Liz Goes for Orientation

At the end of the day Liz found the elevator a bit more crowded than normal. It seemed almost as if people wanted to be pressed against each other. Clutching her bag tightly Liz pretended not to notice the girl next to her grinding against the guy behind them. Seriously, they needed to get a room.

Squeezing out on HRs floor Liz paused for a moment. Gone was the open concept office, where the elevator lobby had clear glass windows and doors the last time Liz was here, now it was all opaque. Beyond the doors where it had been an open floor of cubicles, now waited a regal waiting room with trimmed walls and a secretary behind a desk playing gate keeper to the offices beyond.

Liz counted how many people were lined up around the room. She didn't recognize most of them. 20. She was going to be here a while…

“Lisa, Carol, and Cindy.” A middle aged man called out causing three women who had been non stop gossiping to stand up. “Come with me.” The last words he uttered as he lead them from the room sent a chill down Liz's back. It made her want to irrationally flee the room.

Getting back to trying to write something without a graphic sex scene Liz exhaled heavily, resorting that she could be here a while.

“Liz Levalle?” The voice had an almost pompous british accent, belonging to someone who reminded Liz of a younger Anthony Head. I'd love to jump tha… Liz paused for a moment puzzling over the partial thought and its intrusion. Why was sex so heavily in her thoughts this afternoon?

“Miss?” The man questioned giving her a look that reminded her of a driving test.

“Sorry, just a stray thought making me air headed. Lead away!” Liz awkwardly replied with a slightly **** giggle.

Beyond the waiting room was a seeming labyrinth of opaque glass. Doors slightly ajar seemed to quietly drift shut as Liz got close, abstract shadows and forms danced upon the windows making Liz think of all sorts of silhouettes engaged in different sex acts. She shook those stray thoughts from her head. This was HR, the last place that would happen.

As they turned a corner Liz looked the other way down the hall, she thought she heard slurping. At a glance she saw a blonde on her knees sucking a cock. Turning to look again all she saw was a guy reading a paper.

Increasingly she felt something was going on.

“Miss Lavelle, care to step into my office?” Turning to look back the way she was being lead, her guide stood there welcomingly gesturing to the open door next to him. Something told her to run, gazing down the corridors she felt like she had missed something… Something wasn't there.

With a deep calming breath Liz dismissed her ridiculous imagination and marched into the office. It was time to get this over with.

Plopping down in a chair her guide casually sat opposite her, typed and tapped for a moment on his computer, glancing from screen to Liz, to screen.

“Okay, so to begin… You know what just call me Paul. Do you have any questions before we begin?” The gentleman said suddenly coming off as more relaxed and casual. More like someone in a bar than someone doing interviews.

“No. I don't really know what's going on.” Liz replied earnestly shifting slightly in the unusually warm feeling couch. Since when do we put leather couches in these offices?

“Yeah. I suppose no one really does. This new high end certification just came out and the company wants to rush attaining it so as to edge out other private emergency call center contractors. Its called A.C.O.L.I.T.E. it stands for…” Flipping through some papers on his desk Liz almost had to laugh at how informal things had gotten as soon as the door had closed.

“Ahh… Here it is. Assessment of Communications Official Licensing Information for Tactical Emergencies. In laymen terms, you'll be qualified for a broad area of situations from a kid calling to report their parents for making them go to bed, to well… The next 9/11. Gods forbid.” Paul rambled on.

“O…kay… So its like a refresher on my training.” Liz surmised aloud.

“Not quite. There will be a psychological assessment of you carried out over the next few days. And a daily debrief here with me. I've looked over your file and I'm sure you'll have it in no time at all. Now can I get you to review these forms and sign and date them. Its just a disclaimer stating you understand that we will be doing the assessment.”

Liz glanced at the first couple pages, more or less just confirming her personal information such as address, in house qualification etc. Then she got into the third and final page, reading the small legal text was tiring. It droned on running in legal loops to weave a net of thorough hand washing.

After two pages Liz just had enough, what harm could there be in an employment agreement. Skipping to the last page she signed away.

“Is that it for today?” Liz asked dully looking to just go home.

“For today, yeah. If you want it to be. We have some videos or audios files for you to review, you can do it on your own time or between calls.” Paul replied casually stacking the sheets together nicely with a few taps on his desk as Liz got up. “OH! Before you leave. Just one question. You don't need to answer it, just think about it for the debrief tomorrow.”

Liz rolled her eyes and drooped her head to one side. “What?” She asked with three times more fucks than she could give at this point of the day.

“Has there been anything different on your mind?” Liz felt like the question was knowingly asked. As if Paul some how knew that more lurid and perverse thoughts had been crawling through her mind. How sex seemed to be subverting what she otherwise was thinking about.

“Nope. See you tomorrow I guess.” Those ideas were paranoia. Making her way out Liz tried to ignore the saucy thoughts emanating from shadows and silhouettes. Zipping through the halls, past the waiting room and into the elevator.

She was out of here for the day.