Office Intern

“Max come down for dinner!” Max’s mother called to him from downstairs. Max sighed and slid out of bed. His scrawny form covered in a sweatshirt and gym shorts. He slinked down the stairs to meet his parents at the table.

After a few minutes of silence Max’s father speaks up. “How goes the job search?”. Max sighed at the daily question.

“Nothing yet.”

“Your uncle called today. He said he might have something for you. He said it’s a tough position and they expect a lot of their interns, but it could be a good opportunity.”

“Okay, I’ll take anything at this point. Does Uncle work there?” Max felt like he didnt have a choice.

“He works for the firm, I’m not sure if he’s at this branch though. You’ll have to show up tomorrow at 7am. They said to wear something casual and to bring a notepad.”

That night Max picked through his clothes to find something that would work. He didn’t own anything that seemed appropriate and ended up with ripped skinny jeans and a button down t shirt. This could be good, he thought to himself.

Max’s alsarm blared for the second time, it was 6:45am. He darted out of bed, threw on his clothes and sprinted to the bus. He arrived downtown at 7:15am and got in the door of the building around 7:30. He walked up to the lobby desk and they sent him to the 8th floor. When he exited the elevator he was met with a quiet office that took up the whole 8th floor. He stepped into the reception area and looked for the person that would be posted there. Finding no one he sat down and waited.

After some time he heard someone walking up and saw a man in a suit. “Oh, I didn’t realize you arrived, you should have called out. You must be Max.” He stretch out his hand. Max shook it and felt how strong his grip was.

“Hi.” He said meekly. The man looked at him for a moment, seeming to do a full body scan.

“Your uncle said you’ve been looking for a job.”

“Yah, it’s been hard to find one.”

“Thats okay, this probably isn’t what youre expecting but if you can handle it, there’s plenty of opportunity in it.” The man said. “Follow me.” The man walked Max around the office, it was a finance firm, Max didn’t understand what they did but it sounded like he would mostly be helping out as an assistant to the main team.

“What would my duties include?” Max asked.

“Mostly day to day admin stuff. The rest you’ll have to ask Denver about when he comes in on Wednesday.” The lack of detail was a little odd but Max wasn’t going to push it.

“I was told to give you some uniforms, they were tailored for our last secretary so you may have to figure out the fit.” He handed Max some coat bags. “A word to the wise, the last secretary quit because she couldn’t handle the workload. It’s a tough position but if you do what they say and follow directions it’ll be worth it.” Max took the bags and the advice.

The rest of the day went by pretty uneventfully. Harry, the man who showed Max around, did some training with him and Max started to get into the groove of things. Everyone seemed nice although there were a few odd interactions that made him wary of some of the associates. More than one commented on his attire, saying they missed the uniforms. Another came up and asked if he needed to go to the bathroom which Max told him no he had just gone. The man looked confused for a moment and left without another word. There was also a storage closet Harry had told him he’d probably spend a lot of time in but that was locked with a pretty high tech combo lock that Max was not given access to. Other than that Max left feeling really good.

Over dinner he told his parents about his day and they seemed prouder of him than they ever had before. His dad said he was happy it went well and to make sure to try really hard.

Tuesday went by similarly. A few more associates kept asking him about the bathroom or the storage closet but Max told them he didn’t have access. Harry pulled Max aside and told him he needed to try on the uniforms and Max told him he’d forgotten and would wear it the next day.

When Max got home that day he opened the garment bags and was shocked at what be found.