First Day At Work

Part 2

 The phone rings and the woman returns to her speedy typing, "You'd better get that." She says happily.

You hesitate as you walk over to it and you walk between the cubicles. Some of them are full of neat office supplies while others are completely empty. You notice the tag on your office door says your name and you enter. The phone isn't on your desk, but on a little end table in the back corner of the room. It's one of those old rotary dial phones and you think about how you haven't seen one in ages. You pick it up, "Hello?" you say with nervousness in your voice.

It's a deep man's voice on the other end, "Did you get the email?" He doesn't stop talking to get a response, "Have those reports ready in an hour and don't forget to head down to HR and grab those old SAP forms." He abruptly hangs up the phone.

"What the hell is an SAP form? Was that my boss? Where is HR?" You have so many questions left unanswered. Through the silence of the office space you hear the ding of an elevator across the room and you peek out your office window to see who it is. A man pushing a mop bucket walks out in a jumpsuit, "A janitor. Maybe he knows something."

You walk out and past the woman, past the poster and the cheaply carpeted office floor turns to tile and you see the man is mopping. He is an older black gentleman with a cheap headset on and you can faintly hear that he's listening to music, "Hello?"

You ask and you wave at him. He continues mopping as though he doesn't notice you, "Hello? I have some questions." You try again, but he ignores you. He mops around you as if you were a piece of furniture, "Sir?" You wave your hand directly in front of his face and he doesn't acknowledge your existence one bit. He then puts his mop in the bucket and walks over to the woman at the cubicle and he starts collecting the candy wrappers from her desk so you follow him in confusion and curiosity.

You approach the woman and say, "Miss? Is this man def? He won't respond to me." She whips her head in your direction and her black bob haircut swings to catch up.

"This is the janitor, he cleans up after us. He has no disabilities that I am aware of." She says politely. You look at him as he reaches into his pockets and places more candy bars on her desk.

"Well, okay. What's wrong with this place? Everything is weird. I don't get it." You say with concern. You genuinely don't understand anything that's going on. This woman is currently your only option to get some answers.

She blinks once at you, "I don't understand your question." She states firmly, "This is HumanoCorp. A better future begins here." She continues, "Don't forget to finish those reports!" She says with a smile and turns back to her station. The janitor is collecting bags from the trash cans even though they seemed mostly empty.

You take a look around you and back at the elevators, "Well, he said I needed to get to HR. They will have to know something. For sure." You think, then address the woman, "Which floor is HR?" You ask.

Without turning she says, "Floor Six Thousand seven hundred forty two. Have fun." You scoff at the answer she gives.

"Wait what?" You turn away in frustration and head towards the elevator and you press the button to open the door.

The elevator seems normal, and it's of average size, so you step in slowly and look at the panel. There is just a number pad below a black screen and you've never seen an elevator panel like this before. You instinctually check your watch again and the blank watch face irritates you, "What is this? Where am I?" You think for a moment, while observing the number pad and you press the number 1, "I've got to get outside."

A buzz rings out in the elevator as you press the green go button and an automated voice plays out, "Floor unrecognized, please try again." You pause in shock for a moment then kick the wooden side panel, "Dammit! What is this crap!" You notice your current floor reads 1036. You gather your thoughts and peek back out the elevator to see if anything had changed, then press 6742 on the number pad and the door closes with a ding sound.