The Search By: Pent Ghelsburg
Disclaimer: The characters depicted in this work are purely fictional. They are the original and rightful intellectual property of their creators. I use them with permission and respect is given to their owners. Any similarity to real persons, alive or dead, is purely coincidental.
“The harder I work,
the more I have of it.”
-Thomas Jefferson
We all come to a time in our life where our parents release us from their care and they expect their children to be good and productive citizens. But it is the transition from schooling to professionalism that the youth of the world often finds difficult. The key problems being lack of experience despite otherwise possibly part-time labor as a part-time associate. But no matter the difficulties one faces in finding a job, every single person is hoped to find a full-time job in order to support themselves as an adult with little to no help.
Roy Ryder was fresh out of college, he had spent his university years at Michigan State as an English major. His hope was that with the mastery of the more intricate parts of the language that he would be able to make it as an author. His parents had told him countless times that authorship should be secondary to a more realistic career that was easier to achieve. However, Roy was persistent and wanted to prove them wrong.
As a part of furry society, the anthropomorphized primate was in the minority. He was hoping that things like Affirmative Action and other laws preventing job discrimination would help him. As a monkey, the man at least had the benefit of being in the same subspecies as humans were. He was lean, though not terribly athletic, and quite masculine in his demeanor. At 22 the primate was the prime of his pack, with tan and cream colored fur.
Many like-minded males and females alike found him rather attractive but Roy had decided to remain astray of romance until his professional life was settled. Already within the first week after graduating, the man had put out numerous applications for employment. Most of which were journalistic gigs however there were a few working for publishers and other creative outlets. He continued to apply to put out near 100 applications by the time he finally heard something back from one of his prospective employers.
It was Monday morning when it occurred at about 10 AM. The man's cell phone vibrated in his pocket and when the monkey took it out, he didn't immediately recognize the number. He thought about ignoring it initially but decided to answer it instead, hoping it was one of the many places he applied for a job at.
“Good morning, This is Roy.” The monkey spoke into the phone loud enough so that the other person could hear him.
“Ah, Is this Mr. Ryder? You applied for a job with us as a news story writer?” A feminine voice spoke from the phone speaker.
“Yes, it is. How can I help you?” The man tried to remain as calm, collected, and professional as possible.
“I was wondering if you could come in tomorrow for an interview and possibly a field test tomorrow.” The woman seemed rather keen on the fresh applicant.
“Of course. What time should I be there?” Roy had nothing else to do on Tuesday and he needed an in for work.
“Be here at 8 AM and we will get you in to meet the boss. We look forward to seeing you then.” The woman proceeded to give him an address and directions.
“Alright, I will be there. See you then.” The man hung up the phone and tried to contain his excitement.
He called his parents who were jubilant that their son had finally landed an interview. They wished him best luck and told him to be calm and collected during the interview. Roy had been on interviews before. He had worked part-time at a local grocery chain for some time. Though he didn't exactly get much pay out of it and the store had no intention of promoting him as they were keen on continuing the trend of hiring cheap labor.
Roy paced around about in his dorm room. He had 2 months to move out and find a new place to live but in order to do that he needed a full-time job. As such he was rather rushed in order to find something different, especially since his current employer wouldn't work with him to move him up in the company. Regardless, he didn't much like working retail and never considered it as a one-stop for his lifetime career.
The primate made sure that his most formal of clothing was cleaned and pressed, even taking it to the campus dry cleaner to make sure it was spick and span. After doing so all he did for the rest of the day was spend his time playing various video games with his roommates informing them all about his luck with finding an interview. They were rather jealous however none of them were really looking as intensely since most of them still had time left before they graduated.
The night expired before long and the primate retired to his bed as he was rather anxious to get up early in order to have time to prepare and gather himself in the morning. He was so full of nerves that he tossed and turned for a good few hours before his mind finally was put at rest and he was able to sleep. Roy got up even without the alarm at roughly 6 am. The sun was barely coming up and he slumped out of bed slowly, trying to combat a long night with little sleep.
Every morning was the same, he made breakfast and took a shower before clothing himself appropriately for the day ahead. For clothing, he picked out a button up white shirt with black khaki's and recently shined shoes. He made extra sure his jet black and green tipped hair was gelled back figuring it looked better than just leaving it messy. Once he fixed his tie, he was ready to make his way to the site of the interview.
According to his phone, the place was a good 20 minutes away without traffic. Roy had an old junker of a car which was handed down to him by his father. The vehicle was half as old as he was and had almost 80,000 miles on it. The primate was surprised the old Honda could even run but figured the thing was well made enough to have lasted as long as it did. His car was waiting for him behind the dorms. Many of the other cars hadn't moved in some time since most of the university students used the
local buses.
Once he left the campus, Roy could see there weren't many people around on the roads. There was a small handful but the majority of them were going the opposite direction. He figured it was good luck and continued on his way following the GPS on his phone until he arrived at a large office building which dwarfed the buildings all around of it. According to the vocals on his directions, this was the place but there seemed to be no parking around.
The primate began driving around searching for a place to park. Strangely there didn't seem to be any sort of parking on the sides of the streets. Eventually, he came upon a parking garage which was several stories tall. He went inside and took a ticket before looking around for a spot to park. He went up 2 floors before finally finding a spot which he placed his vehicle in. The inside of the garage was dark although it was somewhat lit from the light outside.
Roy walked through the parking garage to the stairs which led back to the base level. Once he was outside he could see the place he was headed to a few blocks in front of him. It was unmistakable due to its size and he began walking along the sidewalks towards the direction of the building. It was a short walk which he was able to accomplish in about 7 or so minutes leaving him with about 20 minutes to get to the floor where he needed to be.
The email he had received as confirmation informed him that the place was on only the fourth floor. It wasn't far up so the primate checked in with the lobby registrar and got a visitor's pass. By this point, his nerves were getting to him and all he could do was swallow his pride since he didn't have any time to let the fit of anxiety pass. He headed into the elevator and pressed the button before waiting for it to go up to the floor where he would depart.
Yet another desk was sitting near the elevator once he got off it. A human man was sitting at the station as Roy approached.
“Can I help you, young man?” The older male asked as the primate stood over the counter.
“Yes, I am here for an interview.” The primate kept his answers short and polite as possible.
“Ah, yes. You're here for Mrs. Bauer. Give me a moment and I will let her know that you're here. Sit down and wait for now.” The secretary gave the young man simple instructions.
The monkey sat down and looked around. The lobby was well lit from the outdoors, although there was some lights turned on overhead. There were two rows of seats which lined each side of the room. On the far right side of the room was a window which overlooked onto the streets below.
Keeping still proved difficult for the monkey, but he did his best not to fidget in the chair. Luckily for him, it wasn't long before he was summoned to the main office.
“She will see you now. Go ahead right through that door and keep left until you reach the end of the hall.” The older man provided directions to the bosses office.
“Thanks.” Roy held out his hand expecting a handshake but the secretary paid him no mind.
The primate shrugged it off as no big ordeal and headed through the door. The corridor was long and followed along a well-lit path with several other doors to offices along each side of the hallway. It wasn't incredibly wide and Roy wondered how people navigated it on busy days.
Before long he arrived at the end of the long hallway which had a single wooden lacquer door. Roy knocked and heard a voice beckon from the inside.
“Come in.” A deep feminine voice called from inside.
The primate showed himself in and immediately was put off by the size of the woman. She was bulky and lean. Her whole body was covered in chocolate brown fur, although some black dominated her stomach area. She wore a beige pants suit and thick glasses atop her snout.
“I assume you are Mr. Ryder?” The woman spoke in a thick Austrian accent.
“Yes, I am. Nice to meet you, Mrs. Bauer.” The monkey extended his paw in a formal gesture of a handshake.
The woman did the same and they shook before he sat down.
“Tell me, Mr. Ryder. Why do you want this job?” The woman began with a simple enough question.
“I've always wanted to be a writer and feel like this is a good start to get my feet wet.” The man responded as confidently as he could.
“I see. So you have no intention to stay here long term then?” The wolverine clasped her paws together and tapped her fingers together.
“I'd be flattered to work here long term.” Roy continued to answer what he believed she wanted to hear.
“What do you think you have to offer my company?” The woman had hired plenty of young interns and didn't see how this prospective employee was any different.
“I believe my education has properly prepared me for the job and I've even brought a portfolio of examples to prove it.” The man handed over a folder which he had brought with him.
The mustelid began looking through the folder not specifically reading any of the documents.
“Well that's nice but what can you do differently from anyone else I have currently on staff? What makes you special?” She wanted to hear what made him tick.
“I have a keen eye on the tech industry and have even made several contacts there. I believe I could be your liaison for tech news and updates.” This was as good as an answer as he could come up with.
“And if I was to put you on the spot. Could you deliver me a story by the day's end..say 5 PM?” The woman believed in action rather than words.
“Yes, I believe that I could do that.” Roy was a bit nervous that she was going to make him do it today.
“Great. You have until 5 PM to get a story on my desk. I'd like a story about anything tech related. Produce a newsworthy story by then and I will hire you.” Bauer stared right through him trying to intimidate him.
“Yes, ma'am. I will have it done before then. Just you wait and see!” Roy got up from the chair and bowed deeply.
“You can use the conference room to do your research. A computer is already set up there for you to use. It's right down the hall from my office. Also...make sure you source properly.” The boss delivered the man the rules of the engagement.
“Thank you, Mrs. Bauer. You won't regret it!” The monkey showed himself out of the office and went down the hall to where the conference room was.
The conference room was a larger office space with a single long table that dominated the room. Two lights hung overheard with a single computer near the end of the furniture. He wasted no time in sitting down and booting the device up. It powered up much faster than he was used to and had no login screen. The home screen was bundled with buttons to various news sites but as his generation was brought up on Google he went directly to that.
After viewing several sites and reading some articles for about an hour, he came across an Intel article about the new processor chips. There didn't seem to be much information on the technology but was he did find was that the company was changing about how it went in developing each new chip beyond the 10th generation. The idea, of course, was to be able to better adapt to how smartphones and tablets were advancing. Roy figured this would be a good lead and began calling some old college buddies.
Eventually one of his friends in school led him to a contact directly at the office of Intel. It was the public relations manager who had graduated from the same school where Roy went. Coincidentally enough the number was public information and the monkey tried calling it. After a lengthy conversation, the man learned that the construction of the chips and how they are integrated into the device. Additionally adding a compartment for additional system memory.
Once he was satisfied with his makeshift interview he began writing. Even skipping lunch in the process in order to make sure to get it done by the deadline. He had several hours but he didn't want to waste time eating when he could be productive and get the best quality work done by the time it was due. Shortly after 1 PM, he had a 2-page document which he felt was good enough to turn in for quality check by the boss. All he had to do was spell and grammar check it.
After doing that, he finally had lunch and then proceeded to Bauer's office. Knocking on the door like before the wolverine invited him in once again. The two sat across each other at the desk and Roy handed in his prized work. She took it from him and took a pen and began writing up through the paper. Each and every time she did a single stroke of the pen, it was like the monkey was being stabbed in the heart. But Roy's confidence was overbearing and he knew he had put in the best effort that he could.
After about 15 minutes she finished reading and placed the paper on the desk. There was no emotion on her snout. Had she been a poker player it would have been the perfect look of no emotion.
“Mr. Ryder I will begin with the positive. For something done in such a short amount of time and with no notice, this is quality work.” The woman complimented the man on his workmanship.
“Thank you, Mrs. Bauer.” The primate couldn't help but smile.
“However there are several grievous errors throughout the paper. Your grammar needs work for sure. So if I am to hire you, would you be willing to work with an editor?” The boss was willing to make a compromise.
“Yes, ma'am. I am always open to constructive feedback and criticism.” Roy knew he was far from a professional and wanted to be safe with his wording.
“Great, then you're hired. You will start work on Wednesday under Mr. Frank. He will be your senior until further notice. You are to follow his direction and your future tenure will depend on you graduating his program. Is this clear?” The mustelid was looking him directly in the eye as if looking for any sort of hesitation.
“Of course, I wouldn't let you down. I appreciate the opportunity” The monkey smiled warmly at her but she still showed no emotion.
“See you at 8 AM Wednesday, then. Don't be late. Good luck Mr. Ryder, don't disappoint me.” The woman turned her chair around and paid him no further attention.
It seemed Roy had got the job after all. He was ecstatic to have finally found something and was very much looking forward to starting his new job. Over the next few months, he worked under Frank who showed him the ropes and allowed the younger man to participate in fieldwork. Roy was able to complete the program and move on to full tenure before the deadline. Eventually becoming one of the better writers on staff. As for Mrs. Bauer? She was secretly happy she had given him the opportunity, even if she never showed it.
