Put yourself to work

“I mentioned a trial period when I brought this job up earlier but I can start right now if you want me to?” you asked, diverting the conversation slightly to try and make yourself look useful.

Grace looked conflicted about putting you to work straight away but with nobody else left to cover the shift of the previous girl, she didn’t have much of a choice.

“Well alright. I don’t have any uniform for you at the moment and I hadn’t actually expected to hire any customer-facing male staff so if you do an alright job I’ll try and order one in for you. Now come on I might as well give you a tour before you get started.” she replied, getting up from her chair and leading you back out the door.

You had expected there to be a more normal interview with some questions as a formality but now that you thought about it, Grace probably knew almost everything about you given that she talked with Mom almost every day. You left your bag next to the door and followed Grace as you both stayed on the upper floor, taking a look around the studio rooms that all had their own nameplates similar to the sign next to Grace's office. Only one currently had a yoga class in session and the rest were currently empty. The doors seemed to be locked with a key card scanner similar to the turnstiles downstairs so neither of you went into the room to bother the people inside.

You only got to have a quick peek through the door to the Yoga class but if the amount of good looking women that you saw in there was standard for the rest of the members, then you felt like getting this job would be more of a blessing than you first thought. Grace quickly moved on from studios and the only other rooms on the second floor were an employee break room and changing room, both of which were unnecessary for you to use at the moment.

She took you downstairs and back to the lobby before showing you the rest of the place. You could see pretty much everything given the more open plan compared to the second floor but she did point you to where another studio was and where the customer changing rooms and facilities were in case you ever had to direct someone towards them.

After that, all that was left was the front desk and the small room that was tucked behind it which looked like a combination of a physical records room and just general storage, with a few PC’s and servers shoved into the back corner. Everything looked pretty cluttered and Grace quickly glossed over the room with a hint of embarrassment in her voice.

With the female-only rooms being inaccessible to you, the tour ended quite quickly and you both sat down at the front desk while Grace started to explain what you would be doing.

“To be honest there isn’t much you have to do for existing members as they can just scan themselves in with one of these” she said, holding up an id card that she had around her neck on a lanyard before continuing.

“Some of the regulars may come up and have a chat but they’re all pretty friendly and given the time they spend here they might know the place better than I do. I guess the only part that would require something other than a friendly face would be if someone new comes in and wants to set up a membership” she continued, passing you a sheet of paper from a stack of empty forms that you quickly scanned over.

“Most people register online but we do get a couple of new ones a week so I can walk you through that when the time comes” she explained, taking a look at the time before looking towards the door.

“It’s nearly 5:30 pm so there should be a bit of a rush as people come in from after they have finished work but I’ll sit with you and deal with any new people if they come to the desk. If there's more than a few then we can see if you can help one of them after that” Grace finished explaining, quickly looking at the time again before saying she would only be a minute and rushed up to her office.

She was back no sooner than she left and with her were a few documents that you assumed she grabbed to do something productive while the time passed. Just as she had predicted, women started flooding in through the main lobby only a few minutes after the clock had passed 5:30 pm. Most passed by without taking notice of you and only a few gave Grace a quick nod as they passed by, only giving you a cursory glance as they went to start their workout without stopping to chat.

The main wave of people started to slow down with only the odd person actually coming up to say hello to Grace and have a bit of small talk. The topic naturally drifted to you considering you were a new addition but with Grace’s personality you didn’t feel the need to add much as she was a natural people pleaser and kept the conversation going without you needing to fill any awkward pauses and only contributing when a few questions were directed your way.

You did get the one new member registration after the rush but other than that you used the rest of your time to ask Grace a few questions that you hadn’t had the chance to ask her before.

“I was gonna mention this earlier and if this was a regular job interview I would have tried to look this up but… where’d the name ‘The Sirens’ come from?” you asked, genuinely curious about her naming choice for the gym.

You could see her mouth start to move but she stopped before reconsidering her answer and looking a bit sheepish.

“Sorry I usually just go on autopilot and tell people that it's something I just came up with on the spot when I had to think up a name but there's a proper reason. My dad used to have a fishing boat and whenever my mother and I would join him he used to call me his little siren. My mom used to always shout at him when he said it and it's not really the best nickname to give a young girl but I used to think it was really cool” she admitted with a smile on her face as she reminisced.

“Did Emma ever get to go out on it with you?” you asked, finding it hard to imagine her ever going fishing.

“No, he got rid of it before she was born. To be honest, even if he did still have it, I wouldn’t trust him to go out on it. He has a hard enough time driving a car at his age, let alone a boat” she replied, chuckling to herself.

You had never met any of Grace and Emma’s extended family but you knew that Emma still visited her grandparents on both her mother and father’s side even after the somewhat messy divorce. From what you had heard, they treated Grace more like a daughter than their own son after they found out what he had done but you only knew a few details from stories that Emma had felt comfortable enough to tell you.

This was one of the first times you had been able to have a comfortable one on one conversation with Grace and time flew by as the two of you took a trip down memory lane, you bringing up a few stories from when you and Emma were younger, while Grace filled you in on some details of how she had experienced it at the time.

Eventually, someone cautiously walked up to the desk which you presumed to be a new prospective member and a look to Grace showed that she seemed confident enough that you could handle it on your own and gestured for you to take the reins.