HOBO Chapter Four

CHAPTER FOUR

I graduated with a Masters Degree in Accounting in November well ahead of anyone’s expectancy. I was barely twenty-one years old and already studying for the CPA exam. I had contacted Amanda Peat once month prior to my graduation so she could prepare things for me.

I was scheduled to be at Butler, Land and Reyes on December the fifth to meet with Richard Butler and get settled in. As expected, I was extremely nervous now, due to the fact that I was basically on my own now. Before the campus had been my comfort zone, but now that was gone.

On December the fifth at eight-thirty in the morning when I opened the front door to Butler, Land and Reyes my life changed forever. I looked at the directory board in the lobby and saw that Amanda Peat was on the third floor, room 317. I took the elevator up to the third floor and got out. I followed the hallway to the frosted door marked three seventeen. I opened the door and walked into a small outer office where a young woman was seated behind the desk. I was wearing a pair of blue jeans, sneakers and a white pullover shirt that was a bit too small. She looked up and smiled at me.

“How can I help you ?”, she asked.

“I’m here to see Amanda Peat.”, I answered.

“You’re Mr. Williams ?”, she asked, looking me up and down.

“Yes, I am.”, I replied.

She picked up the phone and notified Amanda Peat that I had arrived in the lobby. Less than a minute later, the side door opened and Amanda asked me to follow her to her office. We started in right away filling out forms and applications for virtually everything. For the next two hours, I filled out paperwork for a 401K retirement package, health insurance and an application for a bank account at the company bank which was only two doors down from our office.

She then issued me a company credit card and recorded the number in her ledger. She told me they would explain the credit card to me later. I then followed her down the hall to the IT office. Within the next hour, I was issued a Mac Book Pro, an IPAD and an IPhone. They even gave me a shoulder bag with the company logo to place all of the equipment in. We finally finished up around eleven o’clock. I was sitting in the lobby of Amanda’s office when Robin Woods open the door.

Though I was not sure if possible, she looked even prettier than the first time I had met her. She was wearing a fire engine red dress with a slit up the right side to mid-thigh. She had on sheer stockings and a pair of red spiked heels.

“Hello, does Amanda have you ready to go Tim.”, she asked.

“Yep, he’s ready for the shark tank Robin.”, Amanda laughed.

“Ok, follow me.”, Robin laughed.

I thanked Amanda and followed Robin back to the bank of elevators. Robin informed me that we were going to meet with Richard Butler on the top floor. As Robin stated, the higher floor you were on the more important you were. We exited the elevator on the top floor and walked over to a large lobby where an older woman perhaps in her early fifties was sitting behind a large desk. The was a name plate on the desk that had Carla Davenport on it.

“Carla, I would like for you to meet Tim Williams. Tim, this is Carla Davenport. Carla is the most important woman here, remember that.”, Robin laughed.

“Nice to meet you ma’am.”, I said, shaking her hand.

“Same here Tim, I heard a lot of nice things about you.”, she replied.

She motioned for us to follow her down the hall to a very, large set of double doors. She knocked loudly twice, then opened the right door and ushered us through. There was an older man in a suit sitting behind the desk on the phone talking to someone. I followed Robin to the three chairs sitting in front of the desk and facing Richard Butler. I sat down next to Robin as quietly as I could as Mr. Butler ended his conversation. He hung up the phone and immediately turned to the two of us.

“Jesus Christ Robin, did I hire a CPA or a middle linebacker ?”, he laughed, shaking my hand.

“This is Tim Williams. Tim, this is Richard Butler.”, she said, making introductions.

“Just how big are you son ?”, he laughed.

“I’m right at six foot one and about two hundred nineteen pounds, sir.”, I replied.

“Damn, you must have logged a lot of hours in the gym.”, he stated.

“All I ever did was study or workout.”, I answered.

“Well, it’s safe to say you excelled at both.”, he replied.

In the next thirty minutes or so, Mr. Butler informed me that I was already enrolled at SMU for the next semester and I would be taking some civil litigation courses although I would not be required to pass the bar. These class were strictly related to divorce, family law and personal injury. Of course, as Mr. Butler stated the faster, I finished up my classes the better it would be. So, I only had to finish up one year of law school and pass the CPA exam, no big deal.

Finally, when it seemed that the list of my requirements were coming to an end, Richard added one last thing.

“Tim, please don’t take this the wrong way because I don’t want any bad feelings between the two of us. I want you to always be straight forward with me as I will be with you. I feel we are the best law firm in Dallas and I want all of our employees to present themselves in that manner. When you come to work here you must always wear a suit and tie, no exceptions.”, he began.

“I know you are just graduating from school and probably not prepared for this. I spoke to your high school principal Mr. Peterson and he gave me an insight into your early years. I also spoke to many of your teachers at college including your guidance counselor. Everyone to a person has high praise for you and what you have accomplished. I’m investing a great deal of time and money on you, so I had to be sure.”, he continued.

“Amanda issued you a credit card with a fifty thousand dollar limit on it. Robin will take to you to Porters Men’s Wear to see Jacque, he is the best. I get most of my clothes there, trust me you will not be disappointed. Put whatever you spend on the card and get with Amanda and she will make a weekly deduction from your payroll check until you pay it back.”, he ended.

“Yes sir, I will.”, I replied.

We both got up and left Mr. Butler’s office and closed the door behind us. We got in the elevator and Robin pushed the button to her floor where we had to stop for a moment. I leaned back against the wall of the elevator and exhaled catching Robin’s attention.

“A little overwhelming isn’t it ? Don’t worry, I felt the same way, Tim”, Robin laughed.

We exited her elevator and walked down a long row of desks occupied by younger women for the most part. By the time we got to the middle of the row I was sure all eyes were on us. Robin, quickly went into her office, grabbed her purse and returned. I followed her back down the row of desks where she informed the receptionist we were going out to lunch and a meeting. She pressed the button and the elevator doors opened once again. We got in and she pressed one for the lobby and the doors closed.

“Boy, are you going to be the talk of the building.”, Robin laughed.

Robin decided that we should go to see Jacque at Porter’s before going to lunch so she drove to over to Porters Men’s Wear where she parked on the side of the building. I followed her in where she walked across the store and hugged an older man with a tape measure around his neck.

“Jacque, this is Tim Williams. Mr. Butler told me to tell you, do what you do.”, Robin laughed.

“Hello Tim, come with me.”, he said, heading to the middle of the store.

He led me to a small opening in the middle of the store when there wear several elevated platforms. He asked me to step up on one of the shorter one and remove my pullover shirt. I did have a sleeveless undershirt on and I quickly pulled the outer shirt off. I could see the look on Robin’s face as I handed her the shirt.

Jacques took the tape measure and started to measure my chest then the width of my chest. He checked the length of my arms then around my waist. Finally, he got off the platform and checked my inseam writing the measurement’s down on a small pad and putting it back in his pocket.

“No… No good… Jacque cannot do this. Everything too big. Here….here…. here.”, he stated pointing to my chest, shoulders and arms. I will have to alter everything but the pants.”, he complained.

“Jacque, how long.”, Robin asked.

“Seven maybe ten days….. I dunno.”, he sighed.

“Ok, no problem.”, Robin replied.

“Ok, you big man……come with me.”, he suggested, leading me to a large rack of suits.

Robin sat down in the chair and crossed her legs giving me a quick glance at her white panties. She leaned back in the chair and took out her cell phone and began to look through the messages. I had to believe Robin was taken, no woman this good looking would not have a husband or boyfriend.

“Ok, you need two black suits, one brown, one blue and then you choose other colors.”, he instructed.

Jacque picked out the two black suits, the brown and dark blue one. I moved along the isle where I found a charcoal grey suit and a lighter grey suit. For the time being that gave me five suits. Jacque explained that all these suits had to be dry cleaned but you could wear them two to three times before having them dry cleaned. He then explained to me that shirts were critical and they need to be cleaned after every use. I needed at least three to four shirts per suit. Same with ties, at least three different ties per suit.

Jacque had an associate lay all the suits on a table where he quickly began to pull shirts from the rack and match them. He was writing everything down as he went then quickly went to the ties. After fifteen ties, five pairs of suspenders, three belts, eighteen pairs of socks and six pair of shoes it seemed I was done.

I followed him to the register where he began to ring up all the items he had written on his pad. After he had finished, I handed him the credit card Amanda had issued to me. He informed me that would be another charge for the custom made shirts and the alteration on the suits and handed me the receipt. I did not look at it and followed Robin to her car. Once she pulled away

I then glanced at the receipt showing that I had already spent over eight thousand dollars. I would have to get with Amanda and figure out how to pay this back. Robin drove across town to a small restaurant where we had lunch and she filled me in on how the office operated. Co-workers dating other co-workers was prohibitive, but it was happening all over the building. The key was to keep it very low key and discreet. Married men were sleeping with married women and vice versa. Apparently employees at Butler, Land and Reyes worked hard but they played hard too.

We then went to the apartment complex where the firm had three apartments rented for different purposes. Sometimes, they had to bring in people to testify in court, other times they would let a potential witness use one or every now and then if an employee found themself displaced and needed shelter.