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

Monday Afternoon

It wasn't hard to find the meet and greet: I just followed Ning. But when I entered the room, a round of applause kicked up. I turned to see who they were clapping for but after Ning it was just me. My cheeks started to get hot and a tingle in my armpits made me wonder if I'd remembered to apply anti-perspirant.

"The printer queen is here," someone called out from the back. Tonya emerged from the pack of people and came over.

"Mick told me how you fixed the printer for him. Your resume didn't say anything about a skill like that. I'm so glad we found you," she said. She raised her eyebrows and shook her head. "That machine is the most cited reason for leaving in exit interviews."

I gaped at her. Why did anyone think that I'd fixed the copier? I'd only pressed a button. The green one. "I didn't –"

Tonya either didn't hear me or ignored me and turned to the crowd. "Can I have your attention for a minute?" She waited a moment while everyone shuffled to face her and dropped their conversations to muffled whispers.

"I'd like to introduce our new intern, Thelma. And it turns out she's great with the printer. You know where to find her," Tonya put a hand on my shoulder and beamed at me. "Thelma comes to us from Smorth college. She's in between her freshman and sophomore year and she'll be with us all summer long."

I gulped. Twleve weeks hadn't seemed long enough to learn anything as an intern when I applied for the position. But now it felt like an eternity.

"She'll be rotating through learning various departmental functions. This is her introduction week, and next week she'll move to finance. Feel free to drop by and say hello at your earliest opportunity. For now, let's enjoy lunch."

She steered me further into the room. The crowd parted with people throwing out hello's and head nods until we reached a table groaning under the amount of pizza, chips, and pop on it. Tonya grabbed a paper plate and stocked up. I followed her example, and soon everyone was either in line piling on food or face first in a paper plate.

The pizza was great: greasy with extra cheese and a nice crust that was firm on the bottom and chewy around the edges. I ate two pieces and would have gone back for more but when I glanced towards the food table it looked like a feeding frenzy had taken place. Empty pizza boxes were strewn both on the table and floor. A dusting of potato chip crumbs covered the scene.

I must have looked surprised, because Kirk came up beside me and offered an explanation. "There's never leftovers when we get Mama Lemo's pizza," he said. He had a blop of pizza sauce dripping down the front of his uniform.

"Right," I said.

"I'm supposed to take you on a tour of the dock, if you're done with your lunch," he said.

I wiped my hands and mouth one last time with my grease-sodden napkin. "Sure, let's go."

He pointed at a garbage can as we left the room and I threw out my stuff.

"I heard you wrangled the copier. You're a shoe-in for a job offer when your time's up," he said. He was leading us back to the steps and I did my best to try and orient myself. "I've heard some technician lost a pinkie finger trying to fix that machine."

"That sounds a little far-fetched," I said.

"Does it?" he asked.

I didn't know him well enough to tell if he was kidding or not. I figured it was time to change the subject.

"I watched the safety video. Seems like the dock would be a lot more dangerous," I said.

"It is. Accidents on the dock are nothing to sneeze at."