A hatred of paperwork

Henry adjusted the dial on his watch and jumped forward six weeks. The receptionist was still there and still wearing the same expression of annoyance on her face.

“Oh, it's you.” She told him, still sounding bored or annoyed, quite possibly both.

“Well, you said to return in four to six weeks,” Henry responded.

“No, I said the application would be processed in four to six weeks. Then there is a two-week review period. Then there is a further possible two weeks for any appeals.” Jenna explained.

“Should it not be ten weeks then? Possibly round it up to two months?” Henry suggested.

Jenna was going to remember his face. She had a pinboard at home filled with pictures of people that had annoyed her in this job. She liked to throw darts at them. Jenna was an incredibly petty individual, she constantly had to rotate the images of the people on her board.

“If you have any complaints, you can submit a form in writing,” Jenna told him, sounding bored.

“And how long does that review take?” Henry asked, sounding genuinely interested

“A further four to six weeks,” Jenna stated in an annoyed monotone.

“How long would you recommend before I come back? Henry asked

“Never?” Jenna suggested.

What annoyed Jenna more was that this man had a constant chirpy attitude. That smile that was plastered across his face never changed, as if he was delighted by everything she said to him, it took most of the fun out of being rude to him, to be honest. Most of the fun.

She watched the man adjust his watch again, and for the second time he disappeared from view. From his perspective, barely twenty minutes had passed for Jenna, it had been three months. She was just about to start eating a slice of the coffee cake from the place down the street when he appeared again. She almost dropped the plate, he never used the door. He was always simply just there. She had lay at awake some nights thinking about how she would like to hold his head underwater until he stopped struggling. Jenna wondered if this was like in one of those romance stories were the two leads were antagonistic towards each other until their true feelings were revealed and they fell in love. She hoped not, but if they did, he was definitely the one who was going to stay home and look after the kids. Jenna stopped herself as she had just become disgusted with her own line of thought.

“Was my application successful? Henry asked, sounding optimistic as always.

Jenna resented having to minimise her game of solitaire, but if she did so he might leave her alone. She idly tapped a few buttons to bring up his file. It had been approved, she was tempted to advise it was not just to see his reaction, but that would require even more paperwork. If there was one thing Jenna hated more than people, having to talk to people, having to be nice to people, it was paperwork.

“The application was successful.” She told him

“Oh, wonderful. Now what?” Henry replied.

“Go through the doors behind me. First floor for assessment. Follow the yellow line. YELLOW LINE.” Jenna explained.

“Is now a bad time to advise that I am colour-blind?” Henry asked her.

“There are words written next to each of the lines,” Jenna advised she was surprised at herself for saying something that could be construed as helpful.

“Well, thank you, Miss. You have been very helpful.” Henry complimented her.

Henry proceeded into the elevator behind Jenna's reception desk. He thought she was a thoroughly delightful individual and if he did have the opportunity to provide feedback on his experiences so far he would provide a glowing report to her supervisors. He exited out onto the first floor and saw there were three different coloured lines, although he could not make out the difference between any of them. As Jenna had advised through the words written against each of the lines to denote which colour it was he was looking at.

There were lines heading north, east and west. From what he read, the yellow line was the one heading north. He decided to follow it. Henry found the line was not a direct path, and after walking for a considerable length of time he felt that at least an hour had passed. Eventually he came to a door. The doors hissed opened as he approached and he was blinded by white light as he entered the room.

He had to blink several times before his eyes focused. The room was mostly empty apart from a small white plastic bench with a young blonde woman sitting on it. She looked surprised at Henry's presence in the room as he walked over to the bench she was sat on.

“Oh, hello. I am Henry. I was told to come here for assessment. It is a pleasure to meet you.” Henry said, introducing himself to her.

“I am the assessor.” The woman said aggressively

“Is that your first name or a surname?” He asked.

She blinked, confused at his question. “Take off your clothes.”

Henry did as requested; he stood there naked in front of her. She stood up off the bench and stripped in front of him. The assessor was an attractive woman, blonde, with long hair, full, pert breasts, and a shapely bottom. A form which men generally found stimulating. The man in front of her, however, simply stood there naked with his penis flaccid in front of her.

“Now what?” Henry asked, sounding entirely innocent and confused by her expectations.