Looking at my watch, I groaned as I saw it was still five minutes to 7. "Did this damn thing stop!" I said to myself as I stared at the big pile of applications that were to my right on the desk I was sitting at.
Deciding that I'd at least get a jump on things, I grabbed some of the papers on the pile and started tapping them on the desktop, straightening them so I could get them into the big box I had next to me on the floor. There had to be close to 150 of them, which was by far my biggest day out of the week and a half that I'd been doing interviews. Placing them neatly in the box, I looked at my watch again.
"Fuck...still five minutes to go. I'm going to be the last one there."
I was in the local Vocational Education Center just west of town, where I had been every day since the previous Wednesday. I felt isolated, what with there being only one other company employee working with me. And that was Angela, the new company receptionist who was hired on just a week before I was.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Angela wasn't at the front desk when I'd shown up for my first day of work. She was busy working in the HR department, organizing things for my first assignment. I'd been hired with the knowledge that I was going to be in charge of hiring the hourly production staff for my department. And I found out later that Angela was being temporarily assigned to me, as my assistant.
I'd spent my morning of my first day on the job filling out my employment paperwork with Steve White, the Director of Human Resources of the plant. There seemed to be dozens of different documents I had complete, but I dutifully gave them all my pertinent information, including my social security number an insane number of times. That was followed by a lengthy orientation process on company policies and procedures.
When I finished the boring part of my workday, Steve introduced me to Angela, and told me we'd be working together, at least to start. When I shook her hand, I smiled...like I thought that Bond would, and she reacting with a little schoolgirl giggle and a blush.
"Mission accomplished," I said to myself as I stared at her hazel eyes, happy that I'd gotten her to react like she had.
Angela was a petite little thing, about 5'2", and she had long auburn hair, the reddish tones coming out against her light tan. She was cute, and bubbly, with a wide, megawatt smile. And, she had a very nice body, with firm 34-inch B cup tits, and a nice hard little ass. Angela was young, in her early 20's, and it seemed she was trying to make up for that by dressing conservatively. My guess was that this was her first real job, and she wanted to make a great first impression. Looking professional was a big part of that. And who was I to argue...what with me wearing a jacket and tie.
But I knew Angela was young, and as cliché as it sounded, impressionable. I'd innocently flirted with her...but I had no intention of going any further. And that had nothing to do with the fact that I'd just endured a 30 minute session on sexual harassment as part of my orientation, and that she was going to be working for me short term. It had more to do with the fact that I had a lot of work to do...work that was critical to the success of my department and the plant, and my career. I'd do the company far more good by working with Angela, and teaching her in the process.
So I politely told Angela I was looking forward to working with her, and she said the same. Following Steve out of his makeshift offices, he took me to see my boss, Jeff Engels.
My afternoon was going to be spent in a 4 hour meeting with Jeff, going over my job responsibilities, particularly what I'd be doing the first few weeks on the job. But before that happened, Jeff drove me out to the plant for a quick tour, where he introduced me to my peers. He didn't know I'd already been there, and I deliberately didn't let on. Anything that I'd learned through my tutorial with Ivan, and from Carol, was something I'd intended to keep to myself.
Jeff gave me the cursory tour of the front office area first, and then we headed out to the production floor. I asked some questions along the way, trying to act like I was in the dark about some things. But, I also made comments to a few of things Jeff said; things I shouldn't have known, making them seem like they were educated guesses. And by doing that, I impressed Jeff several times with my 'intuition' about the production process.
In truth, several of the comments I made were just that...intuitive observations that I made along the way. I was still thinking like Bond, and for whatever reason, that made me more aware of my surroundings. So much so that I was tuned in to the concepts of manufacturing that Jeff was explaining along the way...even ones I didn't know about yet. And the more it happened, the more confident I was getting with each passing moment. By the look in Jeff's eyes, I could tell his confidence in me was growing too.
He took me out to one of the production lines. In fact, it was the same line that Ivan had been working on when he, well, trained me. And it was there that I met Conrad, who was busy setting up part of the machine for a test run.
Conrad was a big guy, about 6'3" and a little over 200 pounds...with a dark goatee and a toothpick sticking out of his mouth. He was in his middle thirties, and he seemed trying awfully hard to portray himself as a biker...the kind of biker that gave real bikers a bad name by being so stereotypical it was comical.
Most of the guys that I knew that rode Harley's let their bike do the talking for them. You just knew it was part of who they were by the way they carried themselves. Sure, they wore some leather, and the occasional black Harley T-shirt. But it wasn't what they wore that made them a biker. It was what was ingrained in their souls; like the bike was an actual part them, and that was what made them cool. A real bike isn't a biker because they ride a Harley. They ride their Harley, because it's a part of them.
But Conrad...he went out of his way to act the part, which made the whole thing seem phony. He was dressed in a dark green jumpsuit, with the sleeves cut off for effect. His long dark hair was slicked back, looking almost greasy....and it was held in place by a Harley bandana he'd made into a headband. In fact, he had lots of Harley paraphernalia; from Jewelry to the boots he was wearing...and the more he had on, the more I knew he wasn't really what he was pretending to be. Conrad was what my biker friends jokingly referred to as...a 'weekender'.
When Jeff and I approached, Conrad stopped what he was doing long enough to look me up and down. I could see him laughing on the inside as he saw me there standing in my suit, a hard hat on my head and safety glasses over my eyes because we were in a zone of the plant where they were currently required because of the installation. That Conrad wasn't wearing either didn't surprise me...it went with the 'rebel' persona he was trying so desperately to sell.
"Conrad, this is Neil. He's..."
"The new guy. Yeah...I get it Jeff," he said in a gruff voice, never taking the time to look at me. "Hope you're comfortable in that suit. You must be planning on sitting on your ass a lot dressed like that. Maybe Jeff didn't tell you, but this is a working man's job."
It was a classic intimidation tactic. He was trying to put me in my place in front of our boss. It was obvious that he didn't think I had the chops to cut it on the job, and this was his way of trying to get the upper hand in front of Jeff. It helped that Carol had clued me in ahead of time, because it eliminated the shock factor. But frankly, I saw Conrad and his attitude from clear across the plant. And I'd dealt with his kind my entire working career.
Sticking out my hand, I ignored his attempt to control the situation, and said, "Nice to meet you, Conrad. I'm looking forward to working with you."
Conrad looked over his shoulder and sneered. "Work...what would you know about work? I'd love to shake your hand pal, but mine are dirty. I work for a living."
"I'll take that chance," I said, my eyes narrowing, showing him I wasn't letting him off that easy.
