Keara, Angie and I head to my condo to get cleaned up. I show Keara around, offer a bathrobe while we figure out some clothes for her and to shower up for the night out. Keara has the usual overwhelmed reaction whenever I invite someone over for the first time; I made no advances, nor did she.
We made it on the time to our happy hour meeting, it was a social gathering so I brought the girls and made introductions upon arrival. I spent what I thought was a reasonable amount of time with the people I was meeting then turned my attention to getting to know more about Keara.
Keara really doesn’t want to go back to Jacksonville but doesn’t have many options here in DC. Keara excuses herself to the restroom; I say to Angie, “What if we hire Keara on a temp-to-hire- basis for the administrative stop, she would report to you. She of course would have to apply, pass a background and screening, if it doesn’t work out, we move on. What do you think?” Angie, “Ron, don’t’ you always say hire the best talent? This is you just tying to help someone, not find the best talent…that’s why I love you Ron, you’re such a softie at heart”.
We presented the idea to Keara, she was excited about it but Angie talked so much about the work that she would be doing, that we skipped over the most important part – compensation, so I bring it up. I said, “Angie, what salary range did we budget for this position?”. Angie says, “50k-65k based on experience”. Me, “Okay, 1099 her at 40 an hour until we get through the employee paperwork then we’ll settle on an annual salary.
“40 an hour?, wow!”, Keara excitedly exclaims. I said, “If I under pay you, you’ll leave as soon as you get a little experience and figure out what the market in this area bares for your skillset. You can stay at my condo, if you’re okay with that until your checks start coming in and we’ll find a place that fits your budget. – One rule, no guests unannounced. “
I had to go away on travel a few days after we discussed this so Keara had free range of my place – I have security cameras all over and regularly checked in with Angie popping in and out so there were no issues. Keara clears the paperwork as I’m returning on a Thursday from being away about two weeks traveling and we settled on a 55k salary, full bennies and is now my newest Admin. I leave the day-to-day of what Keara is doing up to Angie; Angie restricted her access to financial records, using only Angie’s corp card for purchases and limiting her approval rights in our system. Her system access is limited to booking travel, off-site meetings, ordering office supplies and helping Angie where needed. This freed Angie up to do more of the things I need her to do as my PA instead of getting hung up with office needs.
It’s Saturday, I woke up early to go meet my daughter for breakfast. In casual attire, I strip-down my wallet pulling out only my ID, credit card and few hundreds. I never wear a wallet when I’m in skinny jeans. I leave my wallet, same spot, on the kitchen counter with my spare keys. Keara is still sleeping in the guest room.
Later that morning, I get a text notification as usual when the front door opens; my security camera on my front door sends me a 30 second video message (15 seconds before and after each time the front door is opened). I glance at the video and see Keara putting my wallet down with a bill in her hand then walking out the front door (I took $1,000 cash out last night before heading home; I took out $200 this morning so there should be $800 left). My first thought is just fire her; how could she do this after all I’m doing but it didn’t make sense. Why not take all of the money if she’s going to skip town? So I wait...then decide to call Keara:
Me: “Hi Keara, long week I hope you get some time to relax a bit”
Keara: “Yeah, just happy to help. You guys have been so nice”
Me: “Oh, hey before I forget; I usually leave my wallet on the kitchen counter with some cash. Just grab some if you need any personal spending cash until you get paid”.
Keara: “Oh, okay – Angie called me earlier and said to take cash out of your wallet to stock the condo if you left it so she didn't have to drive out here today. I hope that’s okay ( she sounds concerned)”
Me: “Of course it's fine but don’t spend your entire weekend working. Relax a bit and let me know if you need anything. There isn’t much open in walking distance there so hop a metro or use our Uber account to get around if you like”.
Keara: “Okay, thanks again”.