005 - Job News and The first time I saw...

Aug 03, 2005 18:38


[mood|
excited]

It was raining this morning when I woke up, and it practically rained all the way into the late afternoon.  By the day's end, my typing scores were an unreadable mess.  No, I did not think to use a page protector.  By the end of the day, I had a job.  I have a job.  Here's what happened earlier today:

First, Mom and I went to The Flamingo Motel.   The head housekeeper was really intimidating.  She was chunky and middle-aged.  Very strict-looking.  I had barely spoken twenty words (combined) in response to her questions when she decided that I wasn't right for the job.  Next, we went to the county hospital.  I thought the interview was going okay until the nurse asked me if I or someone in my family has had breast cancer.  When I said "No," she dismissed me saying, "We'll call you."  Then it was on to the tax office.  The lady who interviewed me was very fat (fatter than the maid) and wore a tacky orange muumuu.  She smelled like baby powder and chewing gum.  She gave me an impromptu spelling and grammar test.  I had to spell things like "L-I-Q-U-I-D-I-T-Y" and identify dangling modifiers.  She left to go and look over my typing scores and make a decision.  When she returned, she told me "You scored higher than anyone else I've interviewed.  You're really overqualified for this job.  There's no challenge.  You'd be bored to death."  And she just laughed when I told her honestly, "I want to be bored."   I really just wanted to get a job.  I don't mind dull work!

It was getting late by the time we left the tax office and I was feeling sad and hungry.  Mom drove to a french bakery and we had coffee and pastries.  She tried to encourage me but nothing she was saying was sinking in.  I mean everything she said went out the other ear.  I was lost in my own thoughts.  And yes, feeling sorry for myself.  That's when it happened.  Mom took a bite of her pastry and looked out the window.  Something caught her eye so I looked out the window too.

"Secretary."  She said, clearly excited.  A sign across the street in front of a small building said something like, "Secretary Wanted."  White and red lights surrounded the sign.  It sort of reminded me of the motel sign - the one that says "Vacancy."  I looked down at the folded copy of the newspaper I had taken out of the trash last night and stared at both the ad and the building in disbelief.  Right across from the bakery! Imagine that.  I don't come down to this part of the neighborhood very often so Ardmore Avenue is unfamiliar to me.  I was tired and pretty much ready to give up but one last interview couldn't hurt, could it?  Mom paid the check and then we drove across the street. (It was still raining - HARD.)  I got out of the car, umbrella and typing scores in hand and hesitantly walked up the path that led to the front door of the law office.  The door had "2640" on it so I knew I was in the right place.  I looked back, unsure whether to go on or not but mom motioned for me to go ahead.

After knocking on the door twice, it swung open to reveal a large messy room.  Chairs were upside down and there were papers and folders all over the place.  It looked awful, kind of like as if a storm had blew through there.  A lady walked by me, she was carrying a box full of office supplies and without saying a word to me (though she did glare at me), she left out the front door.  She might have been crying.  I'm not sure because she walked past so fast.  I started wondering what had happened to her, but then I remembered what I was there for and walked further inside the room and into the hall.


The hallway was dimly lit.  There were potted flower plants on shelves spaced evenly down the hall leading to a half-open door.  "Hello?"  I called.  No response.  Again, "Hello?"  "In here," came the reply.  When I stepped into the office, I still had my purple poncho on.  I'm not sure why I didn't think to take it off.

I pulled back my hood and said, "Hi!", trying my best to sound chipper.  There was a man at the desk and he was...fussing with his hair?  He turned to look at me and said, "Hi."  He was definitely older than me though it's hard to say how much.  Dirty blonde messy hair.  He was wearing a red patterned tie with a grayish shirt.  We both stared at each other for a few seconds and I thought I saw something in his eyes.  He almost looked...desperate.  He's a lawyer though, I know that now, so that couldn't be the case.  Lawyers aren't like that.  Lawyers are confident.

His hands were clasped in front of him on the desk when I asked him if he was the lawyer.  And he said, "Oh...uh, yes."  I think he tried to smile but it looked like he was wincing or something.  It was then I guessed that it wasn't the right time for the interview so I told him, "I'll come back later" and turned around to go back to the car.  To my surprise, he asked me to stay.  Here goes nothing, I thought.  I turned around again and approached the desk.  He had the strangest things on his desk.  Darts?  Red sharpees?  I didn't know what else to do so I shoved my typing scores in his face.  I realize now that that wasn't the wisest thing to do, but I was nervous.

After he started asking me questions, you know the usual, "Are you pregnant?", "Do you plan on getting pregnant?",  "Are you married?"  and so on, he turned on the machine to water the orchids he keeps under purple lights toward the back of his office.  I was amazed.  It was beautiful.  Sometime after I showed him my scores, he used a dart tip to call someone and sent me off to make him a cup of instant coffee.  When I came back, drenched from trying to replace the water jug, all of the red pens he had on his desk had disappeared.

He sat down on the sofa and I on a chair trying to dry myself off with papertowels.  For the second time today I was told I was overqualified for the job.  For the second time today I responded that "I want to bored" but this time I was neither laughed at nor was I sent away.  Instead, he observed that I was "closed tight" and had a "wall" built up around me.  I am and I do.

The phone rang.  He stated calmly, "I'm not here" and had me answer the phone.  The problem was, I didn't even know his name!  Thankfully, I saw a piece of stationary on his desk and said, "E. Edward Grey's office, may I help you?"  When I left his office not ten minutes later, I had the job.  I'm now a secretary. His secretary.

Mom almost threw a party in the car when I told her Mr. Grey had hired me.  Did I expect anything less? Tomorrow will be my first day at work.

Muse: Lee Holloway
Fandom: Secretary
Word Count: 546 (everything under the cut)

tm_challenges

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