Orientation (Book one in the Thelma Berns: My Internship in Hell series)

Wednesday Mid-Morning

Ning and Mick exchanged a glance. "Stay clear of Dana. You don't want to tangle with that," he said. "She could make things difficult for you if she wants to."

"Okay," I said. "But like I said, I didn't mean to get in her way. I didn't know if Tonya was alone or on the phone, and I don't even know Dana. So why would I have decided to spy on her?"

They exchanged another look.

"Am I missing something?"

"Dana won't see it like that. Just stay out of her way."

"Okay," I said. "No problem." I finished my pizza just as Ning was finishing up hers.

"Nothing like a free lunch," she said.

"You seem to get free food a lot," I said. "I figured working in an office all you ever got was coffee and you had to supply the rest."

Mick patted his stomach. "When times are good they try to do things that keep us settled. Free food has a way of taking the edge off."

I didn't ask what caused the edge.

"So what do you do, Mick?"

"I work in safety. Mostly I investigate accidents. But I do some other stuff, too."

"Are there a lot of accidents?"

"We average about six a week. Most of them are minor. But they all still need to be monitored and whatnot. For insurance."

"Wow," I said.

"Shipsinaminute is a big company, with a lot of trucks," Ning said.

"What about you?" I asked Ning.

"I manage driver qualifications," she said. I had no idea what that meant, and it must have shown on my face. She made a face like she was explaining how to drink water out of a glass. "Driver's have to keep their CDL's up to date. And to haul radioactive or hazmat they have to have special training for that. I make sure they can keep on truckin'," she said. She snickered like she'd made a joke. Mick high-fived her.

"Time to get back to work," Mick said. I noticed then that most of the other people had cleared out of the conference room. I collected my garbage and followed them out of the room. A few people were lingering around the food table cleaning up. A big rolling garbage can was out and I dropped my garbage into it.

I followed them upstairs. Mick wandered off in another direction, but I followed Ning. We arrived back at our cubicles.

"Remember what I said about you-know-who," she said. "I'm pretty sure she is the reason that Kirk is still a trainee."

I nodded and ducked in to my cubicle. I made a mental note to ask Kirk if he'd ever had a run in with Dana. I certainly didn't want to end up dragging through my career because I'd accidentally heard her have an argument.

It wasn't even like I'd heard what the argument was about, for crying out loud.

I was reading through the copier manual for the third time this afternoon when Dana appeared in my cubicle doorway.

"Look, intern," she said. "I don't know what you think you're about, but you stay out of my business."

"I'm Thelma," I said, extending my hand out to her. "We haven't met."

She looked down at my hand but made no move to grab it. After an awkward moment or two I dropped my hand back to my side.

"I apologize if you think I was trying to snoop," I said. "I was only trying to see if Tonya was on the phone –"