Mel walked into the building and took the lift up to the 6th floor. To her surprise, the receptionist was a man. “Welcome to Hell Corporation. Can I help you?” he asked with a smile. He raised his eyebrows.
Suddenly nervous, Mel smiled back, keeping her eyebrows firmly down. “I’m here to start work. I’m from the Helpful Angels Agency…”
The receptionist’s eyebrows lifted even higher. “I’ll get her for you.” He paused. “Yes, I have your angel. Did you want to come get her?”
For a moment, Mel thought she was talking to him, then noticed his almost invisible headset. Embarrassed, she looked out the window at the Christmas decorations in the foyer. It looked like someone had picked up some props from the Avatar set and decided they’d do for Christmas.
A door opened and a woman in her early thirties wearing a red pantsuit appeared, an absent smile on her face. “Hi, Mel. I’m Lili.” She offered her hand.
Mel took it and felt like she was shaking a chicken breast instead of a hand, it was so cold and limp.
“Follow me,” Lili said, swiping a card over a reader and opening the nearest door.
Mr Receptionist gave a wave. “Good luck!”
Lili led Mel through a maze in burgundy cubicle land. She stopped at one that looked no different to the others and gestured for Mel to take a red guest chair. Lili seated herself behind the desk, on an ergonomic chair that was just a bit higher than Mel’s.
“Right then. Here’s all your orientation training and checklists,” Lili pushed a thick folder of papers across the desk, “and your login codes – you’ll need to change the default password right away,” a single sheet of paper landed on the folder, “and your desk is next to mine.” Lili pointed over the partition to the cubicle next door, between the fire exit and a huge concrete structural pole. She smiled at Mel one more time before her eyes slid to her computer monitor in dismissal.
Mel stood up and took a step toward her cubicle. “Ah, Lili, you never said what I’m supposed to do here.”
Lili lifted her eyes from the monitor. “First, finish your orientation, then we’ll discuss tasks. You’re an executive officer, which means you execute orders for anyone in the unit.”
Mel looked down at the papers. “So I’ll find out next week?”
Lili laughed. “You’ll be done with that by tomorrow. Most of it’s safety stuff – what to do if there’s a fire. As if we’d ever have fires in Hell!”
BẠN ĐANG ĐỌC
Mel Goes To Hell
Hài hước“Great, see you in hell at 9 on Monday morning!" Even working in hell has a funny side. Mel accepted a job in the Hell Corporation. The push for cost-cutting, consolidation and privatisation meant most government services were contracted out to one...
