. She’s spent most of her life feeling sorry for people who don’t read, convinced that books are the solution to every problem. As an adult, she feeds her addiction in every spare second, only occasionally tearing herself away to do things like answer the phone and pay bills. She spent years trying to build a “sensible” career, working in bookstores, recruitment, resource management, administration, and as a travel agent, before finally conceding defeat and devoting herself to the world of romance novels. Louisa has a long list of places first discovered in books that she wants to visit, and every so often she overcomes her loathing of jet lag and takes a trip that charges her imagination. She lives in Melbourne, Australia, where she whines about the weather for most of the year while secretly admitting she’ll probably never move.

Book preview

Out of the Office

Out of the Office

Louisa Masters

Out of the Office

Copyright © 2019 by Louisa Masters

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Editor: Hot Tree Editing

Cover Designer: FuriousFotog

Formatter: Justine Littleton

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All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the author, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.

Contents

Glossary

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Epilogue

I’ve Got This

Derek

Acknowledgments

Also by Louisa Masters

About the Author

For all my old telco colleagues. I hope none of you ever read this.

Glossary

Telco: Telecommunications company. Applies to retailers like Vodafone etc. as well as the companies that build the actual networks

RM: Resource Manager, responsible for identifying people with the correct skills and assigning them to projects; ALSO Resource Management, the department/function.

Project RM: a resource manager assigned to work on a specific project

PM: Project Manager, coordinates a project or subproject within a program of works

PD: Program Director, coordinates a program of works

RA: Resource Administrator, reports to RM and handles administrative duties

Embargo: an Australian government mandated period during which no works can be undertaken on telecommunications networks

Spit the dummy: have a tantrum/meltdown

Hot desking: working from available desks on a time share or rota basis rather than being assigned a permanent desk. Popular in companies where employees can work from home or other offices/sites.

1

September 13

The phone rings.

It’s nearing the end of an ordinary—perhaps even dull—workday, and this is the first time the phone’s rung in hours. I snatch it up with enthusiasm. When I finally achieved my goal-before-forty job as Director of Resource Management for a major telco, I never thought I’d end up bored.

Duncan Witten, I answer, not even bothering to check the display first.

Dunc, it’s Krista. How are you?

Ah. I lean back in my chair, a tiny smile playing over my mouth. Not to be a dick, but I’m not surprised by how exhausted Kris sounds. Rumour has it that the major project her company is rolling out has run into some big issues and that they begged her to come back early from maternity leave to get resourcing back on track.

Pretty good, actually. And you?

I’m shit, she says bluntly. Don’t fuck with me, Dunc. I know you’ll have heard that things aren’t going well here.

Yeah. I’m genuinely sympathetic, especially since the problems aren’t Krista’s fault. She left to have her baby about two weeks before the contracts for this project—dubbed Titan—were signed. As Director of Resource Management for another major telco—the competition, and the one with most market share—she was diligent about finding someone to handle things while she was away. I know, because she discussed the options with me—confidentially, of course. We may work for competitors now, but we’ve worked together heaps of times in the past, and we’re friends.

Unfortunately, her replacement was involved in a serious car accident only two months into the twelve-month contract—just as the resourcing for Titan was ramping up and before she was able to appoint a resource manager for it. The HR department quickly hired someone else, but sadly he and the project RM he brought in were useless. Resourcing got more and more out of control until finally the program director spat the dummy in what I heard was an epic meltdown—the kind of thing you only see on reality TV. Both temp RMs were shown the door, and Krista was summoned back immediately to try to sort shit out and find a new project RM.

I guess that’s why she’s calling now—to ask my opinion on the new candidates. If none of them are any good, I can probably help her find someone who is.

Whatever you’ve heard, it’s worse, Krista announces, and I can’t help it: I snort.

I don’t think so, Kris. What I’ve heard is pretty bad.

The project is already overbudget and it’s entirely due to resourcing.

It’s not unusual to underestimate resourcing costs for a project this big, I remind her, picking up a pen and flipping it between my fingers. Once the first stage is rolled out, things will settle and—

"No, Dunc. We’re not overbudget on resourcing. Well, we are, but that’s not what I meant. I meant the project is overbudget, and it’s entirely due to resourcing."

I sit up straight. No fucking way. It’s a multibillion-dollar project. For it to be overrunning the budget because of resourcing? What the fuck have the RMs been doing? And how did the project managers and program director allow it to happen?

That’s not good, I manage. Poor Krista. Have you got a candidate in mind for the project RM? If things are that bad, she needs to get someone in the role ASAP.

"Yes, I have the perfect candidate in mind. He’s got fifteen years’ experience in resourcing, over twelve as a resource manager, and more than half of that in telcos. He’s handled national rollouts like this before and actually knows most of the PMs and line managers involved."

You’re right, he sounds perfect, I agree, wracking my brain. Who the fuck is she talking about? Most of the people who even come close to fitting that profile are women. The only men are Tyler Harris, who is currently working in the US, and—

I drop the pen. You’d better not be talking about me!

Just listen, Dunc, she pleads. I’m desperate. Beyond desperate. The RM who was appointed had his head so far up his arse that he was seeing the world from inside his own mouth.

I choke back a laugh, because that shit is funny but I don’t think Krista is in the mood for a chuckle.

"And the guy who was supposed to be filling in for me…. It’s not just Titan that’s in trouble right now. Everyone is pissed off. My team was doing their best, but that moron was pulling people off projects for Titan without getting permission. Team leaders have