Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 62262 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 311(@200wpm)___ 249(@250wpm)___ 208(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62262 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 311(@200wpm)___ 249(@250wpm)___ 208(@300wpm)
Mom took Julie’s hand and towed her toward the coffee maker. At five-foot-two she was a full eight inches shorter than her girlfriend, but she could be bossy when she wanted to. “Leave the boy alone, Juju. This is a great opportunity, and they’re paying him well. Let him enjoy it.”
Julie wasn’t done, though. “But isn’t it suspicious that this agency sought him out, then lured him in with a fancy job title and a fat salary?”
“No, and here’s why,” my mom said, as she plucked two mismatched mugs out of the cupboard. “He’s highly qualified for the job, between his B.A. and master’s degree in library science, ten years of experience working at the university library, and the fact that he’s brilliant. No wonder they recruited him, and it’s only right that they’re paying him what he’s worth.”
Julie sighed. “You don’t need to read me his resumé, Linda. I know he’s qualified, but this whole thing doesn’t sit right with me.”
“It’s going to be fine,” I assured her, “and I’m excited about this. I can’t believe they’re trusting me with an entire department. That’s a huge step up from my old job, and I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
Actually, I was terrified. What if I failed? Or what if SPAM decided they’d made a mistake when they hired me? There were so many ways this could go wrong.
I kept that to myself, though. The last thing I wanted was for my family to worry about me.
CHAPTER 2
ANDY
About an hour later, I paused on the sidewalk and looked up at my new place of employment. The twenty-story skyscraper was plainer and dowdier than everything around it. It was basically just a big box with tinted windows and absolutely no architectural features.
The internet search I’d done told me the building had been there since 1962. It was only a fifteen-minute walk from home, but I’d never noticed it before—probably because it was utterly unremarkable.
I took a deep breath and tried to settle my nerves as I jogged across the street. Two-inch high brass letters spelled out SPAM’s name beside the main entrance, but there was nothing else to indicate what was going on inside.
The door was one of those odd revolving types. At first, nothing happened when I stepped into one of the compartments and pressed against the handrail. I really had to put my back into it to get the thing to rotate, which it finally did with a high-pitched squeak. It was annoyingly slow too, and it felt like ages before it spun enough for me to slip into the building.
The lobby had high ceilings and a mid-century modern feel. Dead ahead was a huge, curved reception desk with a stylized world map on the wall behind it. A brown and orange seating area was off to the right, along with a plexiglass stand holding pamphlets.
It seemed odd that the lobby was totally deserted, especially at eight a.m. on a Monday. I went over to the desk to look for a bell to summon a receptionist. Suddenly, a voice right behind me asked, “May I help you?”
That startled the hell out of me. I was absolutely sure I’d been alone, so how did someone sneak up on me like that? I spun around and found myself face-to-face with a tall, attractive woman. She had platinum blonde hair, and she was dressed in a fitted jacket and skirt, which were the same shade of navy blue as her pumps. It looked like she was from the same era as the lobby, which made no sense since she couldn’t have been a day over thirty.
“I, um, I’m new. I mean, this is my first day. My name is Anderson Chen. I had a phone interview and was hired by a woman named April, and—”
The woman’s flawless smile grew even brighter. “Welcome, Mr. Chen. Please follow me.” She led the way through a barely visible door and a sea of cubicles as she explained, “I’m taking you to human resources. They’ll provide you with an orientation.”
At our destination, we were met by a stocky, no-nonsense woman named Glynnis, who wore her hair like a puffy, dyed red helmet. After we shook hands, I turned to thank the receptionist for bringing me here, but she’d vanished as inexplicably as she’d appeared.
Glynnis herded me in front of a camera and snapped a photo for my ID card. Then, as we took a seat on either side of her desk, she told me, “I have a lot of information to get through, so please save your questions until the end.”
What followed was an hour-long whirlwind overview of SPAM, which was both highly detailed and surprisingly uninformative. That was capped off by signing a stack of forms.
Finally, she handed me a thick three-ring binder, a VHS tape, and a laminated ID card on a lanyard. I looked startled and dorky in the photo she’d snapped. “Wear your ID at all times, Mr. Chen,” she said as she ushered me out of her cubicle. “The employee entrance is on the west side of the building, and you’ll need that card to gain entry. You’ll also need it to access certain floors from the elevators. Do you have any questions?”