Manage Me

I couldn’t believe that I had gotten this lucky. After being fired from my last job I was certain I’d never be hired again. My old boss liked to gossip and I had no doubt the rest of her society friends had heard all about me. None of them were going to hire me. So imagine my shock when the agency called me to tell me I had been hired for a week with pay before I even began. I had said yes immediately, not even concerned with who I would be working for. And then this morning when I received the directions to the house and the name of my new boss I was stunned. I mean of course I knew who Jack Barakat was. Fuck, everybody knew who Jack Barakat was. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not some crazy fan-girl. I have some of their music on my iPod and it was pretty decent, but I wasn’t obsessed with them.

I couldn’t deny the flutter of nerves that sprung up in my stomach as I rang the doorbell. This was somebody famous after all. He obviously had no idea who I was or why I was here, that much was clear.

“Who the fuck are you?” He spat as soon as he opened the door.

I held back a flinch. It wasn’t my place. He was my boss after all, and I was there simply to serve him.

“I-I’m from the cleaning agency. I’m your new maid.” I stuttered.

He had let out a string of profanities before calling someone. I realized it was Alex Gaskarth almost immediately, which was quickly followed by my realization that he had been the one to hire me, not Jack.

As I stood there awkwardly listening to Jack’s half of the conversation, I took the time to study my new boss. He was dressed in nothing but a pair of dirty skinny jeans and a stained t-shit. There were dark circles underneath his eyes. They were bloodshot, as if he hadn’t slept in days. He smelled slightly, and I could see his hair hadn’t been washed in days. It was kind of disgusting, to be honest, and I found myself trying not to wrinkle my nose.

From the tone in his voice it was pretty clear that he didn’t want me there. I heard him mention Holly and could only assume he was talking about Holly Madison. Their break-up had been pretty big news but not completely unexpected. Apparently he had liked her more than it seemed based on the internet.

I heard him refer to me as ‘some chick with a duster and apron’ and my cheeks burned. I didn’t move though. Had this been a few years ago I might have picked a fight, maybe even slapped him. But I didn’t need any more negative reports to the agency so I kept quiet. I noticed their conversation had ended so I decided to try and speak.

“Uhm, I can leave…” I trailed off awkwardly, looking him in the eye.

He sighed and seemed to debate it for a second. I continued to stare into his eyes. They were brown and dull. I could see a hint of warmth hiding in them. In all honesty, I didn’t care if he asked me to leave. I had already been paid. But rejection always stung, and I’d had enough of that lately so a part of me hoped he wouldn’t turn me away. Plus if this turned into a regular job I’d be that much closer to getting my life back on track. And I desperately needed the money a regular job could provide.

“No.” He finally stated. “Come in.”

My shoulders sagged with relief. I hurried inside. I pulled out my regulation blue shoe covers, slipping them over my beat up Converse. I straightened my apron and slipped my obnoxious yellow gloves on, securing them with some spare hair-ties I carried around just for this purpose.

“Where would you like me to start, Mr. Barakat?” I smiled. Partly because I was grateful and partly because I was supposed to.

His face screwed up in thought. I took a moment to quickly look around. My brief assessment was clear: this house was a pigsty. It probably hadn’t been cleaned in weeks, if not months. This was going to be a hefty job.

“I guess wherever.” He said after about two minutes. “Would you like me to give you a tour of the house?” He added as an afterthought.

“Sure.”

He walked forward. I followed behind him, listening as he pointed out the kitchen, dining room, living room and bathroom. He told me his room was upstairs along with a guest room and another bathroom as well as a laundry closet, which I was definitely going to need. I just nodded along, mentally planning out how to attack this mess.

There were take-out boxes everywhere as well as beer bottles. What wasn’t covered in those was buried under clothing. Half of it looked crusted over with sweat and I mentally cringed. This was by far the worst house I had seen.

“So yeah…that’s my house.” He shrugged.

By this point we had made it back to the entrance. I simply nodded.

“Oh, and there’s a pool out back. And a pool house.” He added.

I nodded again, slightly distracted by the amount of work that lay ahead of me. I could tell that Jack didn’t know what to do now, and I hoped he would just leave. It was always weird when my bosses felt awkward and still stayed in the house, but I couldn’t very well kick him out.

“Well I’m gonna go out for a bit.”

I silently thanked God.

“Alright Mr. Barakat.” I smiled again and he quickly left.

As he closed the door I turned and headed towards the kitchen. I checked to make sure he was gone before pulling out my iPod and plugging in my ear buds. I clicked Shuffle and decided to get all of the trash out of here first. Christ, this house was gross. I grabbed two trash bags out of my basket: one for trash and one for recyclables. I took a deep breath and got to work. It was going to be a long day.