Later, Alexander left for work first. Evelyn waited on the sofa for over ten minutes before heading out.
The driver took her to the Sterling Group building. She got out and walked inside.
It was the peak of the morning rush. Evelyn waited for several elevators, but they were all packed.
She sighed to herself. She realized she needed to arrive fifteen minutes early to avoid the crowd.
When she finally reached the office, everyone was already working. She was clearly the last one to arrive.
Evelyn felt a little embarrassed. She decided she would come earlier tomorrow, no matter what.
Even as an intern, attitude mattered.
When Amy Harper saw her, she told Evelyn that her tasks for the day had been sent to her email. She told her to check it.
Evelyn nodded. She put her bag in the drawer and turned on her computer.
At school, Evelyn mostly used Word documents. But at the company, the most common tools were Excel, PPT, and databases. She had to convert the information from Word into Excel tables. She started inputting and organizing the data one by one.
Amy Harper walked by and glanced at Evelyn’s screen. She stopped.
“Evelyn, you don’t have to do it this way. Just copy the data. Excel can calculate the rest automatically. Didn’t you learn Excel in school?”
“Yes, but I didn’t use it much,” Evelyn replied.
“You’ll get the hang of it after a few tries. From now on, we’ll mostly use Excel.”
“Okay,” Evelyn nodded.
Amy Harper showed her how to do it. Evelyn watched carefully and wrote it down. After that, organizing the data became much easier.
She had studied hard in school. But most of it was just to pass exams. Now that she was interning at the company, she could see her own weaknesses.
At noon, Evelyn and Amy Harper went to the staff cafeteria for lunch.
Amy Harper ordered two dishes and a soup. That was the standard meal in the cafeteria.
Evelyn wanted to say that Amy Harper ate very little. But she held back. She was afraid of saying the wrong thing.
Amy Harper seemed to notice Evelyn’s hesitation. She smiled and said, “My stomach hasn’t been great lately. The doctor told me to eat light.”
“Don’t be like me. Eat more. You’ll need the energy for the afternoon.”
“I always eat a lot,” Evelyn said with a nod.
“That’s good. These days, a lot of girls go on diets to lose weight. My daughter does the same.”
“Dieting is really bad for you. Exercise is better. But I don’t need to lose weight,” Evelyn replied.
Amy Harper nodded approvingly and started eating. Evelyn quietly ate her lunch too.
She didn’t see Alexander in the cafeteria. In fact, she hadn’t seen him all morning.
He was really busy. Even though they worked on the same floor, it wasn’t easy to run into him.
After lunch, they went back upstairs. Amy Harper said to Evelyn, “Let’s rest in the small meeting room for a while.”
“Okay,” Evelyn agreed.
They went to the small meeting room and sat down. While boiling water, Amy Harper chatted with Evelyn.
“Evelyn, are you getting used to working in the secretarial office these past two days?”
“It’s very good,” Evelyn nodded.
She hadn’t felt anything special yesterday. But today, she started to feel a little nervous.
She realized the work in the secretarial office was very complicated and fast-paced. There was always so much to do.
“You majored in finance before. The work here might not be your strong suit. At first, you’ll feel a bit lost. But once you get familiar with it, things will get better,” Amy Harper encouraged her.
“Okay.”
“You can learn a lot working in the secretarial office. It’s tiring, but if you do well, it really builds your skills.”
Evelyn nodded as she listened. She thought that being able to handle such complicated tasks well was a real skill.
“The secretarial office rarely hires interns. Sometimes someone comes to train, but it’s usually through internal promotion. If you want to take on a secretary’s role, you need to study for a while first. You’re the first intern we’ve hired from outside.”
“Oh,” Evelyn replied. Then she smiled and said, “Then I’m really lucky.”
“Since you have no work experience, you’ll have to start from scratch. There’s a lot to learn. That’s both good and bad. The good part is that you’ll learn more than others. The bad part is that you’ll have to work harder than other interns. The workload in our office is much heavier than in other departments. So you need to be prepared for some tough days ahead,” Amy Harper warned.
“Amy Harper, I’ll work hard,” Evelyn said seriously.
“Since you’re under me, I’ll do my best to guide you. How much you learn depends on your own effort and understanding. The work here is complicated. But there’s one thing you must remember. After you leave the company, don’t talk about work. Not even to the people closest to you. And even inside the company, it’s better not to discuss work with colleagues from other departments. It might involve trade secrets. You might accidentally say something. If someone with bad intentions uses that information, it could harm the company. In serious cases, it could not only hurt the company but also damage your career. So you need to be very careful.”
“Okay, I’ll remember that,” Evelyn said seriously.
She had never thought about it before. She didn’t go out of her way to talk about work with anyone. But sometimes, during casual chats or gossip, she might accidentally mention something. Amy Harper’s words reminded her to be more careful in the future.
“Do a good job, and the Sterling Group will offer you many opportunities for growth,” Amy Harper finally encouraged her.
“Okay, I’ll keep working hard. Thank you, Amy Harper,” Evelyn nodded.
This was the first time Amy Harper had spoken to Evelyn about something more personal. Amy Harper was the type of person who worked hard and didn’t talk much. She hoped Evelyn would do the same.
Although each secretary in the office was responsible for their own area of work, there was usually little overlap. But since they were in the same department, there was still some competition and conflict of interest.
So since Evelyn was working here, she needed to learn how to balance relationships. That was the truth behind the saying, “Before you do something, learn to be a person first.”
Evelyn understood Amy Harper’s good intentions. She felt grateful and took her words to heart.
She would do her best during her internship in the secretarial office. She wouldn’t let her relationship with Alexander affect her work attitude or enthusiasm.