Exposed
Coffee
A typical work day for me consisted of wasting my time by playing with office supplies, bitching about the skinny ass models, and trying to avoid my impatient boss. Add in a 15 year old computer that has frozen five times in the past hour and there’s a perfect summary of my day today.
Dragging myself to the ‘coffee station’, where only stale coffee exists, I poured a cup of the three hour old piss water, adding much sugar to drown out the lack of flavour. Nasty as the stuff is, caffeine would be lovely at the moment.
For the past two hours I’ve been waiting for the supposed ‘perfect model’ to show up. An alleged reliable co-worker suggested her to me. Next time I should really think about what reliable really means in the twenty first century.
I put the chipped coffee mug to my lips, leaving a smear of red residue from my lipstick on the rim and possibly in the cup. The coffee slid down my throat, the taste of wax and overly sweetened liquid making me wanted to gag.
I swallowed it all anyway. Coffee poisoning hasn’t quite made its way to the medical dictionary, so I’m more than likely safe. Happy? No. But definitely safe.
Returning to my rather cluttered desk, I placed the coffee on the only free spot remaining. Sticky notes covered much of the area, along with an assortment of photos. A pile of papers I have yet to read were strewn about, clearly showing my reluctance in caring about them. Inkless pens remained on my desk as always, overpopulating the ones that actually worked. It was a mess basically. The stack of CD's contributed to it, as they stood on my desk, creating the Leaning Tower of Pisa once more.
As unorganized as I may seem, it works out in an orderly manner. For the most part.
Anyway, being too organized loses the excitement in life. Well at least I think so.
“Lakota! What the hell are you doing?” I jumped.
No, it wasn’t my boss yelling at me in a nagging tone of voice. More particularly, it was someone who seemed to think they were in charge of me. And no one’s in charge of me, I am a complete and total free spirit. That is, if you don’t count marriage, my boss, or anyone above me on the rather unfortunate food chain that we refer to as life.
Anyway, back onto the topic of Nadine Asric, one of the oh-so friendly secretaries from the front office. I know her more as the boss’s ‘behind the scenes’ girlfriend though; which is more popularly known as an affair. Even if I have no proof, my instincts should be enough to back up my suspicion.
She plays a large part in my everyday work routine. However, when I say ‘large’, I sure as hell don’t mean ‘important’ in any sort of way.
Curls of auburn hair bounced from side to side as she shook her head at me. Not even in the sense of disappointment, this was just part of her daily ritual in making my job even more unsatisfactory. Along with shoving all her prideful gloating in my face, while literally looking down at me. Nadine stood at least a foot taller than me, having over tens years on me, and due to her ‘connection’ with the boss she easily beats me in the salary section. Not that I’m jealous of any of that; moreover, I wish those attributes would cause her downfall.
“Hun, are you ever gonna’ step outta’ that shell of yours and actually do something with your life? Sittin’ here isn’t gonna get much done for you.”
I grabbed my coffee, forcing more of the repulsive fluid down my throat, this time nearly choking when I swallowed. “I’m only twenty-one Nadine; I’ve got plenty of time to do something with my life. And unlike some people, I don’t have certain connections to get me through life.” Definitely not bitter toward her advantages, definitely not bitter toward my lack of success. If I can put up with this for a just bit longer, I may actually make it somewhere.
“You’re twenty-one an’ married, at the bottom of your career, and lack any of the charisma that people look for in a person; do you really have anythin’ left?” She posed, most likely aware of her verbal abuse toward me. “But I’m sure you’re a good person underneath it all.” Aware, but still feigning ignorance to her own insults. “Oh and, I think the boss is looking for you.” She added in lastly.
I set down the coffee, looking at her doubtfully. “And you couldn’t have said that in the first place?”
“Thought you knew.”
“Right.” Of course you did.
I put on the infamous corporate smile, sending myself off to the boss’s office. It must be something important if he’s not using Nadine as a messenger for it. After all, dealing with employees isn’t exactly his specialty. Who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky; he might actually fire me.
I entered the office to find my boss, Mr. Dray, sitting in his chair with solemn look on his face. And unfortunately, with my lack of ability to read people, I had no idea what to expect from him.
“Since you didn’t seem to be getting anything done, I’ve decided to set you up with a partner.”
“A partner? Like a model or something?”
“No. More like a journalist I’m expecting you to show around the place. You seem to have nothing better to do, so you get to spend time with the new kid.”
I smiled, surprising looking forward to having someone to work with. “So who is it?” I asked, quite curious as to whom I’d be working with.
“It’s-.” There was a knock at the door interrupting him. “That must be Kalice, your partner.”
I spun around just as the door was opened, and was immediately met with the stench of cigarette smoke.
“You’ve got to me fucking kidding me.” Kalice so graciously greeted me.
Dragging myself to the ‘coffee station’, where only stale coffee exists, I poured a cup of the three hour old piss water, adding much sugar to drown out the lack of flavour. Nasty as the stuff is, caffeine would be lovely at the moment.
For the past two hours I’ve been waiting for the supposed ‘perfect model’ to show up. An alleged reliable co-worker suggested her to me. Next time I should really think about what reliable really means in the twenty first century.
I put the chipped coffee mug to my lips, leaving a smear of red residue from my lipstick on the rim and possibly in the cup. The coffee slid down my throat, the taste of wax and overly sweetened liquid making me wanted to gag.
I swallowed it all anyway. Coffee poisoning hasn’t quite made its way to the medical dictionary, so I’m more than likely safe. Happy? No. But definitely safe.
Returning to my rather cluttered desk, I placed the coffee on the only free spot remaining. Sticky notes covered much of the area, along with an assortment of photos. A pile of papers I have yet to read were strewn about, clearly showing my reluctance in caring about them. Inkless pens remained on my desk as always, overpopulating the ones that actually worked. It was a mess basically. The stack of CD's contributed to it, as they stood on my desk, creating the Leaning Tower of Pisa once more.
As unorganized as I may seem, it works out in an orderly manner. For the most part.
Anyway, being too organized loses the excitement in life. Well at least I think so.
“Lakota! What the hell are you doing?” I jumped.
No, it wasn’t my boss yelling at me in a nagging tone of voice. More particularly, it was someone who seemed to think they were in charge of me. And no one’s in charge of me, I am a complete and total free spirit. That is, if you don’t count marriage, my boss, or anyone above me on the rather unfortunate food chain that we refer to as life.
Anyway, back onto the topic of Nadine Asric, one of the oh-so friendly secretaries from the front office. I know her more as the boss’s ‘behind the scenes’ girlfriend though; which is more popularly known as an affair. Even if I have no proof, my instincts should be enough to back up my suspicion.
She plays a large part in my everyday work routine. However, when I say ‘large’, I sure as hell don’t mean ‘important’ in any sort of way.
Curls of auburn hair bounced from side to side as she shook her head at me. Not even in the sense of disappointment, this was just part of her daily ritual in making my job even more unsatisfactory. Along with shoving all her prideful gloating in my face, while literally looking down at me. Nadine stood at least a foot taller than me, having over tens years on me, and due to her ‘connection’ with the boss she easily beats me in the salary section. Not that I’m jealous of any of that; moreover, I wish those attributes would cause her downfall.
“Hun, are you ever gonna’ step outta’ that shell of yours and actually do something with your life? Sittin’ here isn’t gonna get much done for you.”
I grabbed my coffee, forcing more of the repulsive fluid down my throat, this time nearly choking when I swallowed. “I’m only twenty-one Nadine; I’ve got plenty of time to do something with my life. And unlike some people, I don’t have certain connections to get me through life.” Definitely not bitter toward her advantages, definitely not bitter toward my lack of success. If I can put up with this for a just bit longer, I may actually make it somewhere.
“You’re twenty-one an’ married, at the bottom of your career, and lack any of the charisma that people look for in a person; do you really have anythin’ left?” She posed, most likely aware of her verbal abuse toward me. “But I’m sure you’re a good person underneath it all.” Aware, but still feigning ignorance to her own insults. “Oh and, I think the boss is looking for you.” She added in lastly.
I set down the coffee, looking at her doubtfully. “And you couldn’t have said that in the first place?”
“Thought you knew.”
“Right.” Of course you did.
I put on the infamous corporate smile, sending myself off to the boss’s office. It must be something important if he’s not using Nadine as a messenger for it. After all, dealing with employees isn’t exactly his specialty. Who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky; he might actually fire me.
I entered the office to find my boss, Mr. Dray, sitting in his chair with solemn look on his face. And unfortunately, with my lack of ability to read people, I had no idea what to expect from him.
“Since you didn’t seem to be getting anything done, I’ve decided to set you up with a partner.”
“A partner? Like a model or something?”
“No. More like a journalist I’m expecting you to show around the place. You seem to have nothing better to do, so you get to spend time with the new kid.”
I smiled, surprising looking forward to having someone to work with. “So who is it?” I asked, quite curious as to whom I’d be working with.
“It’s-.” There was a knock at the door interrupting him. “That must be Kalice, your partner.”
I spun around just as the door was opened, and was immediately met with the stench of cigarette smoke.
“You’ve got to me fucking kidding me.” Kalice so graciously greeted me.