The New Job
Part 1
Strange instructions for a job, the girl thought to herself as the taxi driver dropped her off by the big tree out in the woods near the lake. The road was deserted. Only the silence of the woods was present. Beautiful tall pines,elms and birch. The maple trees had blanketed the forest with a thick layer, completely covering the ground and obscuring all from view but a few branches. She looked around to see if any cars were parked anywhere, but saw nothing.Okay, she thought to herself taking a deep breath and reading the notes she had made for directions.Fifty paces to the right of the tallest tree and then turn to your right,you will see a small marker. Under the leaves will be a door , she read. Nervously, she began pacing off the 50 steps, her ankle twisted slightly as she stepped on a branch hidden under the leaves. Forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty.
Anne had seen her sitting in the park and taken her home like a lost puppy. Her brother Matt that she lived with was not very happy. "Now you bring home a stray person? he had said, "We barely support ourselves, bad enough the animals you bring home" Anne had gotten her the job through the Ceta Program for homeless teens.
She found the two doors in the ground, they were painted green and she almost missed them. Opening them up it looked like the stairs to a cellar, dark and frightning. This is really wierd , she thought to herself.
Taking a deep breath she had gone down the cement stairs and opened the next door. Next thing she knew it had slammed shut behind her , she was in total darkness. Suddenly bright lights popped on and she could feel the ground moving. She was in a glass locker. A loud buzzer sounded , scaring her, and she was moved into another locker.
There she could see two uniformed gaurds who spoke to her through a speaker. Name, Date of Birth, Social Security Number, they asked.
Her voice, shaking in fright, had a hard time answering. What was this wierd place? What had Anne sent her in to? she wondered.
After she responded the locker door opened into a large, lit corridor. Down the hall and check in , the gaurds told her.
Suddenly, she was in a huge underground city! It was amazing.
She found the department she was supposed to go to and the first thing she was assigned was a small desk outside an office. There was a huge wall of filing cabinets to the left of her desk and the office behind it, other than that it took up most of the end of the floor. That is accounting around the corner from you, the lady had said, If you need any help or have any questions, you can ask Harriet, she has been here a long time. You are to answer the phone and screen calls for Mr X. If someone comes to see him, you buzz the office so and inform him who is here to see him. No one enters without going past you, she was told. It doesn't look like he is in yet, why don't you make some coffee the lady told her. That is back on the first floor where you came in, she said kindly, we are on the third floor.
Never had she seen such huge coffee makers! Well, it can't be much different than a regular one , she rationalized. Taking each of the ten pots, she filled each section of the machine with water.
The large coffee makers that filled the huge break room went crazy. Water and coffee was pouring everywhere and a large puddle was rapidly filling the floor of the breakroom.
Seeing a man walking by the breakroom, the girl pleaded, Can you help me? I don't know how to shut these off. "Well, I don't know how to shut them off either but you would think they would run out of water soon." the man exclaimed as he grabbed some hand towels and started helping her try to mop up the water and coffee.
"It's my first day, the girl explained, actually my first five minutes on the job. Oh dear, she said, now a large crowd had gathered around the door of the breakroom. How embarrassing! Grab a mop, the man barked at the people standing around. Yes Sir! They responded and several mops appeared.
Later Harriet would add to her embarrassment telling her the man who helped her was the head of the Center for Civil Defense and in charge of the whole place.
She was grateful the program was only two hours per day, dictating that she go to school in the mornings and report after. She would be paid for a full eight hours. Happily her new boss did not come in and she was able to complete the few hours still chargined at her error and head for home. Not a great first day, she thought to herself.
Strange instructions for a job, the girl thought to herself as the taxi driver dropped her off by the big tree out in the woods near the lake. The road was deserted. Only the silence of the woods was present. Beautiful tall pines,elms and birch. The maple trees had blanketed the forest with a thick layer, completely covering the ground and obscuring all from view but a few branches. She looked around to see if any cars were parked anywhere, but saw nothing.
Okay, she thought to herself taking a deep breath and reading the notes she had made for directions.
Fifty paces to the right of the tallest tree and then turn to your right,you will see a small marker. Under the leaves will be a door , she read.
Nervously, she began pacing off the 50 steps, her ankle twisted slightly as she stepped on a branch hidden under the leaves. Forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty.
Anne had seen her sitting in the park and taken her home like a lost puppy. Her brother Matt that she lived with was not very happy. "Now you bring home a stray person? he had said, "We barely support ourselves, bad enough the animals you bring home" Anne had gotten her the job through the Ceta Program for homeless teens.
She found the two doors in the ground, they were painted green and she almost missed them. Opening them up it looked like the stairs to a cellar, dark and frightning. This is really wierd , she thought to herself.
Taking a deep breath she had gone down the cement stairs and opened the next door. Next thing she knew it had slammed shut behind her , she was in total darkness. Suddenly bright lights popped on and she could feel the ground moving. She was in a glass locker. A loud buzzer sounded , scaring her, and she was moved into another locker.
There she could see two uniformed gaurds who spoke to her through a speaker. Name, Date of Birth, Social Security Number, they asked.
Her voice, shaking in fright, had a hard time answering. What was this wierd place? What had Anne sent her in to? she wondered.
After she responded the locker door opened into a large, lit corridor. Down the hall and check in , the gaurds told her.
Suddenly, she was in a huge underground city! It was amazing.
She found the department she was supposed to go to and the first thing she was assigned was a small desk outside an office. There was a huge wall of filing cabinets to the left of her desk and the office behind it, other than that it took up most of the end of the floor. That is accounting around the corner from you, the lady had said, If you need any help or have any questions, you can ask Harriet, she has been here a long time. You are to answer the phone and screen calls for Mr X. If someone comes to see him, you buzz the office so and inform him who is here to see him. No one enters without going past you, she was told. It doesn't look like he is in yet, why don't you make some coffee the lady told her. That is back on the first floor where you came in, she said kindly, we are on the third floor.
Never had she seen such huge coffee makers! Well, it can't be much different than a regular one , she rationalized. Taking each of the ten pots, she filled each section of the machine with water.
The large coffee makers that filled the huge break room went crazy. Water and coffee was pouring everywhere and a large puddle was rapidly filling the floor of the breakroom.
Seeing a man walking by the breakroom, the girl pleaded, Can you help me? I don't know how to shut these off. "Well, I don't know how to shut them off either but you would think they would run out of water soon." the man exclaimed as he grabbed some hand towels and started helping her try to mop up the water and coffee.
"It's my first day, the girl explained, actually my first five minutes on the job. Oh dear, she said, now a large crowd had gathered around the door of the breakroom. How embarrassing! Grab a mop, the man barked at the people standing around. Yes Sir! They responded and several mops appeared.
Later Harriet would add to her embarrassment telling her the man who helped her was the head of the Center for Civil Defense and in charge of the whole place.
She was grateful the program was only two hours per day, dictating that she go to school in the mornings and report after. She would be paid for a full eight hours. Happily her new boss did not come in and she was able to complete the few hours still chargined at her error and head for home. Not a great first day, she thought to herself.
