Bloom for me

Chapter 3

Alette

Imagine the kind of office that a vegan, hippie, tote bag wearing, rainbow loving, stylish middle aged woman would have and that is exactly what I'm sat in right now. On a fluffy bright orange chair facing a dark oak coloured desk littered with colourful stationary and desk accessories including a two plants on either end of the desk with long vines wrapping around the legs of the desk. Behind Sarah is a set of three beautiful portraits of different nude women decorating a wall bursting with colour from the mural of three giant mushrooms painted with a multitude of colours. Directly to my left is a large window with a view of the gardens of the hotel. The windowsill is littered with different small cacti and succulents all in different coloured pots with small smiley faces drawn on each one of them.

"By the look on your face I'm guessing you weren't expecting my office to look like this, which I'm hoping is a good thing" Sarah laughs as she searches around one of the draws in her desk.

"I'm just in awe to be honest, I've never seen an office like this, its amazing" I am gleefully looking around, trying to remember as much as possible for inspiration for my room. "My favourite part has to be the bean bags" I point behind me at the bright pink bean bags behind me places on top of a fluffy pink and orange cow print rug.

"Yeah that's my favourite part too, in this job I need a relaxing space, especially when I'm dealing with Blackwood" she lets out an exasperated breath but I could sense the joking tone. I also have no idea who or what she's talking about but I nod along like I know who that is.

"So what I will do then is I will give you this contract, excuse the colour I'm dyslexic and I find it's easier to read off of coloured paper-" she hands me a small stack of pink coloured papers and I nod in understanding whilst raising out of my chair slightly to grab them from her "- I actually learnt that from a book I read recently. Anyway you have a read of that whilst I go and grab myself a coffee and then if you have any questions feel free to ask away, and if you're happy with everything then if you can just sign where allocated and we can get started on working out your schedule". She stands up and hands me a black pen before making her way back over to the door. "Are you sure I can't bring you anything back?" She looks at me inquisitively whilst pausing at the doorway. Not wanting to cause any hassle I decline and thank her saying I'm okay.

When she leaves I look down at the papers in my hand and see it's the employment contract for the part time receptionist position I applied for. I briefly read over the details stated on the sheet, going over the hourly pay, which is way over minimum wage by the way, the job role itself, looking for anything fishy in the contact clauses. All seems well.

I get to the second to last page and see a space at the bottom where I am meant to write my name, signature and the date to officially accept the job offer on paper. I take a moment to go over the list of requirements again before I sign my name smiling to myself as I start to feel the relaxation setting in and the money stress slowly fall off my shoulders. I'm gonna be okay now. Flipping to the last page I see its a privacy and confidentiality agreement put in place to protect the members that come to the hotel, and I happily sign the dotted line.

As I wait for Sarah to return I take a look around the office again, looking to my right I see a fish tank resting on a table by the wall. How on earth did I miss that? Slowly standing I make my way over to the fish, crouching down to see them close up. I am completely mesmerised by the colourful fish swimming around this rather large tank. There are so many different kinds of fish, some I've never even seen before. Oh cool she has the same fish as the hot one from Finding Nemo, okay sounds weird but everyone knows the one I'm talking about. I'm too busy watching the two clownfish huddle together under one of the rock accessories at the bottom of the tank to realise that Sarah has entered the room again.