Office Matters

Unemployment Chest Pains

It was 7am when Alex’s phone started to ring. This does not feel like 9am. She groggily reached for it under her pillow and half-opened her eyes to see what was happening. Of course, Kira is waking me up.

Alex: Why are you waking me up in the middle of the night, b***h?

Kira: Good morning to you too, my sunshine.

Alex: What do you want, Kira? I wanna sleep some more.

Kira: Oh no you don’t. Get your lazy a*s out of bed and get ready to go. We have so many places to drop off our CVs and we need to be done by lunch.

Alex: But you said 9! Groans

Kira: Leaving the house at 9 babe! I’m not gonna argue with you anymore. Mum’s dropping me off at yours at 8.45 since you’re closer to the bus. You better be done.

Alex: But how was I suppo-

Kira hung up.

Of course.

Alex sighed. She sleepily got out of bed and opened her curtains and windows. The intensity of the morning sun blinded her for a few seconds. Her mum was working the night shift again, so she’d be back any minute from now. She made her bed and picked up dirty clothes from the floor and placed them on ‘the chair’.

She walked to the kitchen and made bacon and eggs for breakfast. By the time she was finished it was already 7.50. Her mum walked in with a few groceries.

“Smells breakfast-y,” she said kissing Alex on the cheek. “Why are you up so early?”

“Kira and I are going on that job hunt today. We wanna drop off all our CVs by lunch,” she finished off already on her way to the bathroom.

At exactly 8.45 Kira walked in, looking all dolled up in her short floral dress, Nike sneakers and a pretty purse. Her dreadlocks were tied in a bun.

“Hie mummy,” she chirped happily hugging Ms Woods

Ms Woods embraced her lovingly. “How’s my out-of-high-school baby doing?” Kira laughed. “She’s doing just fine. And how’s work? I see you’re in your work clothes meaning you’ve either just come from the nightshift or you’re about to go to work.” Kira grabbed a clean plate from the sink and dished some bacon and eggs for herself.

“I just got back love. It’s hectic as usual. We have one patient who is so extra, and she just makes it even worse,” Ms Woods complained.

Alex walked back into the kitchen wearing her denim ripped boyfriend jeans rolled up to her ankles (Short girl problems), an over-sized navy-blue The Rolling Stones t-shirt and black Nike trainers. Her short natural 4C hair was tied into two pigtails with little puffy ponies and she had with her a backpack. Kira gasped in shock and kept her mouth wide open, as she stared at Alex.

Alex rolled her eyes. “Close your mouth before flies set up camp.”

Kira took a deep breath to calm herself down. “Are you trying to scare the employers? What the feck are you wearing?” Kira looked at Ms Woods who had already lifted a finger, about to interject. “I said feck ma,” she said, emphasising the ‘e’ in feck.

“Well?” Kira challenged Alex to respond.

“I honestly don’t see anything wrong with what I’m wearing Kira. It’s a fecking job hunt, not a fashion show.” Alex looked at her mum who was looking perplexed now. “Yes mum, feck is a thing now.” Ms Woods made her ‘oh’ face then raised her hands in surrender.

“You do realise that most of the stores hiring are boutiques, right? And what is that? Rolling Stones, Alex? Do you even know who they are?” Kira sounded frustrated now. “Psshhtt. I do know who they are.,” Alex shot back, clearly not believing her own words. “And dude, working in a boutique should be all about my ability to sell the clothes and work the cash register, not what I’m wearing. Wear what I sell, not what I’m wearing,” Alex felt proud of that last catch phrase.

Kira shook her head in desperation and looked at Ms Woods for assistance.

“Yea, no I’m too tired to be getting involved in this this early. I’m gonna go sleep now. And Lexie, I’m working the night shift again tonight so if you get back after 6 I might be gone.” She stood up and kissed both girls on the cheek, “Good luck and stay safe babies.”

Kira looked at Alex and groaned. She picked up her purse and put her plate in the sink and walked out. Alex smiled. “Hey Kira, wait up!” She ran after her best friend.

Kira lightened up and stopped being mad at Alex on their way to the nearby mall. They dropped off their CVs in a lot of boutiques. No restaurants or retail shops were hiring. It was about 1130 and there had one more boutique to go. They walked up to Cece’s Trends with their last remaining CVs. There was a big sign outside written, ‘WE’RE HIRING’.

Before they got in, Alex stopped Kira and asked nervously, “Hey, do you think Terry is still mad at me?” Kira looked like she was thinking hard and that only made Alex feel even more nervous.

Seeing the worry written all over her best friend’s face, Kira smiled and said, “No f*****g way. It’s been three years. She can’t possibly still be mad. They walked in and asked the girl at the counter where they should drop off their CVs. The girl led them to Terry’s office at the back of the store. They knocked and heard a faint, “Come in”. On seeing Alex, Terry scowled, hate and distaste clear on her facial expression. “Yep, there goes this job,” Alex whispered to Kira.

Terry offered them seats and asked how she could be of help, the scowl never leaving her face each time she looked at Alex.

“We saw the ‘WE’RE HIRING’ sign up front and thought we could try our luck,” Kira said with a huge smile.

Terry gave her a smile in return. “You’re hired,” turned to look at me, the smile disappearing faster than you can say, ‘oh s**t’, “but you’re not.” I felt my heart drop to the floor. So, the s**t that happened three years ago had come back to bite me in the arse.  Kira looked at her helplessly. “But Terry,” she started, with her pleading face in place, “we’re like a ‘buy one get one free’ package. You’ve got to take both of us.”

I held Kira’s hand, signalling her to stop. “It’s okay Kira. I’ll just continue with the job hunt on Monday.” I gave her a reassuring smile.

“Great then,” Terry said, putting her hands together, an evil smile plastered on her face. “Kira I’ll see you Monday at 7am so we start your training bright and early. Ciao now.”

Kira and Alex awkwardly stood up to leave. When they were a safe distance away from Cece’s Kira let out an angry shriek. “I can’t believe b***h still hates you over something so petty. What the fu-.”

“Kira!” Alex motioned for her to stop. “Don’t worry about it, okay? I’ll just wait and see if we get any call backs from all the other places alright?” Kira nodded sadly. Alex flashed her her amazing smile and Kira smiled as well.

Alex looked up and saw people queuing looking like they were anxiously waiting for something. “Hey, do you think they’re giving out free food there?” Alex asked gesturing to the queue. “Or free make-up samples since it’s just girls,” Kira said already on her way. Alex ran after her.

“Excuse me,” Kira said sweetly to the last person in the line. “What are you guys queuing for?”

“We’re waiting to be interviewed for a secretarial job for a youth run company that’s gonna start operating next year.”

“Did you submit your CVs before? Were you shortlisted?” Kira asked, getting excited

“No and no. This is the first and only interview.”

“Oh really?” Kira and Alex said at the same time, looking at each other slyly.