Short Story: Temp Job

I was excited for my interview at Lance’s Electronics, it was for a temporary position in their office, just for over the Summer. It had been set up by my school counselor a week before school ended and I really wanted to commit myself to it and see it through.

I arrived at the building, with my small, but, very professionally formatted, portfolio in hand. I got to the waiting room where all the other prospective copy machine operators and coffee fetchers were, and quickly realized I was way overdressed. While getting looks from the polo shirts and unbuttoned collars, I tried to hide my embarrassment and quickly went to find somewhere to sit. I looked around and saw two girls waving at me. Thankfully it wasn’t in the way that two popular girls would condescendingly “befriend” the shy kid at lunch. No, I knew them.

Sitting on the outermost chair, Caroline, and sitting in the middle seat, Petra. Both were friends I had met in Robotics club my sophomore year. Caroline often walked the line between hilarious and down right mean. She was overly aware of when a joke went too far and would apologize for a week. Her fatal flaw was that after that week, she’d do it again. Petra had a very friendly aura, her presence was nice and familiar. This probably had something to do with her actual personality being friendly, nice, and familiar. The two, from what I knew had been friends since elementary school, and anyone who met them could definitely tell. An observer could see that their conversations were dynamic and interesting, even though they were most likely talking about something not anyone would particularly care to hear, like the annoying people in Robotics club or the teachers they unconditionally adore.

I sat in the chair next to Petra, unsure if I sat there because it was next to Petra specifically, or because it was the only available chair near the two of them. 

“Hey,” I said, as a greeting as well as a gesture of appreciation for not letting me wander around trying to find a seat

“Wow, I guess they’re just interviewing anybody, huh?” joked Caroline, in a tone that made it clear to me and Petra that it was a joke, but not to any passing observer.

I rolled my eyes and withheld laughter, not wanting to give her the satisfaction. 

“We didn’t know you were applying for the temp position too, nice suit!” Petra said, sincerely, but it made me even more aware of how overdressed I am.

“Yeah I feel really dumb, I just thought everyone would dress more or less how I am.” 

“Just take off your jacket and carry it over your arm, you spaz.”

It took me a second to look past Caroline’s insult and realize she’s actually offering good advice. I took off my blazer, hung it over my forearm, and loosened my tie a little.

They started calling us in for our one on one interviews. They sent people who they wanted to talk more to back to the waiting room and sent ones they didn’t back home. Caroline and Petra were both interviewed before me, and were both sent to the waiting room for the second round. They called me in and had me sit down. They went through my resume, asked me the usual questions, then they asked me a curveball.

“Hey, I can see you’re nervous.” he said, as if he knew it would make me more nervous. “You’re doing great. One more question for now. What do you want? Maybe out of this job, or out of life in general, or y’know whatever.”

I had to refrain myself from bursting into laughter, hiding my amusement at the question with a smile. I started to answer like I did all the other questions, with as much confidence as I could muster up. I opened my mouth. Words didn’t come out.

I had to think. What do I want? Only one thing came to my mind. Of course I already knew this, but I mentally put it to the side and looked for something, anything else. A family? Money? A pet goldfish? Nothing. Then it came back. Not a what, but a who. My truest, deepest desire is not a what, but a who. I thought about the time when Petra and I first met. We bonded over our favorite movie, The Social Network, and our shared guilty pleasure, G-Force. Beyond that, we connected on a level I feel no other two people have connected on before. Not like a puzzle piece. No, more so in line with the level of synchronicity and balance in the relationship between a planet and its moon. It was concrete, exact, scientific, it felt like. I thought it was meant to be.

After getting lost in my own thoughts for about half a second, I stumbled my wording but said something along the lines of “a prosperous career in tech.”

Before he shook my hand I sneakily rubbed my palm against my pants to absorb some of the moisture my nervousness had produced. As I walked out to the waiting room, I was unaware of whether the interview lasted three minutes or three hours. I stepped out and saw Petra, Caroline, and 3 other applicants. The six of us went through our second round of interviews and by the end it was me, Petra, and Caroline left.

“Welcome to Lance’s Electronics, you three!” said the man who had interviewed us. “You all start tomorrow at 9 A.M. sharp, so get some rest.”

We all nodded and expressed our gratitude at our being chosen for the job. On our way out Petra asked Caroline and I if we wanted to go celebrate with something to eat. Caroline enthusiastically agreed, and so did I. I was conflicted however, knowing the most definite result of spending even more time with Petra that night, having learned from many previous times.

The night passed by, while I could not hold on to any individual moment, I simultaneously felt as though I was hyper-experiencing every single instant. Having that constant dread looming over me, while outwardly trying to stay peppy and enthused. I got home and burst into tears. Tears of anger and longing. Anger at the way I felt and how pathetic I must seem to a nonexistent observer, and longing for nothing and nobody except Petra. This was not the first time this had happened. It wasn’t the last.

It was just my luck that I had got put as an assistant in the accounting section of the office along with Petra. Caroline had gotten put into the human resources department at the other end of the floor. Petra and I had been given so much work I was curious if the accountants actually did anything or did they really have THAT much work. We’d stay late some days, trying to catch up with work our supervisors had given us. We’d listen to music and try to make it a little less tedious. It was fun. Of course, that night before going to bed I’d put on the songs we were listening to not even an hour beforehand. Maybe I was nostalgic. 

Caroline would visit us sometimes and I would always welcome the break in the very one sided tension. Sometimes I thought Petra knew how I felt. Though I try to hide it, I’ve always worn my emotions on my sleeve. But, to keep myself sane, I convinced myself she had absolutely no clue as to what was on my mind every hour of every day.

Days, weeks, and months flew by. The three of us gossiped about the unattractive office couple and the creepy old customer service representative who’d butt in on our conversations. On our lunch breaks we’d take turns crumpling what we hoped weren’t important documents and throwing them into the garbage can at the other end of the room. I got home one day and pondered telling Petra. I’d go through the possible scenarios in my mind. None of which resulted in her saying she felt the same way, and I was ok with that.

I never ended up pouring my heart out to her. For fear of embarrassment, yes, but, also because I knew I’d always feel that way. Whether I said it aloud, or didn’t. It was the first day of my last week. I had to stay late again (turns out the accountants were just lazy after all), but Petra had to leave early due to a pet hamster related emergency. I was surprised to see Caroline come in, I almost missed her, since the lights were turned off some time before. I told her Petra had already left, assuming that was the reason she came by. To my surprise, that didn’t bother her at all. 
She stepped forward and said “Do you need any help?” I could tell she was being sincere, even if there was a layer of sarcasm over it.

As she stepped into the dim light of my desk lamp, for the first time, nothing and no one else was on my mind. I was given the gift of peace of mind, in that, I realized it was all temporary. Perhaps whatever may or may not happen with Caroline may be temporary as well. Nevertheless, I wanted to see it through.

I stumbled on my words, “Sure, yeah, if you want.”

A short story I started writing recently. Some things I tried to do with this one was have it be really intertwined and feel connected. I wanted small details to come back in an interesting way, one such example is Petra's pet hamster and it's connection to a previous line about her and the speaker's guilty pleasure being G-Force. It's not that well executed but I tend to be pretty hard on myself. Anything I write seems a little stupid to me after a little bit. Although maybe it actually is, oh well. Thanks for reading. More to come!