5A Chapter by JenJenMariah stood at the front desk. She was happy to relieve their receptionist, Dolores, and have a moment to enjoy the beautiful day, even if she was stuck inside. The sun made it so you almost had to squint. She wondered if Dolores wore sunscreen on days like this.
“Mariah, can I have a word with you?”
“Of course,” Mariah lied. She hated her boss like people hate shark attacks. She had this way of transitioning out of “how was your weekend?” small talk into authoritarian s**t. They were the same age and, as far as Mariah could tell, this made her boss that much bitchier.
“Do you remember a guest by the name of Sarah? She came in last week,” she stared at Mariah as if she were pretending not to remember, “Thursday.”
“I remember the meeting with the Schelts about their collection and the large crowds we had mid-morning…” she trailed off, “I’m sorry,” she lied again.
“Well Sarah’s tour group was not told about the museum gift shop special or the membership discount. We lost that sale. Imagine what this museum would be like without the sales we make through our museum gift shop. We all put a lot of work into expanding it,” Mariah thought about what a stupid idea it was to spend close to $1 million to renovate a perfectly good gift shop but didn’t anything, “and sales are yet to be where they were expected because tour guides need to highlight it. How would it feel to let all that work go to waste?”
Mariah knew how it felt; she didn’t need to imagine it. Sales were the same before the improvements as after, and just because her boss jumped the gun trying to prove herself in her new position of authority (this was her first time managing a museum) and fell flat on her bony a*s, it didn’t mean she could change their jobs into peddlers. “In fact,” she thought to herself, “it probably feels like you’ll never get a job like this again.” She swallowed her retort and focused on keeping her face from darkening. “I’ll try harder to remember.”
“Just think about how disappointing that would be to you, Mariah, if you lost your position here because of sales,” she finished with a look of severe concern, a look that meant she had been waiting all day to catch Mariah so they could have their talk. She left and Mariah took deep breaths to calm herself. Why would she choose to have a talk like this here, in the middle of the foyer? What would the people eating in the dining room think if they heard how important the gift shop was to the people who designed exhibits and gave tours? And who the hell looked at that woman and thought, “hey, that’s a manager!” It didn’t really matter though; she just dreaded the “remember our talk” looks she knew she’d get after every tour for the rest of the week.
Sometimes she felt so out of place with her colleagues. She was 5’10”, even taller in heels and, with her big hair, she knew she stood out in front of Christina, who had a petite frame and small blonde hair to adorn it. Guests sometimes stared at her, unsure of what to make of a large Latina in such a formal environment.
“Excuse me,” a voice interrupted her thoughts, “there’s something spilled in front of the bathroom. It’s a slipping hazard. You should be more careful.”
“Thank you for bringing this to my attention, ma’am. I’ll call maintenance right away.” She wondered if this woman thought she was a cleaning lady.
“I was just letting you know,” the woman snapped; she was clearly offended.
“My God,” Mariah thought, “where the hell am I?” © 2013 JenJenReviews
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1 Review Added on February 17, 2013 Last Updated on February 17, 2013 Author
JenJenAboutI love horror movies, Nietzsche, spinach, my dog Hannibal and Bill Cosby. Life is really good! I used to work as a writing consultant and it was tha best job eva! So if you have something you need .. more..Writing
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