The Worst Job
The clock on the wall said 1:37 when he walked in the door late, as I suspected he’d be. The room he entered was not an office, or a café, but a waiting room and a strange place to be accused of untimely-ness. He muttered an apology to the secretary before sitting down in a chair closest to the door.
“Well it’s on your watch,” the secretary said, blandly. “You’re not wasting my time, just your own.”
He didn’t look the part, but I could tell that he wanted a job in this office very badly. His knee bounced up and down at an uncontrolled pace while he stared intently at his hands. No matter how he sat, he was gawky and long, though he tried to make himself smaller as the secretary glared his way when his chair creaked as he moved or he reached for a glossy magazine on the table by his chair. I watched him over my newspaper, intrigued by this newcomer who thought he could handle the monsters at this place.
“Miss Noire,” the secretary said, sweetly in my direction, “would you like to start the interview now?”
I stood up and walked over to the man fidgeting in his chair. I extended my hand and introduced myself. He turned white, but shook my hand and stood up before following me to my green office that looked a little too doctor-y for my tastes at the moment.
“What did you say your name was?” I asked, giving him a chance to introduce himself, though I already knew who he was.
“Mark Atherton,” he said. “Or at least, that’s what I’ve been going as.”
“Mr. Atherton, then. Do you know much about this job that you’re applying for?”
“Yes,” he nodded enthusiastically to emphasize his single-word answer. “I’m aware of all of the benefits.”
“Then let me familiarize you with the deficits.” I pulled out a yellow packet that I kept in my desk for these occasions. It was wrinkled and soft at the staple from years of flipping over the words. I smoothed out the packet gently and began my shtick. “This is a job that requires you to work every day and every hour—there is no break, there is no stopping. You’ll be traveling all over the world and you have to work on a clock; you will not be allowed to arrive late. Every second you might be across the world from your last location and you are not allowed to slow your speed or stay for prolonged periods of time. Slacking off on the job or not being diligent will cost this company, so it’s important to be on top of yourself and the job.
“Now, we’d pay you,” I continued, fingering a page of the packet, “but you won’t have time to spend what you earn. Forget about wife and family, because you won’t have time to see them. It’s a grueling job, but rewarding in its own way. So, Mr. Atherton, are you still interested in this position?”
He paused, staring at the yellow packet. “Yes,” he said after a long silence.
“All right then,” I smiled. “So far you haven’t shown much promise, but we’ll set you up with a trial period with our current Grim Reaper and you can get a taste of the expectations. In the mean time, enjoy your day, you’ll start tomorrow bright and early—5:00 sharp. If you’re late, you lose this job; I hope I’m clear.”
“Perfectly,” he extended his hand. “Thank you for this opportunity.”
“It’s hard to get anyone interested in collecting souls,” I said, “it’s the least I can do for the favor you’re doing for me.”
He raised one eyebrow very slightly, but I refused to elaborate. I showed him the door, shook his hand again and then turned to our secretary. He shook his head, but continued with his paperwork.
“Well, I didn’t have much of a choice,” I said walking back to my office. “Frank is getting tired of doing the job and all the other applicants got cold feet once they realized what they were in for.”
“I understand, Miss Noire,” was the only answer I got, but I could tell that whatever happened with our newest Reaper was going to be much better than the situation I had currently.
This entry was posted on Saturday, June 6th, 2009 at 10:09 pm and is filed under Fantasy, Fiction Prose. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.