CHAPTER 8: GIMME A BREAK
WC:1929
Orientation lasted three more days. At lunch on Thursday afternoon, I guess we were all a little burnt out.
“I mean, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I miss Ramon,” Kailee said.
“I feel you.” Mel sighed and dropped into a chair at our lunch table. It had become ours because we had eaten together each day, and weirdly, people are creatures of habit, and everyone had just kept the same seats they took the first day unless something unpleasant made them change. Like one lady with red hair long enough to sit on. She was a cellist for some professional orchestra (I’d overheard her telling people about it) and she offered to get tickets for a guy who said he used to play cello in school, so he could attend the July performance. But he’d gotten weird and asked her for her number and then later in the orientation room he sat behind her and I guess was whispering or tapping her, or something. Anyway, the next day she didn’t come to orientation, and neither did he. So, we were down a few people just a couple days in.
My new friends were there, though, so we had lunch together every day and kept each other laughing during break times.
“Three days of paid training, though,” Carl said.
“I don’t care,” I said. This is a long time to put a bunch of gamers in a room and show them videos but not let them play games. I mean, what would happen if you put fifty cops in a donut shop and made them watch videos about how donuts are made?”
“Yeah, at least Ken brought in donuts for breakfast before he read ten pages of notes about how Celestial Blessings and Celestial level points work,” Mel said. “I’m still not sure what he was talking about, but I guess it’ll be a while till we have to work about it, since it sounds like you have to hit max level to do those things.”
“The blessing thing is any time,” I said. “You just have to find a place where the stars align and then you receive some sort of buff or bonus or something.”
“Okay,” Kailee said. “I was confused about that too. There are an awful lot of stats and points and levels of stuff in this game.”
“Which is why it would be so helpful if we could play it a little now that we know how to swing a sword and pick up and put away flowers.”
“Hey, if y’all are free this weekend, you can come by for Dance Dance Revolution.”
Mel cracked up and almost spit her pizza out. “Oh my God, Carl. There’s something I never would have expected you to say. In a million years.”
“What? It’s a good game. I got a space cleared out in the downstairs living room and I just got my new subwoofer in the mail.” He finished his soda and burped. “Only one rule, though. You can’t watch the whole time. You gotta dance at least once.”
Mel shrugged. “Okay, maybe. I’ll text you later. I might have something else going on.”
“I definitely can’t dance,” Kailee said. “So, I’m a hard pass. But thank you for the invite, Carl. If you ever want to do an anime night or horror movie marathon or something involving more sitting and less jumping on a mat, I’m in.”
“Sorry, I can’t,” I said. “I have some other stuff going on.”
“That’s cool, man. If it ain’t your thing, you can say it.” He didn’t look particularly upset, but my social anxiety creeps up fast and I’m always worried I’m saying the wrong things. “That’s not it, honestly. I just…have some stuff going on at home and it’s…hard to make commitments sometimes.”
“Oh, sorry to hear that, man. My daddy isn’t around anymore, but he was a real piece of work, so I know it’s rough when things are screwed up at home. Well, you can come by any time you need, too. Not just for a dance-off.” He smiled and patted me shoulder.
“Okay, folks,” Mr. Brewster said, entering the break room. “We reconvene in ten minutes. This afternoon we are going to discuss proprietary information.”
A few people groaned before they could catch themselves, and Mr. Brewster’s expression darkened. “Ten minutes. Go to the bathroom if you need to, we have a lot to cover in the next three hours.” And then he left.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Oh fun,” Mel said in a mock happy tone.
“It’s the home stretch,” Carl said. “Today is the last day of orientation and then we get to the real job. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready. Sitting still six hours a day is not easy.”
“I had to take my Adderall twice,” I said. “I’m not supposed to take it over the summer, but I can’t concentrate on Mr. Brewster’s notes.”
Kailee giggled. “I fell asleep yesterday and Mel elbowed me in the ribs because she said I was snoring!”
“I’m raring to go,” Carl said. “I been reading my notes and I’m going to make that healer lady Ramon showed us yesterday morning.”
“Ooh, nice,” Mel said. “I can see that. I bet you’ll be a good healer.”
Carl straightened his flannel shirt like it was a suit collar. “Cause I’m a good dancer? You know it.”
“Oh, that’s right!” I said. “The magic thing. You have to wave your arms and all that to cast the spells.” I demonstrated poorly for them. Like a deranged Elsa letting it all go. “I don’t think spell-casting is going to be my first choice.”
“You’re going for a pickpocket. There are some spells you’ll want to learn anyways.”
Mel was probably most excited to start playing, but she never showed it. I had watched some of her streams and joined a Discord call with her followers, and one thing I noticed was she always spoke sort of like he was sad or disinterested. I found it really intriguing how she was so passionate but hid it under a mask of indifference. I wish I could do the same, but it was so impossible for me. “I’ll learn them, eventually. Maybe I’ll pick what I want to learn and you can show me what to do.”
“Sure,” she said. “We can practice together.”
“Five minutes!” Mr. Brewster walked by the break room again, heading back toward the meeting room where we had been cooped up all week.
We got up from the table and threw away our trash. No one raced right in. There were plenty of chairs that day. A few more dropped out each day. Maybe the boring videos and even Mr. Brewster were plants intended to be annoying and uncomfortable and weed out the people who weren’t serous about the job. I held that thought close all afternoon as I learned about proprietary information and how big companies like RE Games hire hundreds of people each year to participate in trials in order to test products and get feedback on customer experience before launching their products to the public. It was even more sleep-inducing in reality than it was in my head.
The one part of his presentation that made me perk up was when he mentioned how Regenbogen-Einhorn, the parent company of RE Games, offered tuition reimbursement for employees that attended certain programs. He said we could learn more about it on their website, so I sent myself a text to remember to look into that. I wrote the web address in my notebook too. It was the only thing I wrote down that whole afternoon.
I was grateful when the day was over, and I got into my car and turned the music up. I sat there in the parking lot for five minutes, just listening to Coldplay.
A knock on my window startled me and I opened my eyes and jerked awake.
It was Carl outside my car. He made a motion with his hand to tell me to roll down my window.
“Hey, Tyler,” he said. “It ain’t my business or nothing, but if you ever need to talk to someone who’s been through some shit, you call me, okay?”
“Thanks,” I said, not excitedly, but also not dismissively.
“I got another thing lined up for in the evenings, so I gotta go now and get ready, but I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
“Have a good night, Carl.”
“You too, buddy.”
On my way home, I turned the music off. Carl was probably around the same age as Jess. At first I wondered why he cared so much or even felt my personal stuff was his responsibility. But, when I thought about how Jess treated me, I kind of got it. Maybe a couple years on your own, away from your parents’ house is all it took to turn from a kid into an adult. I wasn’t sure, but it made sense.
Anyway, thinking about her made me pull over in a Burger King. I went through the drive-thru and ordered a Whopper meal and parked to eat it while I dialed her.
“Hey, Tyler!” she said. “Good to hear from you.”
“Hey, Jess. I didn’t know if you were going to pick up.”
“I always try. I’m on my way to the vet. Sunny is getting his heartworm test and some shots. I have a few minutes while I’m driving, though. What’s up?”
“Oh, nothing. Just thought I’d call. I started my job.”
“Fantastic! How’s it going?”
“Four days of training so far. I guess that’s just how it goes though.”
“Sure is. How are the people you work with?”
“Well…I made a few friends. We sit together at lunch. There’s this guy, Carl He’s from Kansas City and has an accent. Nice guy, though. He invited me over for Dance Dance Revolution.”
She laughed. “I love that game.”
“I know. And then there are two girls. Mel and Kailee. Kailee’s an art student at MIAD and Mel is taking a year off and maybe going to Madison. I don’t really know much more.”
“Sounds like you’re making friends and have a cool job. I love to hear that. Keep up that energy and mindset. Good things come if you let them in, right?”
“Right,” I said, though I didn’t 100% believe it. “So, I just wanted to let you know things are okay and I’m doing what you said. Taking care of what I need to do.”
“That’s the right thing. I know it’s not what you want to deal with your last year of high school, but trust me, you’ll be happy you did.”
“The company I’m working for, it’s actually pretty big. It’s called Regenbogen-Einhorn and the guy doing our training said they offer tuition reimbursement for a bunch of different programs. I looked it up and there’s a few I would be really interested in. What do you think?”
“Well…what are the programs?”
“Mostly computer things. Coding and programming, game design and development.”
“Did the website detail how you would qualify for the tuition reimbursement benefit?”
“Um…”
“Hey, Tyler, I’m pulling into the vet office now. Can you send me a link and I’ll look at it when I get home?”
“Sure.”
“This might be a really good option for you, especially if you will earn enough working for them while you’re in school to live on campus. I’ll look at it and get back with you in a few.”
“Okay. See you, Jess.”
“Bye. Love you.”