Another pen had gone missing.
This was getting quite tiresome.
And Oliver had a feeling Tim took it. He was always stopping by his cubicle, asking to borrow his stapler and what not. Never mind the fact Tim had his own.
“But mine's out of staples,” Tim would always complain.
“So get some from the supply drawer.”
“But that's a farther walk.”
Sometimes Tim could be a real pain. And Oliver had been in a bad enough mood, ever since his former roommate had moved out to move in with his girlfriend. It left Oliver in desperate need of a new roommate. No way could he afford the rent on his own. Letting out a sigh, Oliver reached for his last pen. A black-inked pen. Oliver preferred blue. Maybe there were some in Brittney’s office. All of the office supplies were stashed in there.249Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmyPXlaTY2t
“Hi Oliver,” a voice said.
He spun around in his chair to see his boss, Marissa, with an uncomfortable-looking man standing next to her. Oliver frowned. Mainly at the man’s appearance. A dirty, white button-up shirt and equally dirty pants. The shirt looked as though it were made from silk, and the pants from some leathery material. Much different from the typical cotton and polyester blends of clothing items today. And they were so dirty. Did Marissa pluck him right off the street? At least his jaw-length black hair looked somewhat presentable.
She gestured towards the man, who was about as pale as she was dark. “This is Jyri. Jyri, this is Oliver. He's our purchaser.”
Oliver nodded. “Nice to meet you… Yeeroo?”
“Yur-ee,” the man corrected him.
“Right, sorry. Nice to meet you, Jyri.” Oliver reached his hand out, and Jyri shook it.
Marissa smiled at Jyri. “And Oliver will be the one training you.”
Oliver gaped at her. This was the first he’d heard about having someone to train. “What?”
Marissa frowned. “You're our only purchaser. There's no one else here who can-”
“We hired a new purchaser?”
“Nobody told you?”
“No.”
“Oh.” Marissa bit her lip, then beamed. “Good luck.”
And just like that she left him alone with Jyri. They stared awkwardly at each other.
Oliver broke the ice. “Have you worked in purchasing before?”
“No.”
“Have you worked anywhere before?”
Jyri was silent for a moment, as if choosing his words carefully. “I was once a doctor.” His accent sounded thick, almost Russian. Or Scandinavian.
Oliver scrunched his brow. “Why'd you stop?”
Jyri paused for a second. “No reason.”
They both fell silent.
“I suppose we should find you a cubicle. The one on the other side of mine is empty. We could set you up there.”
Jyri followed him over to a rather messy cubicle. Dusty boxes were stacked in the corner, and manila folders were scattered on the desk, next to a computer that hadn’t been used in at least a year or three. It was just a matter of Shawn making sure the software was up to date, and getting him a company email address. “Our IT will have to set the computer up. But once he’s done with it, I can start training you.”
Jyri looked at him as though he hadn't understood a word he said, but nodded. Then, stared at the computer as though he had never seen anything quite like it. He reached his hand out towards the monitor, and rubbed the top of it, a confused daze in his eyes.
Oliver didn't know what it was, but something felt off about Jyri. His suspicions were confirmed when he ran his finger over the monitor's power button, and pressed it. The computer itself was off, so all pushing that button did, was make a “no signal” message appear on the screen. But a shocked expression was on his face. He pressed the button several more times, watching the words disappear and reappear. He yanked his hand away when he noticed Oliver staring.
This Jyri was definitely a weird one. But Oliver would have to spend a great amount of time with him. He gave him a friendly smile. “We know the monitor works now.”
“Monitor.” The way he said it sounded as if he were testing the word out. Like he’d never heard it before. “Yes, it's good it works.”249Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoDc1dFLODW
“Hopefully the computer still does too.” Oliver bent down under the desk, and pressed the power button. The computer chimed. He crawled out from under the desk to find Jyri standing several feet back from where he stood before, eyes widened. Oliver looked at the screen. It was on its usual loading screen. There was no reason to be surprised. But he looked at it as if he had never seen anything quite like it before.249Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7pjsR2TlpI
It became clear to Oliver that this man was not from this city. Nor was he from this state. Nor country. Oliver didn’t know much about what went on in other countries, but he was pretty sure that every person on the planet had at least heard of a computer. Even kids who never used one, were familiar with start-up sounds and loading screens from phones and tablets. Was Jyri even from this universe?
Jyri gave him what looked like a forced smile, as though he were covering up his surprise. “It works.”
“Yeah. Now we need Shawn to set it up for you. I'll go get him."
249Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyfwuQ8Z6N4
So distracted by his thoughts, Oliver literally bumped into a blonde-haired woman along the way. Brittney from HR. The person he had hoped to get a blue pen from.249Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu8YyxyJIF6
“What’s the rush?” she asked, bending over to pick up a folder that had fallen out of her hand in their collision.
“I need to talk to Shawn.”
“I just saw you talking to him twenty minutes ago.”
Oliver figured Brittney already knew about their newest hire. “Shawn needs to help set the new guy up with his computer.”
“That’s the rush?”
“I also need to talk about what happened with him.” Oliver took a breath. “The new guy... has never seen a computer before!”
Brittney simply stared at him. “So?”
“So? How has he gone through life never having seen a computer?”
“Lots of younger people haven’t these days. I mean, the new girl hadn’t seen one either-”
“New girl?”
“To replace Michelle. Who quit last week. We were going to hire a new receptionist. Remember?”
“Michelle quit last week?” Oliver found himself feeling very out of the loop. He perked up at the sight of Shawn approaching. “Shawn!”
“Hey Ollie.” Shawn gave him a random pat on the back. “What’s been happening in the last twenty minutes since we talked?”
“The new guy has never seen a computer before,” Oliver said. Brittney rolled her eyes.
Shawn sighed. “I knew this was gonna happen eventually. So many teenagers don’t use computers anymore because they grew up with smart phones and tablets. And old people assume they already know how to use computers, so computer classes get cut. Now they’re at the age where they enter work environments never having seen one. And guess who gets stuck teaching them?”
“It’s not like that though,” Oliver said. “I swear, he acted like he’d never seen a loading screen before. And the new girl never saw one either.” He glanced at Brittney, who shrugged at him. Clearly unbothered by any of this. “You’ll see what I mean. You need to get them set up anyway.”
“Alright.” Shawn put his hand on Oliver’s shoulder. “You lead the way.”
249Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVEtIYF6xe2
The three arrived at Jyri's new cubicle, a dial tone ringing through the air. The computer was booted onto the home screen, and it looked like Jyri had figured out how to open up a Word document. But he had moved his attention to the telephone next to it. He had the receiver up to his eye, peering into the little holes on the hearing end. Like he was checking to see what made the sound.
“Jyri.”
Jyri jumped, dropping the phone's receiver. He picked it up and put it back in the cradle. Then turned around, smiling sheepishly. “Hi.”
“This is Brittney, and Shawn,” Oliver said, gesturing to each of them. “Shawn's going to help set up your new email in Outlook, and get you a log-in for our system.”
Jyri stared blankly. Shawn gave Oliver an “are you serious?” look and Oliver shot him an “I told you so” look. Brittney smiled at Jyri. “While he’s doing that, do you want to help Faye with filing?”
Jyri got up and followed Brittney. Shawn plopped down in the chair, and swiveled towards the computer while Oliver leaned over his shoulder, getting a glimpse of what Jyri had typed.
jfhundisnzysndducnskdewads daGUIWEN DSZOQWERTYUIOPASDFGHJKLZXCVBNM,./'; [PSAFA5FM123456242V B839JJJ JYRI RUSKA
They stared at the jargon. Shaking his head, Shawn closed the document, then turned to look at Oliver. “They'll hire anyone these days.”
“I told you.”
“And the other hire is also like this?”
“I dunno. I haven't met her yet.”
Shawn buried his face in his hands, then ran them through his hair, messing up his ponytail. “Today's gonna be a long day, isn't it?”
Setting up hadn't taken as long as anticipated, and Shawn had moved over to the other hire's computer, out in the lobby. Whoever she was, wasn't at her desk, but it was only a matter of time.
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249Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡABshiGz3eS
Shawn finished setting up the new girl's computer when Brittney walked in, accompanied by Jyri and a short woman with messy hair just past her ears. Her back looked rather lumpy; almost as if she had something hiding under her loose-fitting shirt. And for some reason, Oliver wouldn't have been surprised if she was.
Beaming up at Oliver, she grabbed his hand in both of hers and shook it. “Hi, I'm Faye.”
“Oliver,” he said, trying not to stare at her odd eyes. One gold, one blue. And this was the new receptionist. The first person visitors would see upon walking through the doors.
“I'm done.” Shawn got up from the chair, and jumped at the sight of Faye. He glanced over at the desk, avoiding her eyes. “You should have a working email now. And I wrote down your log-in information here.” He tapped at a sticky note next to the keyboard.
“Great.” Faye's smile hadn't left her face. “What's email?”
Raking his fingers through his hair, Shawn looked at Brittney. “How?”
“How what?”
Shawn looked at Faye, seated at this point, wiggling the mouse around, then looked at Jyri, who stared at the screen intently. Shawn jerked his head towards the doorway back to the cubicles.
Shawn slammed his back against the outer wall of Oliver's cubicle, with enough force to shake it. “How?” he took a deep breath, “Why did you hire two people who have never seen a computer before, much less know how to use one?”
“I didn't hire them," Brittney said. "Marissa did.”249Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWKF2xOakbQ
“Did she actually interview them?”249Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvQ9XtJj5Bc
“I don't know. She just handed me their applications and told me they start today.”
“Something else isn’t right with them either,” Oliver said. “But I’m not sure what.”
“It’s probably because they’re foreigners,” Shawn said. “They might-”
“Shawn!” Brittney scolded.
“What? I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with immigrants. But I hope you checked to make sure they’re allowed to be working here.”
Brittney crossed her arms but said nothing, which said everything.249Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf2NmkTS1ey
“Seriously?” Shawn's eyes widened. “You’re HR! You know how much trouble this company will be in if anyone finds out we hired illegals.”249Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRXw7w3tst3
“They're not illegals.”
“So they showed you their ID?”
Brittney studied her fingernails.
“Green card?” Shawn asked. “Visa?”
“It's none of your business what they have,” Brittney snapped. “You're being racist.”
“How am I being racist? That guy’s paler than I am!”
“That doesn’t-”
“Maybe they're Amish,” Oliver chimed in, before things could get uglier.
Shawn and Brittney looked at Oliver as though they had forgotten he was there, then glared at each other.
“The Amish know what a computer is though,” Shawn said, turning towards Oliver.
“Do they?”
“Of course. They just don't use them.”
“Then what are they?” Oliver wondered aloud.
Brittney shot him a look. “Does it really matter?”
“Yes, it does,” Shawn said. “We need to know what they're up to.”
Brittney scowled at him. “They're confused. And we need to make them feel welcome. Not throw around accusations.”
“All I'm saying is, they're hiding something.” Shawn crossed his arms. “That girl looks like she's got something under her shirt.”249Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQobkt6Sbbi
“Yeah. Boobs.”249Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJDH1THA7Ho
Oliver snorted. Shawn rolled his eyes. “I'm done here.”
As he walked away, Brittney tilted her head to the side, raising her eyebrow at Oliver. “And I suppose you’ll be spending your lunch with him?”
“Yeah.” Oliver always spent his lunch hour with Shawn. If he didn’t, Shawn would probably lose track of time and forget to eat. He was good at doing that.
“I was thinking of taking Faye and Jyri out to lunch, to make them feel welcome. It would be nice if the person Jyri is going to be working with came along too.”
Oliver would much rather hang around Shawn than with his two mysterious coworkers. It was an easy decision. “I’ll pass.”
Brittney shook her head at him, and walked off, leaving him with a slight sense of guilt.
ns216.73.216.33da2
and then Add to home screen.