Valentine's Day - Bah, Humbug! As far as he was concerned, it wasn't a real holiday. It was invented just to sell Hallmark greeting cards and to make unattached people feel less than complete. He had honored the tradition while he was married but now he didn't feel it was necessary to keep up the illusion. Besides, he didn't have a lady friend he wanted to impress.
He turned into the parking lot of the office complex and found a space near the door between two huge SUV's. He shut off his engine and let out a huge sigh, then sat back in his seat and thought about what he was about to do.
He had interviewed for this job the second week of December and was offered the position just before Christmas. He knew he had the education and the skills but the real question was whether or not he could take orders from a woman after having worked on his own for so long. There were 12 employees of this firm, including him, and only 2 of them were men - Jim Thompson, the owner, and himself.
Finally deciding that it was now or never, he got out of the car and walked to the front door. The reception desk was to his right behind a partial wall.
"Good morning, I'm Pete Peterson. I'm reporting for work."
"Good morning, Mr. Peterson, we've been expecting you. Please come in thru the door on your left."
When he stepped thru the door, he found himself in another hallway. Kyla, the receptionist, was waiting for him.
"The office is really a series of small offices connected by hallways, sort of like a beehive. You'll get used to it pretty quickly. Follow me and I'll show you to your office. We have it all ready for you."
I'd follow that ass anywhere, he thought, as she wiggled her way down the hall. Maybe this won't be so bad. Turn right here, then left, then right again and hey, they even had my name on the nameplate! Not too shabby.
"As you can see, this is your office. The coffee room is just a few doors down and the restrooms are across the hall from the coffee room. If you'd like to hang your coat up, I'll show you the coffee room, and then take you to Jim. He'll want to speak to you first."
He smiled politely, he hoped, and removed his coat. He found an old-fashioned coat rack just inside his door.
"I brought my lunch today. Is there a refrigerator in the coffee room?"
"Yes. Bring it along. It's just a few steps down the hall."
When he stepped into the coffee room, he stopped and stared. On the walls, each employee's names was pasted in red ribbon. A space was marked for each of them with some of the spaces already sporting small hearts. Valentine's Day in spades! He suppressed a groan as he put his lunch in the fridge.
"We are really separated from the rest of the world here so Jim lets us go a little wild at times. This year we have decided to hold a Valentine's Day Decorating Contest. Jim has even offered to be the judge and award $100 to the winner. You can have a space if you'd like since you're an employee now."
"I think I'll pass, thank you. Valentine's Day is not really my idea of a holiday."
"That's ok, Jim doesn't like it much either. Here's a coffeepot, a microwave, various utensils in the drawers and cabinets, and that's the supply closet. Jim will tell you about that. Ok, if you'll follow me, we'll go thru the maze again and find Jim's office."
He followed her thru another series of lefts and rights. She stopped and knocked politely on Jim's office door, then announced him.
"Jim, Pete Peterson is here."
"Good morning, Pete, please come in. Thank you, Kyla. I presume she's given you the mini-tour?"
"Yes she did. I've seen my office, the coffee room, the restrooms, and now your office. I didn't have any chicken feed to drop on the floor as a trail so I hope you have a map of this maze."
"Ha ha, it's a maze, all right. The builder didn't expect his project to expand as much as it has so we've added on and added on and now we have this. It'll take you a day or two to get used to it, but it's really not that bad. Your office is on one side of the coffee room and Stacy Bright's office is on the other side. Stacy is one of my tax managers and she'll be your direct boss. I think you'll like each other."
"Kyla said you would explain something about the supply closet in the coffee room, almost like it was a secret. What's the deal?"
"No secret. It's an emergency supply closet. Come on, we'll take a walk and I'll show you, then I'll introduce you to Stacy."
He continued to talk as the walked back to the coffee room.
"We occasionally get lots of snow here, mostly because of the open field across the highway from us. It blows in and stacks up against the buildings. Usually at least once a year, some of us get trapped here in a snowstorm. We keep food in the cabinets, as you'll see, and other storm related things in the closet. Here, take a look."
On the top shelf of the closet were candles and matches. The next shelf held pillows, followed by blankets. On the bottom were several round balls tied closed. He recognized them as blow up mattresses, the kind he had at home for guests.
"Looks like survival gear, all right. I've got a mattress like those at home. They're really pretty comfortable when they're fully inflated."
"Exactly. In these cabinets, below the sink, you'll find space heaters in case the power goes out. They're kerosene so don't close your door if you use one of them. The fumes are dangerous. We haven't had to use them since I bought them because most of our power lines are underground. The upper cabinets contain a variety of canned soups and other foods so you won't starve but in a real emergency, you can always break into the vending machines."
"I suppose Kyla explained about the Valentine's Day contest. The only rule is that you can't use any commercial products like Hallmark cards. Everything has to be hand made except for pictures of your significant other. Are you going to join the contest, Pete?"
"I'd rather not, if I have the choice, Jim. I don't have a significant other and I'm not very good at decorating. It would really be a waste of time and effort, I think."
"That's ok, participation isn't mandatory. In that case, maybe you could help me with the judging since you don't really know any of the other employees yet. Come on, then, and I'll introduce you to Stacy, your new boss."
After only a few steps, Jim turned into an office with Pete following right behind.
