Quote:

Originally Posted by Mell

It may seem as though she was late for the meeting but Laura didn't see it that way at all, considering that she had been making sure her work area was in order. Nothing worse than a work area that was not functional.

"Good morning everyone." she said as she entered the room, flashing a quick smile at her boss and colleagues before taking a seat.

She wasn't late, actually, it was just that Althea had been early and then surprisingly a fair few others had been too. Thea approved. But still, Laura wasn't late.

"Good morning." She answered.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jujune29th

Derek turned his head towards Althea and nodded as she greeted him. He didn't notice the looks other people gave him, since he was too busy looking at the table in front of him now.

Taking a silent and deep breath, Derek couldn't wait for this meeting to be done. All he wanted was just to get back to the safety of his own world desk and work. All by himself. The way it was meant to be. The way he liked it do be.

No people around him. None at all.

He tapped his fingers on his knees as he waited. He could only hear women voices chatting away. That didn't make things better for him. Was he seriously the only guy in the Department?? Not possible! He had seen a man in the waiting area that other day. He had flowers and all... well, maybe he didn't work there.

Oh. There was another man that worked there. Stupid Bryson. The psycho made sure Derek understood exactly where he worked. Sigh. Maybe Derek was better off with just those women in the room...

Was it just her or did Derek seem a little... discomforted?

Well he'd just have to get over that. Althea ignored it for now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow

Ashley smiled in response to the department head's words. "Althea it is." She said cheerfully before placing her hand back in her lap. She had heard that Althea had been a professor but it had slipped her mind up until now. She made a note to ask the woman how she had enjoyed being an educator at a later date.

The blonde noted that the conference room was filling up with employees, which was actually quite nice since Ashley had yet to meet many of these people. She couldn't help but wonder how Derek was feeling in a room filled with women. Surely he was uncomfortable. She would have smiled at the guy but he insisted on looking down at the table, making it impossible. Oh well.

That was nice and easy. Althea liked Ashley, she could tell already that the younger woman had a good head on her shoulders and would be pleasant to continue working with.

However, she had been wrong about coworkers before.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wonderstruck

"Yes, that's correct," Violet said with a courteous incline of the head. "Thank you," Violet commented at the offer to sit down and make herself comfortable. In all honesty Violet preferred standing to sitting. It gave her more control over how much she could see of the people around her and the room in general. However, in order to seem more favorable, Violet placed her hand gently on the back of a chair, so when the time came where she had not choice but to sit, she would at least be in one where she wouldn't feel too trapped.

She took note of the not immediately sitting, but Althea hardly judged her for it. Violet's prerogative after all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Riverlynn

Aiden walked into the conference room and paused just inside the door. Merlin's beard! He hated being late but getting through security had been a nightmare. Disgruntled he shoved his hands in his pockets and sauntered to one of the open seats. Conversation buzzed around him so he hoped that he didn't draw too much attention. Once again he cursed the security woman who had been flirting and not doing her job.

"Don't worry, you're not late." Althea said to Aiden by way of greeting. After a quick smile in his direction she directed the room at large, not bothering to stand up to pull focus, rather she just let her voice carry.

She was definitely the kind of woman who had a voice that carried.

"Alright we'll get started now." It was nine am on the dot as she spoke. "I'm hoping this meeting won't take too long, but we do have a lot to cover." She paused and looked around.

"For those of you whom I haven't yet met, and those of you who aren't so quick on the uptake," Which she hoped were few and far between since she didn't really want to employ fools, "I'm Althea Schirmer. I trust you've all read the most recent memos and know a bit about my background, because unless there are any particular questions I'm not going to wax lyrical about myself right now when we have work to do, collectively as a department."

She smiled. Pleasantly. Mostly.

"This is also an opportunity to meet our newer employees, all of whom are well suited for their jobs -you can be sure of that." Althea wasn't in the business of hiring dunderheads. So, they were good. Any applications that came her way that weren't up to scratch she'd handed off to other departments. No deadweight in DMAC.

"I'm sure you've all noticed the heavy remodelling going on in Level 3, its almost all complete now, though you can expect some changes in the work areas - which we will discuss today as I'd like some input regarding what you'd all like to see. I'll also talk to you about the new facilities which I expect you all to make use of, and if anyone has any particular requests in that regard, please let me know."

Her quill was taking minutes quite religiously.

"We'll also discuss the WARN assessments and I'd like to work with each of you to set some work standards and performance indicators that we can all agree on as a minimum here in Accidents and Catastrophes." She said briskly, but paused to allow them all to digest.

"I'm also happy to arrange for anyone who is interested for St Mungos courses in Magical Workplace first aid. So let me know if that sounds like you." Mmhmm.

"Does anyone have any particular questions about the most recent memos on the announcement board before we get into things today?"