The intercom crackled, the voice of the cashier barely coming through amid the static and electronic wheezing.

"There's a kid up front, says he has an interview scheduled. Should I send him back?"

Jaxon Harrison set a box of dried meat-sticks (Kan-Farm's Beef Best! 90% fewer calories! No added mutagens!) on the shelf and straightened with a grimace. Interviews. The little all-in-one store didn't require much special attention from him as location manager - with Vicente backing him up on the night-shifts and the day-crews happy to handle their own affairs, he managed to get away barely giving any orders - but dealing with interviews was the one thing he couldn't weasel out of. And now, with the roof racers coming into town for the season, it was time to bring on another night-shifter.

Which meant...

"Jax? Helloooo? Is the intercom broken again?"

He reached for the box with a sigh. "I hear you, Vis. Go ahead."

He only had a few moments now, but there wasn't much to do ahead of time. There was no office in the store - he shoved a couple un-stacked crates away from the wall and took his clipboard off the nail on the wall, and that was that. Professionalism.

The kid walked into the storage room, hands in his pockets and an easy smile on his lips, as if this was everyday-ordinary for him. His blue-grey eyes scanned over the metal shelves and crates of convenience store food with interest, but then landed and stayed fixed on Jaxon.

Great. A confident teenager. Love it.

"Hi there. Are you the manager?"

Jaxon tried not to roll his eyes and instead sat down on one of the crates, gesturing at the other in case the kid needed a hint. "Yep. Jaxon Harrison. And you are?"

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"Grey. Didn't you get my application?"

Jaxon shrugged. "The assistant manager handled all those. She just said there would be an applicant stopping by tonight. So, Grey, what made you apply here?"

Grey grinned. "I live about five minutes away, so I walk by often. Saw the help-wanted sign, needed a job, saw it was for the night shift, and I'm a natural night-owl, so... it just seemed perfect."

There was something instantly likable about the kid's tone. Eager but not naive, and confident but not arrogant. Jaxon felt his internal scowl loosening and quickly directed his gaze at the clipboard in his hands.

"Perhaps it is. Just so you know, you'll be expected to do just about anything that needs doing on this job. Sometimes you'll be manning the counter, sure, but there is also cleaning, restocking, scheduling, taking calls... can you be flexible?"

"As long as it's trainable, I can learn it," Grey replied immediately. Jaxon nodded.

"Good. Hours, 6:00 PM to 2:00 AM, Monday through Friday. Wage, $9.00 an hour to start, so a full circle a week. Though, if you can be flexible on hours, too, there are usually opportunities to get some extra time in on the weekend."

"My weekends are usually busy, but I can work things out if you need someone urgently."

"Right, those're the basics. Any questions?"

Grey nodded, his expression shifting to something slightly more serious. "Yes. I've heard this is an off-grid business, but is that true?"

"Yep, fully off-grid. The chain is owned by a private business and we don't accept any government-assigned employees."

"What all does off-grid mean in a business sense? I mean, how would that effect me?"

Jaxon thought for a minute. "Well, it means we don't offer any government benefits, you can be fired at any moment, you can't file job related complaints to the Employee Protection Office, you can quit at any moment, and no one is spying on you on the job. We don't even have to send a record of your employment outside the chain."

The serious look faded back into that easy, friendly smile. "In that case, when can I start?"

Jaxon caught himself. Somehow, the kid's confident assumption had almost gotten him, too.

Ah, who am I kidding?

"Get up and pick up that crate, kid. Welcome to the team."