Lucky Ones

Chapter Four

Joanne received an email from Michael's bitch of a secretary later that night.  She smirked, wishing she could go in there the next day and cuss her out for having such an attitude with her, but she knew that she needed to be on her best behavior to keep this job.

The email instructed her to meet Michael's secretary "at her leisure" to retrieve her uniform and fill out additional paperwork.  The next day, Joanne woke up early, saw the kids off to school, and did a bit of cleaning before she marched back down to Euphoria around noon, eager to begin the work process.

"Hi. I'm Joanne Park!" she said proudly, barely wiping the smirk off her face.

"Right..." the secretary drawled, reaching to grab a small stack of papers from the file cabinet behind her.  Then she turned and opened a dark wooden cupboard next to the file cabinet.  As she shuffled through it, she called over to Joanne, not turning to look at her as she spoke.

"Size?" her tone was curt - short like her words.

"Uh... Medium? 29-inch waist if we're talking pants... Like a 4 in women's?" Joanne offered, unsure what the woman was looking for.

The secretary gave no response before slamming the stack of clothing on the desk.  She then set the paperwork gently on top and motioned for Joanne to pick them up.

Joanne quickly snatched the uniforms from the desk, shoving them under her left arm as she grabbed the papers with her right hand.  She sat down in one of the chairs against the wall and placed her small pile of clothing on the chair next to her.

In a few minutes, Joanne filled out the entirety of her paperwork.  Checking it over once more, she placed the papers back into the file and handed it to the secretary who only nodded in response.  The woman then picked up the phone, dialed a single number, and muttered something into the speaker that Joanne could not discern.  She returned to her seat to await any further instructions when the door behind her flew open and an overly excited Lydia entered.

Joanne held back a squeal and opted for a hug, pulling Lydia close.  The two smiled at one another before Lydia motioned them out the door.  She pushed Joanne to the bathroom on the immediate right of the entrance to the office space, telling her to get changed.

Joanne made her way into a stall and fumbled with the simple uniform, nearly identical to the one she wore at her old job.  She stepped out of the stall once she had changed to give herself a once-over in the mirror.  She smiled, satisfied, and tucked her extra uniform shirts and pants into her purse.

Joanne returned to meet Lydia in the hallway who immediately began a tour of the casino space.  She remained silent, taking everything in and nodding when Lydia looked at her, making sure she understood.  At the end of the tour, Lydia took Joanne to the break room where the employees kept their belongings.

After Joanne shoved her belongings into her assigned locker, she followed Lydia out the door to begin her first day of training.  Lydia explained their basic responsibilities as waitresses: obtaining orders from customers, inputting said orders into the point of sales system at the bar, and bringing the drinks to the customers and cashing them out.  The work was easy, but the customers were where the hard part came in.

Lydia said that the customers expected top-of-the-line service.  "Most of the people that come in here are either low-level celebrities, high-profile businessmen, or other elites with money they don't know what to do with," Lydia explained as they made their way down the hall, "so it means that they're particular about their service, but they leave a great tip when you're good!"  Lydia beamed.

Joanne nodded in response.  She knew how customers could be at the Triston. While it wasn't as high-profile as Euphoria, her previous workplace got their fair share of snotty, rich customers.  At the end of the hall, they pushed through a door to lead them into the casino.