Chapter 4

Morning rush hour was in full swing. Cars packed the streets. Marcy passed the bus that she could have taken, and never saw it again, figuring it had gotten stuck in traffic. The only thing that slowed her down were the traffic lights. She had to wait for the walk signs, and even then, she had to make sure there was no traffic turning. It felt more dangerous walking than being in a car. Drivers made the right-hand turns regardless if the light was red or green and if there were any pedestrians in the way. There seemed to be safety in numbers. She learned to keep other people between her and the turning traffic.

She arrived at the Basil building with five minutes to spare. It looked like the typical steel and glass building. A huge sign alongside the double glass entrance doors showed her that there was more than just the Basil Corporation using the building. She could see a dozen other company names listed.

She entered to find a clean and modernistic foyer with narrow chairs and a coffee table off to one side as a waiting area. A huge receptionist desk spanned a back wall. A staircase came down from an open second-floor balcony. Behind the stairs were the elevators. No one followed her into the foyer, which was empty. She wondered how employees came in unless they were already at work.

“Can I help you?”

“Yes, I’m here to see Lois.”

“Your name?”

“Marcy Albright.”

“One moment, please.”

“Thank you.”

Two receptionists worked at the desk. They were both well-dressed, and she thought they had on as much makeup as Crystal used. The receptionist who helped her spoke briefly into the phone in a low voice. But Marcy could hear that she was letting Lois know she was here.

“She’ll be down in a few minutes.”

“Thank you.”

Marcy went over to the waiting area. She didn’t sit, taking in the view out the window. Traffic was heavy.

Another man came into the building.

“May I help you?”

“Marcus Fullerton to see Adam Rory.”

“One moment, please.”

Marcy thought the man looked over confident. She pegged him to be a salesperson and decided he was trying to do a cold call. The receptionist hadn’t gotten on the phone, but stepped away, like she was letting him wait. Marcy thought he looked impatient, like he was too important to have to wait.

“Marcy?”

She turned to find an older woman who had stuffed herself into a stylish blue suit. Her waist was bulging out. Her shoes were red.

“Yes. Lois?”

“Nice to meet you, this way.”

“Thank you.”

She followed Lois past ten elevators to an eleventh where Lois used a key to open the door. Marcy followed her in and noticed there were fifty floors to choose from. Lois hit the fiftieth floor.

“Basil is on the top four floors. We use this elevator exclusively. It’s faster that way.” Lois smiled.

Marcy thought her perfect white teeth were probably dentures.

“I doubt people use the stairs to go up that high.”

“Oh, definitely not.”

The ride up felt long. Lois just stood there, staring at the door. Marcy didn’t know if she should make any more conversation or not.

“Mr. Rory will interview you first,” Lois said a few floors before they reached the top.

Marcy decided he must be Lois’s boss and wondered if he was the Adam Rory the salesperson wanted to talk to. The website only portrayed Robert Basil, the President and owner of the company.

The elevator door opened to what Marcy would call lavish. The carpeting was a dark green, and the walls were light oak. All the furniture that she could see was also oak. Paintings in fancy frames lined all the walls.

Lois led her down a hall and into a conference room.

“Mr. Rory will be in shortly,” Lois said. “Have a seat. It will only be a moment.”

She left the room, shutting the door.

Marcy straightened her skirt and sat down.

The conference room felt huge. There were white boards on two walls. They weren’t just the simple white board with the usual metal boarder. The frames were the same oak as the paneling on the lower wall. She could see the boards were electronic because of a control panel. One wall consisted entirely of windows. She could only see a few other buildings that were taller.

The door opened. A man briskly stepped in. He held nothing. The movement of the door sent a slight whiff of his cologne toward her. It was a very pleasant scent. However, the man’s face was not pleasant, but stern, accented by dark hair and light blue eyes that seemed like lasers that pierced through her.

“Qu’as-tu managé au petit déjeuner?”

He shut the door behind him.

She had barely begun to take in his perfectly fitted suit and was hardly prepared to answer since she expected an introduction.

As well, his French wasn’t text book pronunciation. It was off the hip I’m-going-to-trip-you-up-speaking-as-fast-as-I-can French. Her hesitation in answering wasn’t because he spoke to her in French, but because he had just asked her what she had for breakfast.

“Thé et pain grillé,” she said, finally pulling herself together.

“What did you have in your tea? And on your toast?” he continued in French.

He remained standing. She felt as if he was waiting for her to mess up so he could leave. He looked impatient.

“Butter, honey, and peanut butter on my toast. I had milk and honey in my tea.”

It was powdered milk, but she didn’t think she should go into that detail.

“Is that your favorite?”

She wondered if she should stand.

“Yes, it gives me the energy I need to make it to lunch.”

“Who is your favorite soccer team?”

She suddenly felt that she should expand her answers.

“When I get the chance, I enjoy watching Brazil and Portugal teams, but I don’t have cable. I usually end up catching the highlights on the internet.”

“Who won the last world cup? And where was it held?”

She wondered what that had to do with an office job. However, she knew the answer to his questions. She clearly remembered the day when they held the World Cup. Several of her internet friends had to bow out of an online game because of the match. That was all they could talk about. The memory felt ingrained in her mind.

“France. Russia hosted it.”

The man sat down, suddenly looking less impatient and intimidating. However, his demeanor was still stern.

“¿De donde eres?”

She caught the switch to Spanish and answered accordingly in Spanish.

“I’m from the Black Hills region.”

“Farming. What did your parents’ farm raise?”

“My father raises beef cattle and grows corn?”

“Where did you learn French and Spanish?”

His speech flow slowed down, but he still shot out the questions as soon as she answered. However, she now felt like she was having a normal, everyday conversation with someone.

“High School French, but I learned Spanish and Portuguese in online gaming rooms.”

“Gaming? Tell me more.” He switched to English.

She felt rather impressed with all his accents. He spoke French and Spanish like a native. His English was comparable to someone from the central mid-west. He articulated each word.

“Internet games. You gather team players from around the world and play against other teams. I haven’t played in a while because of school and moving to the city. If you can actually speak something other than English, then you get invited to join the better international teams.”

She had never thought her gaming would ever be worth anything. Her parents thought she had wasted a lot of time gaming. There was no monetary reward to the games or competitions. It was all bragging rights. However, it had taught her the languages on which, she now finally realized, she was being tested.

Lois stepped in. She seemed surprised to see him.

“Sorry, sir. I didn’t know you were still here.”

“Almost done.” He flicked a hand at her to dismiss her and waited until she shut the door. “Quando foi a ultima vez que voce foi andar a cavalo?”

He had switched to Portuguese and asked her when she had last gone horseback riding. These were the strangest interview questions she had ever heard, even if they were to test her language ability.

“Two summers ago. I rode bareback, and we went to the lake,” she said in Portuguese.

“Geldings or mares?”

“Geldings.”

“Sei stato in Italia?”

She immediately recognized Italian, but she only knew a little Italian. However, she had an idea of what he had asked.

“No,” she said. “The only time I was out of the States was when I went to Canada.”

He rose and opened the door to the room. Lois stood just outside.

“I’m finished,” he said to her.

“Yes, sir.”

“Hire her,” he said, going out the door and disappearing in an instant.

Lois stared after him with her mouth hanging opened for a few seconds longer than she should have before she turned to Marcy.

“What did he say?” Lois said.

“He said to hire me.”

“It sounded like he said fire, but he can’t fire you if you don’t even work here yet. So, he must have said hire you.”

Marci thought she had an incredulous look and felt amazed at how discombobulated Lois seemed.

“Hire.” Lois seemed to come to her senses. “Yes. Do...do you have a few minutes?”

Marcy wondered if Mr. Rory rarely hired anyone.

“Yes. I have time.”

She had all day. There was no way she was leaving without some sort of paper that said she had a job.

“Come on down to my office.”

Marcy followed, not sure if she should feel overjoyed or not. This felt surreal.

“Have a seat.”

Lois’s office was large and messy. She had a large oak desk with bookcases and filing cabinets. There was a large, round table. Every surface contained paper clutter.

“We’re putting together a new employee handbook. I’m sorting through all the paperwork,” Lois said in explanation. “Is your address and phone number on your resume current?”

“Yes, it is.”

Lois fumbled through a filing cabinet drawer, pulling out a packet of papers.

“Here. Fill in where you can, but you don’t have to repeat it if it’s on your resume.” Lois handed her a pen, but Marcy showed she already had one. “I’ll be right back.”

Marcy noticed there was no asking if she wanted the job. They assumed she would take it. Didn’t they usually tell you about the position and the benefits?

She flipped through what Lois had given her. Most of the forms were what she expected for a new job. There was a brochure about the benefits that she felt was typical for a full-time job. She would earn two weeks of vacation in a prorated manner, which was the same for two weeks of sick leave. Insurance was single or family, which the company paid eighty percent of the cost. There was a 401K plan she could opt into after a year of employment.

She spent half an hour completing the forms. Lois returned forty-five minutes later.

“Finished?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Lois looked surprised. “Do you have any questions?”

“Could you tell me about the job? Salary and when I start?”

“Well, based on your experience, we’ll start you out as a clerk. Salary to start is twenty-seven thousand annual. And...”

Lois looked at her computer screen, which Marcy couldn’t see.

“Um, next orientation is in two weeks, on Monday, but we can start you anytime. I have projects I can get you working on.”

“I can be here tomorrow,” Marcy said.

“Fine. That will be fine. Eight am is our start time. Come to the front like you did today, then I’ll have someone walk you around the building showing you where everything is.”

Marcy still felt like this wasn’t real. She thought the salary was low, but this was a job. It was a start. She often had heard that the easiest way to find a job was to have one.

“These pamphlets are yours to keep. Tomorrow, you’ll help me with these handbook packets and get one yourself.”

“Okay. Sounds good.”

“I’ll take you back down.”

Marcy followed her to the elevators. They had to wait. She wondered if someone had taken it down. While they waited, Mr. Rory walked past.

“Morning, Adam,” Lois said.

He ignored her.

Marcy decided he was a good-looking guy in his late twenties or early thirties. A moment later, his cologne caught up with her.

Yeah, she thought. She could smell that all day.

The elevator opened and three women and two men got off. They were all dressed in expensive clothing. The women all wore heavy makeup and lots of jewelry. They ignored her and Lois.

Marcy decided she needed to go clothes shopping.

“Tomorrow, I’ll get you a key for the elevator and a card key for the parking lot.”

“I don’t have a car.”

“Oh, good. We don’t have many slots open.”

On the ground floor, Lois led her back to the foyer.

“Nice to meet you. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Lois.”

Marcy felt like she floated home until she arrived at the apartment, and Crystal laughed at her after finding out about the job.

“I make more than you at a coffee shop.”

“Well, at least it’s a start.”

“You’ll be a clerk forever.” Crystal laughed and disappeared into her room.

Feeling gloomy instead of ecstatic, Marcy changed and sat on the couch to look for apartments. She wouldn’t spend hundreds on coffees, and knew how to be frugal with her money. Although, an efficiency apartment like this one would cost her half a month’s income. No wait. She rethought out her math. She hadn’t considered the taxes coming out of her paycheck.

Damn.

An apartment like this one would cost her more than half a month’s salary and leave no allowance for clothes.

Damn.

Then there was a deposit. She could make that, but it would put a big dent in her reserves.

Crystal earned more because of tips, which explained her cleavage. Marcy was sure her male clientele gave her a little more. A cheery smile and boobs equaled tips. She had seen this before.

In the morning, she was up, dressed and gone before Crystal even woke. To make the walk easier, she wore her athletic shoes and carried her work shoes in a bag along with her sack lunch. At the corner, before she reached the building, she changed into her work shoes.

The foyer was empty except for the receptionists. Marcy knew there had to be an employee entrance. She wondered where it was.

“Lois, please. Marcy Albright.”

“One moment, I will let her know.”

Lois appeared only a moment later. Marcy decided she had just arrived since she carried a small insulated lunch bag along with her purse.

“Good morning, Lois.”

“Good morning. This way.”

They joined people who also looked like they had arrived, and they rode up in a full elevator. Marcy expected introductions, but Lois remained silent, and so did everyone else, which inhibited her from greeting anyone. Most of them sipped coffee from cups showing the logo of a popular coffee shop.

Everyone got off the elevator before it reached the top floor. Lois and she were the only ones left when the elevator arrived at the top floor. As soon as the elevator door opened, she smelled the cologne. Adam Rory was already in the office.

“I’ll have you work on these employee handbooks. We’ve added pages and we need to collate the pages, add page numbering, and such.”

Lois waved her to the messy table.

Marcy set her bag down. Lois left.

This was it? No tour of the facilities?

She sat at the table and looked through the papers. There was no order, but she figured out what a logical order should be. However, she noted spelling errors and poor wording. As well, the page numbering was all wrong. These issues needed to be corrected before getting distributed.

She stepped out of the Lois’s office to see if she could find her. A man’s voice was yelling down the hall. People rose to shut their doors if they weren’t already closed.

Marcy walked the other way and found a break room. Lois was chatting with another woman while they drank coffee.

“Lois?”

“Yes?”

Marcy nodded at the other woman, who seemed to snub her by ignoring her. Lois, again, made no attempt to introduce her.

“There are some spelling errors that should probably get corrected.”

“Oh, dear.” Lois hurried out, walking at a fast waddle as if this was an emergency. When she reached her office, she waved Marcy to sit at her desk.

“This is where all the files are. Make the corrections.”

“Okay.”

Lois left again.

What Marcy found disconcerting was that Lois had left her email open and the HR application. She found herself staring at the personal information for some other woman. This wasn’t good security based on what she learned at other jobs. She minimized the application for privacy.

After an hour and a half of searching the files and correcting the errors, Marcy rose to find a restroom and get some water. She could hear the giggles and gossip when she passed the break room.

When she returned to Lois’s desk, she pulled all the documents into one to better sort the pages. Some of the documents she needed weren’t in the folder where Lois directed her, and she had to go hunting for them.

The phone rang, but she ignored it. The caller ID showed Adam Rory.

She wondered if she would get her own workspace with a phone and computer.

At noon, she ate her lunch in Lois’s office, feeling rather dejected and lonely. Even at one of her part-time jobs, they had taken her out to lunch on the first day as a new employee.

By two, she had finished and sent the document to the printer. She rose and stepped out of the office to listen, since she didn’t know where the printer was. There wasn’t one in Lois’s office.

Her ears directed her in the direction opposite of the break room. She found a small room with a single printer/copier that was printing out her document.

A whiff of the cologne froze her. She was no longer alone in the room.

“Afternoon,” Adam said.

“A-afternoon.”

“How’s phone training going?”

“Phone training?”

He stared at her as if she had spoken gibberish.

“Yes, phone training.”

“I haven’t had any phone training, yet.”

“What are you doing?”

“Printing out the new employee handbook.”

“What the fuck.” He looked pissed.