Another woman stretched out a hand, and Ella took it with the sort of distracted ease that showed she was used to the gesture even when her mind was elsewhere. Company liason, apparently. Ella knew that one. That one meant I'm here for the company, and if you think I'm here for you, you're wrong about that. Optimistically, a good company liason could keep things running smoothly, but... well, Ella had seen some pretty bad ones here and there, too. Maybe Rosalind was fine. Maybe she'd have to be. It wasn't exactly like she could transfer to a different location, right?
The other woman seemed like a sarcastic type, which was good. Ella thought she seemed like a good person to go get drunk with after work, and didn't say that in front of the company liason. "Nice to meet you both. And, ah... just 'Clark,' if you don't mind. Or 'Ella'. No titles, though." It bugged her. Some guy could be in the same job and everyone would call him 'Smith' or whatever, but once you put a woman in the same position it was Ms. At least she'd outgrown the dreaded Miss, finally, which had made her feel like she was about seven.
"I can try to head down to help that guy with the life support. I'm not a technician or anything, but I can do basic percussive maintenance." Meaning, she could hit things with a hammer and swear at them until they started working again. Sometimes all the machines needed was a reminder of who held the hammer. "And once we're done with that crisis, I want to run an inventory check, because it's better to find out about any mishaps earlier rather than later."
The other woman seemed like a sarcastic type, which was good. Ella thought she seemed like a good person to go get drunk with after work, and didn't say that in front of the company liason. "Nice to meet you both. And, ah... just 'Clark,' if you don't mind. Or 'Ella'. No titles, though." It bugged her. Some guy could be in the same job and everyone would call him 'Smith' or whatever, but once you put a woman in the same position it was Ms. At least she'd outgrown the dreaded Miss, finally, which had made her feel like she was about seven.
"I can try to head down to help that guy with the life support. I'm not a technician or anything, but I can do basic percussive maintenance." Meaning, she could hit things with a hammer and swear at them until they started working again. Sometimes all the machines needed was a reminder of who held the hammer. "And once we're done with that crisis, I want to run an inventory check, because it's better to find out about any mishaps earlier rather than later."