Coming To Reason (A Long Road to Love) Read Online Free PDF Page B

I expect I can process the entire pile for you.”
    His hue diminished. “I’ll show you how to do Jeff’s, but if
you require more supervision than it takes me to do them, then you will need to
read the manual for the rest of the day.”
    She pulled her chair next to his and focused on his
scattered explanation of how to input the data into the program.
    She could see why he thought she wouldn’t be able to do it. No one should be able to follow such a convoluted process.
    Once he finished Jeff’s paper, he placed it in an empty
tray labeled COMPLETE-FILE. “Impossible, right?”
    “No, I can do it.”
    He shook his head.
    “I can. I have a very good memory. Watch me do one and
you’ll see.”
    He motioned for her to try, but his tense face and rounded
shoulders indicated he had no hope and she’d lengthened his day more.
    Despite such a raincloud hanging over her, she finished the
next one in half his time. When she turned to look at him, he had a genuine
smile on his face. “You can process those until Jeff comes to retrieve you.”
    Carrie suspected the task would consume her entire day, but
she preferred it over doing nothing.
    Three papers in, she became frustrated with the convoluted
input methodology. She had to pop back and forth over six pages before she
logged all the data. Why would anyone build such a god-awful interface?
    The door opened and a young woman in gothic black, wearing
the tiniest leather skirt ever made, entered. Destiny beamed from ear to ear. “Greg,
I’ll take the new hire off your hands.”
    “No. She’s inputting client specs.”
    Destiny grabbed the pile of yet to be done specs with one
hand and Carrie’s wrist with the other. “She can do them in my office.”
    Greg’s brow furrowed. “I need them done by tonight.”
    “You have my word.” Grinning from ear to ear, Destiny
pulled Carrie from the room, down the hall, and into an office with cobalt blue
walls covered with giant intersecting yellow circles.
    She pointed to the chair . “Sit while I steal a seat.”
    Returning a short while later with her purloined perch, Destiny
plopped down. Her impish grin warned Carrie ‘steal’ had been the key word in
her quest.
    “I couldn’t believe it when Dad said you’ve come to work
for us. This is so super great! So you dumped Trent? Good for you!”
    “No, we decided to be a normal couple with separate jobs.”
    “Well, different jobs is a start, at least.” She grimaced
at the pile. “God, this is like a month’s work.”
    “It shouldn’t be. Did they give you access to a manual when
you bought this system?”
    “Before my time. I would have bought something else. This program
tops the charts on user unfriendliness. Dad says, when he bought it, the sales
guy promised each consultant would be able to enter information on their own.
What a crock. The only one who can do it is Greg…and you now.” She grimaced.
“Which means he’s going to shunt this job off on you, which means you won’t make
your quota. But don’t worry. Dad won’t fire you.” She paused. “Did you tell him
you’re still seeing Trent?”
    “Yes, but why would it matter?”
    Destiny rose and walked to her bookshelf. After fifteen
minutes of pulling out binders, she returned. “No manual.”
    “Let’s pull up the program and locate the company.”
    Upon doing so, they called them. After ten minutes of being
passed from one person to another, they came upon yet another person who
couldn’t help them, except to provide one piece of valuable advice.
    “Your systems person should be able to help you.”
    “I am the systems manager,” Destiny replied.
    “And you can’t find anything in the electronic manual?
There’s a whole section on creating customized interfaces.”
    Upon acquiring the link and finding the section on
interfaces, Destiny, with Carrie providing advice, created an interface that
mimicked the consultant document.
    Halfway through their project, Jeff opened the door