Impress Me Not: The Handyman

Chapter 5

"For the last time, I'm not accepting the job," Solomon frowned. This had to be the most annoying job he had ever turned down. First, the guy starts hitting on him at the interview, then, the next thing he knows, he's getting harassed by them over and over again.

"I'm sorry Mr. Balter," the woman said over the phone. She sounded like she was annoyed of calling him at this point too. "Mr. Bennet just wanted to tell you that he's willing to triple the pay for the job if you'd take it. He said that you were the perfect candidate for our product."

"Look, Frita, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Look, Frita," he tried to suppress a groan. "I don't really model for money. I have plenty of it. I really do it for fun, and I don't appreciate it when people who are trying to hire me flirt with me right in the interview. It's degrading to say the least."

"He hit on you?" the woman sounded shocked over the phone. "I'm so sorry for that sir. He did say that he wanted to apologize for his behavior in the interview, but that was all he had told me."

"I didn't exactly want to tell everyone," he said. "He's only one person in the company, and I know that he doesn't represent everyone in it. I just wanted you to understand why I'm not accepting the position."

"Well," she sighed. "I'm rather new to this position, but he did want me to ask you what your terms would be for taking this job and he would meet them. I understand if you'd still want to deny that request, I'm just relaying a message."

Solomon sighed. He had already had a long day of repairing about three AC units and all of them were in the worst shape imaginable. He had spent the whole morning burning in the hot Florida sun, only to have to answer a phone call from this company twice during his lunch break.

This guy really didn't know when to quit, did he? First, he was looking at him like he was eye fucking him right when he got into that office. Then he flirts with him to try and get him to cut his hair. And then, when he wouldn't budge, he tried to scare him into agreeing to do it by denying him the job right then and there.

He obviously wasn't used to being told no. Solomon could tell that just by the man's face when he turned around. His expression made his day a little bit better. But the phone calls that he had been receiving the past few days made him regret saying anything.

"You know what?" he told her. "Tell him that as soon as he can apologize to me in person for his behavior, and promises to never do something like that again, I'll consider his request."

"Is there anywhere you'd like to meet for that, in case he accepts your request?"

"Nope," he smiled. "He's going to have to find me."

He hung up after that. It was rude to Frita, but he knew that the woman would try and get him to agree to a place for them to meet, and that wasn't the point of his request. There was no way they were ever going to see each other again. It wasn't like he had ever even met the man before all of this.

And, of course, he had wasted his lunch over this phone call. He was supposed to call Maya before he got back to work too. She was going to have to take the bus home with the workload that he had. There were still two more clients that he had to deal with, and they were most likely going to be difficult cases with his luck that day.

Sighing, he sent Maya a text about it and started driving to the next client. He was glad that he always brought his lunch at least. Most people in his line of work just got fast food for lunch. But the grease from those places messed with his stomach if he ate them all the time. And he knew that it wasn't good to eat that stuff every day.

He had been too annoyed to eat when he was on the phone, so he ate while he was driving there. It was just a sandwich. He always brought plenty of other snacks to have throughout the day too. Working in the humidity was harrowing. He always had gallons of water in his truck for the days that he would spend on rooves.

At least this line of work kept him in shape.

Linda, the dispatcher, had told him that this was a new client of there's who had paid extra for faster service. It was a business and their whole unit had stopped working at that point. And he could already tell that this was going to be a difficult one.

"You've got to be kidding me!" he parked in the parking lot that he had been in just a few short days ago. It was the company that he had applied to for the modeling job. It stood tall and proud, with blue windows shining in the sunlight all around it.

Solomon let his head fall onto the steering wheel. Of course. He finally got these people to stop calling him, and he was relieved that he may never see the asshole again.

And what happens?

Now he has to fix their AC unit.

This is just great.

"I just can't catch a break today, can I?" he muttered to himself. There was no way that he was going to be able to get someone else to do this job. Everyone else were already at other clients and they were all looking to be working late that day on overtime. The summer always had the most cases of units breaking.

He was just going to have to go in there and hope that he didn't have to see that asshole again.

Grabbing his tools and strapping them to his hip, he slammed the heavy door to his work truck shut and headed inside. It really wasn't that bad of a place. It was beautifully built, and its age didn't show. Being near the downtown area, most of the buildings had been built years ago. This building was one of the ones that he had remembered since he was a kid. He grew up in the small city of Amor. It had grown quite a lot since he was little. Many people had moved there because of its weather and tales of finding love in the city.

Solomon used to believe in those tales. He had found true love.

But that was a long time ago.

"Hello," he went to the lady at the desk on the first floor. "I'm here because we got a call for a broken AC unit."

"Oh, I'm so glad you're here!" the woman said. The building already felt like it was getting heated up. "Let me call my boss really quick, he'll show you where it is and tell you the codes to get up there."

He nodded and stepped away from the counter a little. He was glad that the woman didn't recognize him. With his long hair that curled and frayed, especially in the humidity, everyone always recognized him.

Maybe this would actually be better than he thought. Maybe he wouldn't even see Bennet and he could just repair the unit and call it a day.

"He says he's already on his way down to greet you," the woman said. "Can I get a name for our records, sir?"

"Here," he handed her his card. "You could call us anytime if you're still having issues. We also help with plumbing problems as well."

"This is perfect," she looked so happy to hear that. "Thank you so much for coming so fast. It's already been getting so hot in here. And we're going to be having some important guests coming in only an hour from now."

"I can't guarantee I can get it up and running in an hour," he chuckled. The poor woman looked so flabbergasted by everything. "But I'm sure that it'll be up by the end of the day."

He didn't quite like the fact that they had his card now. There was no telling just how much their harassment could go if that Bennet guy found out that it was him, but it was a part of his job. And his boss would kill him if he did otherwise.

"At this point, anything is helpful," she sighed. She already looked like she had been through enough at that point. "My boss should be coming through those elevator doors any second now." She pointed towards the elevator doors to his left.

Sure enough, just as she said that, the doors opened and out popped her boss.

The man that he was hoping he would be able to avoid.

Solomon sighed for a third time that day. This had to be the most unluckiest day of his life.