Jiang Jingyu certainly didn't mean it that way. He subconsciously felt that Lu Jiaying was a woman and it would be better to be more tactful in handling things.
Self-preservation, you see.
But Lu Jiaying had a point. As one of the future bosses of the company, employees not doing their jobs diligently was essentially eroding his own assets, so he had no standing to lecture her.
"No. I was just talking nonsense. You're doing great, keep it up."
It took over an hour to assemble ten products, but fortunately, the results were good.
Lu Jiaying took photos for the client, and the two drove back.
As soon as they entered the marketing department, a woman rushed towards them with a worried expression.
"Manager Lu, you're back, Manager Lu."
Lu Jiaying stopped and looked at her expression.
"What's wrong? What happened to make you so flustered?"
"About ten minutes ago, my son's teacher called and said he had bumped his head at kindergarten. I was in a hurry to ask you for leave, but you weren't here."
The Zhan Group had a rule that all absences must be requested in advance, not afterwards, and the leave request must be signed by the direct supervisor.
Since she wasn't in the company just now, Zhang Xiaoyu was anxious.
Lu Jiaying's expression turned serious upon hearing this. She reached out and asked her,
"Is the leave request form ready?"
"It's ready, here's the pen."
Without hesitation, she signed the leave request form for Zhang Xiaoyu while standing.
"Thank you, Manager Lu. I'll be going now."
Zhang Xiaoyu was ready to leave her post. As she said this and was about to run off with the leave form, Lu Jiaying called out to her.
"Don't rush. I'll take you there."
Zhang Xiaoyu was taken aback and felt a little embarrassed.
However, due to her extreme worry for her son, she still wanted to accept.
"Won't it be too much trouble? What if you have something else to do later..."
Lu Jiaying thought for a moment. She did have something to do later. She handed the car keys to Jiang Jingyu.
"You take her. Drive slowly on the way."
Actually, Jiang Jingyu could drive. He was of age and had obtained his driver's license at the beginning of the year.
However, in his parents' eyes, he was always a child who would never grow up, so they wouldn't let him drive.
New drivers had a desire to drive. Since Lu Jiaying was letting him drive freely, he might as well.
"Okay, Manager Lu."
He strode away with Zhang Xiaoyu as if he had received a glorious mission.
Lu Jiaying's car was a Volvo worth over 300,000 yuan. As they drove out of the company, Jiang Jingyu remembered to ask for her name.
"Everyone calls me Sister Zhang, so you can call me Sister Zhang too. I heard you're Manager Lu's newly hired assistant?"
Jiang Jingyu said yes. "Sister Zhang, can you tell me how Manager Lu drove away all her previous assistants?"
"Who told you they were driven away? Was it Fanfan and the others?"
Sister Zhang shook her head and sighed.
"The relationship between women is very subtle. You're still young, so you might not understand. When a woman is not only beautiful and highly capable at work but also liked by the opposite sex, her popularity among her own gender won't be particularly good."
"Manager Lu is an absolute workaholic. Apart from work every day, she works overtime and travels on business, and doesn't even date. How could she have the time for gossip or quid pro quo?"
"Some young people have poor psychological resilience or can't accept her work intensity, so they can't continue. This is a very normal workplace phenomenon. Why would it be called mistreatment?"
Sister Zhang's words were quite insightful.
After all, she was a few years older than those customer service representatives, and her attitude and perspective on things were completely different from theirs.
After picking up the child from school and taking him to the hospital, and helping with the procedures, Jiang Jingyu learned that Sister Zhang was actually divorced.
She was not from around here and was living alone in Nancheng with her child, making survival quite difficult.
After milling around for a while, it was time to get off work. Lu Jiaying proactively called Jiang Jingyu to tell him to go home.
Working overtime alone in the office, Lu Jiaying received a WeChat message from Sister Zhang.
It said the child had needed six stitches on his head and would have to stay in the hospital for a few days, asking if she could work from home.
Lu Jiaying's first reaction was, no, if something happened, she needed to take leave.
Otherwise, if this precedent was set, everyone would claim to have things to do and work from home, which would not only affect work efficiency but also the company's interests. It would also be difficult for her to explain to HR.
But then she thought again. Her income from this job was only five to six thousand yuan per month. After paying rent and utilities, and living expenses, she also had to support her child.
Now that her child was hospitalized, she was spending money while having no income. Wouldn't that be tantamount to sentencing her and her child to death?
The company always talked about promoting humanized management. Now was the time to demonstrate that humanity.
So, after a moment of thought, she agreed.
"Alright. But you must complete your work on time, and you cannot lag behind your colleagues. I will give you a special leave request form to submit to HR later."
"Thank you, Manager Lu, thank you so much." Sister Zhang was immensely grateful.
Zhang Xiaoyu didn't take her computer when she left, and many files were on the computer. The next day, Jiang Jingyu made another trip to send her the computer at the hospital.
At the same time, he learned about the humanized approach of the Zhan Group.
They could make special arrangements for employees facing difficulties.
Through his interactions with Lu Jiaying over these past two days, Jiang Jingyu discovered that apart from being overly dedicated, she had no other faults.
His initial aversion to her was entirely due to his own mindset.
No wonder his parents wanted him to learn from her.
Jiang Jingyu had now thoroughly realized that listening to his parents was a good thing.
He intended to be obedient, and with his cooperation in all aspects, he picked things up quickly, and Lu Jiaying was very satisfied with him.
Time flew by in a busy and fulfilling manner, and a week passed in the blink of an eye. Sister Zhang returned to work.
Lu Jiaying filled out a special leave request form for her and asked Jiang Jingyu to submit it to HR. The HR specialist looked at this strange leave form and fell into thought.
"Wait a moment, let me show it to our leader first."
Less than a minute later, the HR specialist came out and told Jiang Jingyu that this leave request did not comply with regulations, that the company had no such precedent, and that their boss did not approve it, so he should take it back.
Jiang Jingyu found it strange.
"This was signed by our director herself, how could it not comply with regulations?"
"I don't know. You should go back and ask your boss."
Jiang Jingyu took the leave form back to the marketing department.
Coincidentally, an important foreign trade client needed a technical document, but the technical department had been slow to send it. Lu Jiaying asked him to go and get the document.
By the time he returned and Lu Jiaying mentioned this matter, she directly pushed her computer screen towards him to see.
The disciplinary regulations regarding her and Sister Zhang, which HR had just issued, were prominently displayed in the company's WeChat group chat.
The announcement was quite harsh, stating that Lu Jiaying had abused her authority by giving employees special treatment, which had caused a negative impact on HR management. According to company regulations, she was to be reprimanded.
At the same time, a new leave request form was to be submitted, and Zhang Xiaoyu would be paid for the leave as if it were a normal absence, and this would not be repeated.