I did not choose this life. Nor did my brother. I did what I had to for him... --7.4 Seconds Post-Integration.
"Late? On your first day, too. Not the best look, my young sir, especially not for a Lifer," his trainer told him.
His trainer was a woman of a certain age. Her gray hair curled in on itself like some weird plant. Her body radiated a perfume he found detestable.
Clark smiled and explained his circumstance. His trainer's eyes widened but she kept on haranguing -- "Hardly an excuse! That stuff happened in the middle of your Orientation, right? Then it sounds like you have a full night's sleep. Remember to set your alarms, young man."
He said nothing. Clark had encountered people like this before. People of fire and rage. The best thing he could do was let her have at him so she would tucker herself out. 'Rules are important to her. Got it,' he noted.
Co-workers from around the service desks looked at her as they whispered. "My name's Dani. I guess I can overlook your tardiness, considering the situation. I won't even ding you on the Core Metrics. That being said, you are ten minutes late; even if policy is no official write up until you are fifteen minutes late, it is bad form to run the clock like this. Something to keep in mind when you're working the departments."
"Absolutely. It will not happen again, I promise. I am eager to prove myself to the store, more so after this little affair," he said, hoping his kind words did their job and buttered her up.
His words worked on her: "I am pleased to hear this. Follow me. I'll get you started on some Computer Based Learning courses. I should show you how to clock-in and out, first... ugh..."
Dani reversed her paces and brought him before a wall-mounted machine. It looked as though someone had combined a cash machine with a grandfather clock. "This is the time clock. You will clock in and out of your shifts using one of these devices. There are many of these things spread throughout the store. As a Lifer, you're going to be climbing the tower. You'll always see a time clock at one of your Checkpoints."
Clark approached the machine. Dani gave him the lowdown on how to use the time clock, what levers to pull, and which of the clunky, brass keys he had to push before connecting his Receiver Core via a hidden toggle Dani showed him how to access. He pushed his toggle into a small rectangular slot he would have recognized as a USB port, had he understood more of basic retail technology. For the moment, he was ignorant and so uninterestedly followed Dani's dictates.
The screen on the time clock's front read, "Cola Clark: Clock-In Accepted -- Have a good shift!" He reigned in the toggle, returning it to its hidden chamber, and placed the Receiver Core loosely over his shoulder as if it were a shawl or half-cape.
"Excellent! You now know how to clock in and out -- please follow me," Dani said, sounding impatient.
Small talk filled the void as the pair walked through employee-only areas. Although the hallways were clean -- recently cleaned, too Clark thought hearing his boots make squeaking noises with every step -- something seemed amiss. He realized, dumbly late, it was his boots which were off, as they lacked any of the black viscus which overtook the atrium. How and why said goo vanished, he couldn't say -- but that was beside the point. Now wasn't the time for monster ichor research. Still, hard not to be curious.
"Here we are," Dani said. The office he was brought to was small. Several people whom Dani made chit-chat with dotted the dozen or so terminals spread along the edges of the room. Dani brought him to an unoccupied terminal and had him sit. "Once you log in once, your System Link should be able to take care of the rest. That means you won't have to remember tons of passwords -- which is good in this line of work, trust me. My job demands I do this kind of stuff for new hires, so I have to remember a bunch of passwords and it is unpleasant! Let me tell you, one time --" and so Dani went for five minutes: she regaled him with a story of confusing passwords resulting in a case of mistaken identity which turned out to actually be an error in the non-System computers. Clark cared nothing for the story but smiled politely. She logged into the machine as she spoke and hastily completed multiple verification sequences.
Several webpages and sub-menus later, Clark's attention was brought to a new screen. A list of topics ranging from 'The Augustford Pose' to 'How to mop (A Seven Part Tutorial)' filled the screen. "See all of these lessons? Do them all. See the tiny triangle next to certain topics? That is the drop-down menu. The mopping one, see, when you click on it, it has sub-lessons. Do every sub-lesson for every topic. Hit the icon, do the pop-up, got it? If you have any questions, give someone -- anyone, really -- a ping. I will come back to check on you in an hour."
Clark nodded and said something placating. Dani left him be. Which was good, because at this point, Clark wanted nothing more than to make up for his late morning. I still can't believe it -- late, on my first day, and AFTER they gave me a fancy Fake Brain Person!
He settled into his seat and viewed the list. He clicked on the first topic labeled 'Code of Conduct.'
Up came a video of a young woman wearing streetwear. She looked directly at Clark and said, "Hi, there. Can you tell what the problem is?"
"How are you doing, new blood?" Dani said, returning after two hours, not the one, as she said.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
"Good. I have finished the first two units. Almost halfway through the next couple," he replied.
"And you are getting the maximum score, yeah?"
"Yes. I have to re-set a couple of times, but I always improve for the best--"
Dani wasn't interested in how many times he needed to re-set to get the perfect score. She merely hummed to herself and then left him be again.
'Good talk,' Clark said as he shrugged.
He turned again to the terminal. Really. I wasn't expecting to sit in front of one of these terminals all day. If the guys back in my town could see me. Using an actual computer! Like I was some important traveler or big wig.
As much as Clark liked imagining what his friends from back home would think of him, he had a lot of courses still to do. He returned to his work and finished out the video series labeled, 'Keeping Your Uniform Clean.' He next clicked on 'Your Cash Register and You.'
Fifteen sub-units?! He mentally exclaimed. Oh, gods...
It took Clark until lunch break to finish the 'Cash Register and You' segment. It covered everything from how to smile to processing credit to those (hopefully) rare moments when one's retail kindness was thanked by theft. By the end, his brain felt mushy. "You'll get used to it; this is just busywork," Dani said as she escorted him to one of the dining halls. "If I'm being honest, that is. I'm not saying you shouldn't pay attention to the videos. What I am saying is that most of your actual training will be on the ground, helping customers out."
"The computer lessons, then, are like a soft introduction?" he asked.
"Exactly! Boy, that's the way to think of it! The computer lessons will serve as your bedrock. Oh, and do take notes if you want. Once you're done with your CBLs and your probation period, no one if going to hold your hand, so pay attention. You get the computer lesson, the in-person refresher, and that's it. You earn your keep, here." Dani rounded a corner. She waved her badge in front of a scanner and the door opened to reveal a cafeteria.
"Here's one of several local dining halls. The food is better than you would think. You have a full hour to eat. You are given one meal break every eight hours on the clock. The System will let you know when you are approaching your time. Any questions?" she asked.
"No... well, one: do the meals change every day?" Clark asked as a flurry of aromas wafted over him.
"Technically, yes? I think... honestly, most people bring their own lunch. At least us non-Lifers. But a wider palate is here, if you wish to sample. I'm going to leave you with that for now. It is time for my lunch, and because of our tardiness today, it will have to be a working one. At the end of the hour, I will fetch you to bring you back to resume your training," Dani said without giving pause for an answer. She strode away, leaving him alone.
Although Clark had never been in a real dining hall before now, it was simple for him to grasp. Winding lines led to various meal stations whose contents, which hummed under well-heated light pumps, attracted a different amount of people depending on what was being served. Not knowing what the local meal situation would be, he got into line for whatever dish looked most appealing to him. Which today was something which looked yellow and kind of like pasta and cheese.
Wait. How am I going to pay? I don't have any money. Crap... the food I brought from back home-- It was in his dorm, he realized, stuffed away in the sole item he had checked in for processing before he finished yesterday's paperwork, a backpack he had stuffed with canned goods before leaving home. I should leave the line and rush back to my dorm... assuming I have the time.
Clark did just that and let himself away from the line, leaving it be for another of his horde, who had the meager payment on hand.
Skulking toward the edge of the room, Clark found a vending machine on his way out. He had used one of them before when he was visiting Augustford Central prior to his employment. He rifled in his pants for a loose bill. He found it and roughed the edges out so the machine would accept it. I'll just eat from here today. It's fine, he told himself.
I wonder if they have that 'candy bar' thing from last time. There! No, wait, that's a different bar -- there it is, for real, yes! Clark input the item's code on its little pad, and the snack item fell into the drop slot.
He withdrew the candy bar and found a seat nestled against the wall overlooking a shopping square. He unwrapped his candy bar and greedily eat chunks from it. His stomach rumbled the entire time. He wanted nothing more than to get back to his dorm so he could eat.
"Did you hear about the new initiative?" a voice said. Not to him, he discovered, but to a friend of the voice: two gentlemen workers sat at a table adjacent to Clark. Having nothing better to do, Clark listened in on their conversation, more than a little lonesome.
"No," the voice's friend replied. "What's it about? The executive floor incident. Monsters, yeah?" The second voice was much slower and on a drawl.
"Yep. What else. It's all over the store feeds. I'm sure you've seen that -- anyway," the second voice cleared his throat and coughed hard. He resumed his words as if wheezing and hacking hadn't interrupted him: "They're hiring for a new defense force."
"What happened to the old one?" the first voice asked.
"I Dunno. Hey, you gonna eat that?"
The conversation tapered off into topics uninteresting to him, though it wavered, at times, back into the topic of the new defense force.
Long since having finished his candy bar, Clark waited for Dani to come back for him. As he waited, he thought over the idea of him joining the defense force. It would not be his main job -- that would be the labor he did as a Lifer. A more specialized position within the company, though? That was not only possible but encouraged... at a point. Usually, one had to be with the company for some time before they allowed one to 'specialize' in their labor. With him being a new hire, that could be a problem for him.
Thinking it over some more, he concluded he would have to play it by the ear.
"There you are. Had a nice big meal, I hope? Good. Because you will be in the office all day. Normally, we would split your CBLs into several days. Have you so some computer work while switching off with actual work," Dani told him, entering and sounding much improved since the last time they spoke. "You've come to work for us at a weird time. As you already learned; plague, monsters... there have been much more stable times, for sure..."
"Worry not. I'm only looking for an honest check. Shall we return to my CBLs?" he replied, happy the energy of the day seemed to reverse.
With Dani, he returned to the office computer room. He resumed his lessons. Immediately after his 'lunch,' though, his hunger worsened, the candy bar having done nothing except enflamed his appetite. His stomach churned and he fought to ignore the rumble.
'Principles of Emergency Codes,' was the next topic. Followed by 'Hazmat Cleaning Basics,' after. Eyes already heavy, Clark pushed himself to get it done. His family hadn't raised him to be no quitter. And here, right now, was his life, for them. If I don't get this done, then it all would be for naught. Come on, Clark -- open your tiredness, banish it from thought and git. This. Done!
mopping?! How does Augustford get any work done?!
How was the Training at Your Workplace?
