"A bus stop right in front of the building? That's really convenient," Piper thought as she stepped off her bus. She walked the few short yards and entered into the air conditioned lobby. A long information desk was directly in front of the glass doors, and Piper headed towards it.
Behind the desk sat a tall, leggy blonde. She was stick thin, and her bountiful curls were tied back into a loose pony tail. She smiled as Piper came towards her. "Hello, and welcome to Yeng's Daven's Port office. Do you have an appointment?"
"Actually, I'm Piper Black. I'm starting today in the I.T. department."
"Oh! Well, welcome aboard, then! I'm Stacy, by the way. Stacy Reynauld."
"It's nice to meet you," Piper said as she shook the enthusiastic woman's hand.
"Same! I'll page Mr. Brownstone for you, and while we're waiting, start getting you set up." Stacey turned towards her computer, and quickly typed out a message. Checking her screen once more, she opened her desk drawer before continuing. "Okay, so here's your name tag and security pass. The pass also doubles as your punch card, so when you swipe in or out with security, it clocks you in and out. You'll want to take the door on the right; our PR offices are on the left, so they're readily available for customers and what have you."
Anything else Stacy would have said was interrupted by the opening of the right hand door. An older man walked out. He was dressed in a quality black suit, with a red tie. His salt and pepper black hair was kept short, and a welcoming smile broke his clean shaven face. He extended a hand as he stepped forward. "Miss Black, I presume? I'm Malcolm Brownstone, Director of Human Resources. If you'll follow me, please."
Brownstone turned and walked ahead of Piper. Malcolm was built like a human scarecrow, and honestly looked like he might be able to bench press a solid 35 pounds, but he walked very quickly and Piper struggled to keep up. The two walked past the currently empty security desk, pausing only a moment to swipe their cards before continuing along.
"I apologize if I seem like I'm rushing you, but given we're building this office up from scratch, there's about a hundred things to do, and the list just keeps on growing. Our new security personnel will be starting later this week, so don't get used to this desk being empty.
"This," he said as the two entered a large, open area. "Is our main floor. Most of the desks here are for data entry, a small call center, and the like. Each floor has a break room and bathroom, and the lunch room is on the third floor."
"Awful lot of vending machines," Piper said. She had thought she was muttering, but the way Malcolm responded, it was clear she wasn't.
"Yes, each and everyone stocked with our fine in-house products. This is probably a good point to discuss your Yeng credits."
"Yeng credits?"
"Yes," Malcolm said as the two entered the elevator. He pressed the button for the 19th floor, and continued as the lift began to move upward. "Each employee receives a weekly allotment of Yeng credits to spend at the vending machines, or to use in the lunchroom. They will accept cash as well, but given the credits are a free perk, it's usually a good idea to use them first. Everything for sale in the building is also offered to employees at a sizeable discount as well, so the credits will go quite far. As your tenure with the company increases, you'll start receiving additional credits as a bonus at regular intervals. The credits also don't expire, though you aren't allowed to transfer them between employees."
The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open. Malcolm continued, "The I.T. offices are here on the 19th floor."
Walking past a fistful of vending machines and a bathroom, he pointed to a door to the right. It was an impressively large opening, at least 48 inches wide, and with no obvious door knob or handle. "And this is you."
Piper was, in a rare moment, shocked to silence. She hadn't been expecting to be given her own office, but there was her name in an embossed brass plaque. As Malcolm pushed a large button beside the entryway, the door slid silently into the wall. The office behind was as large as the opening, with a large desk and the biggest office chair Piper had ever seen. A couple plants sat on a small table by the large windows, and she was rather surprised to see a pair of vending machines, one for soft drinks and one for food, standing in the corner.
"I... I have an office?"
The older director smiled at the incredulity in the new hire's voice. "That you do, Miss Black. We at Yeng have found through focused studies, as well as trial and error, that maintaining employee comfort maximizes both productivity and employee retention. Our benefits package is also second to none in the city.
"Anyway," he said as he passed her a card, "this is your current password. Please change that after the first time you log in. Today will be mostly training videos and the like, but you'll be thrown into the thick of it almost immediately, I'm afraid. We're still in the middle of networking the building, so there's no shortage of stuff to do.
"I hate to run, but I'm expecting no fewer then 88 new hires arriving over the course of the day. I'll let you get to it, and we'll go from there. I hope you come to enjoy working for Yeng corporation."
As the door slid closed behind the Director, Piper turned around and let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Holy crap. My own office. Holy crap."
Piper walked slowly around the large space, running her hands along the walls, as if disbelieving that was in fact hers. As she slowly lowered herself into the surprisingly comfy chair, she felt almost impishly small for the gargantuan seat.
"Jesus, were they expecting only land whales to apply for these jobs? Really comfy, though. Wonder if I can get something a bit more my size?"
As Piper was logging into her computer, she looked at the vending machines in the corner. As the machine slowly came to life, she decided to test her company credits while she waited. Rolling the chair over as opposed to walking, she swiped her card and worked through the interactive touchscreen.
"Let's see what we have here. Oh wow, these prices are ridiculously low. Holy hell, I don't even think I can make a dent in this card. What do I want...
Let's grab one of those honey cakes. Those chips look good. Ooo, donuts! Nice! Oh, and some cookies.
Now, how about the beverages... Jesus! Why is Yeng Cola half a credit, and water 24 credits!? Who priced that!? Well, grab a cola, then."
Rolling back with her haul, Piper set her packages down on her desk. As she started the first of many tedious training videos, Miss Black took a big bite of her first honey cake.
"Wow, those are damn good."
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