Bitter & Sweet

1. A New Job

Wayo's POV

"Wake up, son," Dad called to me from the doorway of my room, but I was already up. I'd been fully awake for nearly an hour. Today was a big day, and nothing was going to make me late.

"I'm ready, dad. Do you want me to make breakfast before I leave?" I asked, putting my wallet, keys, and phone in my pockets.

"Leave? Why would you leave this early? You have plenty of time," Dad said, looking me over to make sure I was prepared.

"But it takes the bus nearly 30 minutes to get there and if it's late, I might be late too," I explain, checking the time once more.

"Why don't you let me drive you to work today?" Dad asked. "We'll have a nice breakfast on the way, okay?"

I smiled and agreed so we went out to the car. We stopped to get something to eat, but to be honest, it would have been better if I just made something at home. The pancakes were too heavy and the bacon was over cooked. Oh well, you live, you learn.

Dad dropped me off at the front door. He rubbed my head, then smoothed down the mess he made of my hair and gruffly told me he would see me at home. Poor dad, I'm pretty sure he had tears in his eyes watching his only son go to work at the first job I ever got on my own merits. It's the first time my dad didn't get me a job as a business acquaintance's apprentice, which basically meant it was my first real job. I walked in the big doors in front, both nervous and excited. I was even ten minutes early for work. So far, so good.

"Hi, I'm Wayo Panitchayasawad," I walked up to the reception desk. "I'm here for orientation, it's my first day."

"You must be mistaken," an older woman with bright red hair said. "We had orientation two days ago."

"I don't think it's a mistake," I said, pulling up the email on my phone and handing it over to her. As she took the phone, she looked up at me and her expression changed from boredom to surprise and then she smiled a little dreamily. I smiled back, used to this response. From the time I was little, people have responded to my face with surprise and smiles. Everyone said I was adorable, but I didn't want to be thought of as just cute or adorable, I'm an adult male for heaven's sake, so I tried to ignore it. "That's the email they sent me. I double checked the date and time at least three times. It's my first real job, so I'm a tiny bit nervous."

"It's okay, honey, let me take a look and we'll get everything figured out," she read the email, wrote down some information, and began typing in her computer. "Oh, here we go, you're the special circumstance. I must have your new hire packet here somewhere."

"Special circumstance?" I wondered aloud, but she didn't respond. I watched her dig around in some files and finally pull out a manilla envelope with my name on the side. She opened it and leafed through some of the papers.

"Well, looks like everything is in order," she handed the packet over to me along with my phone. "Your employee badge will be a key to each area of the building. Just touch it to the pad outside each door. A little green light will let you know if it worked and you can enter. You can also use your employee badge to buy coffee or food in the employee cafeteria. It doesn't look like much, but the food is good and the price is reasonable. If you go to your employee benefits information on page seven of your new hire documents, it will show you how to add money to your account. It's like a prepaid card, so put money on it before you try to buy anything. If you don't want to use that, any credit card or cash will work as well."

"Thank you," I said, happy that she was being so helpful. She smiled at me again with a wistful look in her eyes, staring at my face blankly. "May I ask your name?"

"I'm sorry?"


"I asked your name."

"Oh, my name is Ada," she said, shaking her head like she needed to refocus. "Just go up to the twelfth floor, honey. I'll call ahead to make sure someone meets you."

"Thank you, Ada, it's nice to meet you," I said. I pulled my employee badge out of the packet and put the lanyard around my neck, ready to go to work.

"Wait!" Ada stopped me when I was just about to walk away. "May I see your badge for a minute?"

I handed it over, confused. She stared at it for a minute, looking at both the back and the front, "They've made a mistake with your badge. You can sit right there while I try to sort it out."

She gestured to a small grouping of chairs around a coffee table near the reception desk. I sat down, watching as she made a phone call. After about five minutes, she walked up to me, looking down at my badge with wide eyes.

"Is something wrong?" I asked, concerned by her behavior. I hoped something hadn't gone wrong before I'd even started my first day. "Do I need a new badge?"

"No, there's nothing wrong with this badge," she said, handing it to me slowly. She started to go back to her desk when I heard her speaking under her breath, "I've never seen them give an all access badge to a new hire, but what do I know? I've only been here for 15 years."

"Excuse me, Ada," I said, looking at her nervously, "would you mind telling me what's wrong? It's just that it's my first day, so I would hate to make trouble before I've even started."

I gave her the smile that my grandmother loved, hoping to put her at ease and it seemed to work. She smiled at me and patted my head fondly, though I was taller and she had to reach up, like my grandmother always did.

"There's nothing wrong honey," she said. "I was just confused. They've given you an all access badge. That means you can go into any room or office in this building. There are only a few people who have that much authority. I was just surprised."

"Oh, I'm sure it is a mistake then," I said, feeling even more nervous now that she'd explained. "I'm just a part time employee. How could I have access to everything? Could you double check? I really don't want to get in trouble."

"Don't worry," she patted my head again, putting the lanyard around my neck when I tried to give it back to her and leading me to the elevators. "I'm sure they'll explain everything. You're to meet Mr. Beam up on the twelfth floor."

"Thanks again Ada," I said, smiling at her again. If Ada was any indication, this would be a really nice place to work. She was so helpful.

No one else got on the elevator, so I was all by myself. I looked closely and didn't see anything that great about my badge. The only thing that looked different from the badge that Ada had been wearing was that hers had different colored lines around the edges. Hers had three blue lines and one red line. Mine had three purple lines. The employee picture and name were the only other information. I would never even have noticed the difference if she hadn't called attention to it.

When I reached the twelfth floor, I was in a little hallway. There was a glass wall on the other side that had double doors with an electronic pad attached on the right. I placed my badge over the reader pad experimentally and a light at the top went from red to green, then I pulled the door open and walked inside.

On this side of the glass walls there was a large sitting area to the right and a hallway that led to a few offices on the left. There was also a hallway straight ahead, that led to what appeared to be an open area with more offices. I wasn't sure what to do. Should I sit down and wait or go knock on a door? Ada told me someone would meet me, so I decided to wait for a few minutes. If no one came, I could always look down the hallway for a door with the name Beam or go back down to Ada and ask for help again.