This choice: William is early to his first day at MTRNTY • Go Back...Chapter #5William starts his new job at MTRNTY by: Jenny Amara   William arrived early for his first day of work. He wore the company uniform as instructed. William looked alright in the slacks and sweater vest other than the slight paunch to his belly that he was sporting. The uniform didn’t do a great job concealing this fact unfortunately. It wasn’t too bad all things considered. He’d rather be here working, than at home wallowing in his latest rejection. The other silver lining being that he was likely to lose some weight being on his feet moving around all day.
William was greeted by Megan as she arrived to open the back entrance to the store. Megan was about five foot eight inches tall and had a traditionally attractive hourglass figure. She wore a slightly different uniform than the other employees to signify her role as a manager. Rather than a sweater vest she wore a blazer and button up vest. Even still, she wore a name tag over her right breast.
She brought William in to the back room of the store which was neatly decorated with places to sit and tables to have meals. Every wall was covered in posters of inspirational quotes and then there were also the required government posters on worker’s rights. Megan walked in and started a pot of coffee straight away while chatting with William. As he and Megan stood by the coffee machine waiting for the coffee to brew several other employees arrived and joined in. William noticed one thing straight away. He was the only man who worked here.
“Coffee’s ready,” Megan announced happily. With a smile she handed William the first cup. “Milk and sugar are over on the counter.”
William thanked her and proceeded to pour some milk into his cup. The three other women in the room lined up for a cup while gleefully chatting. If there was another thing you noticed about this job, it was that everyone seemed very happy. William was still working on being fully awake. Also breaking tradition was the coffee. Rather than being the typically poor quality that offices were known for, this coffee was delicious.
“Mmm, good coffee,” William absentmindedly remarked to no one in particular.
“Isn’t it though? Megan takes really great care of us all,” a woman said while finishing mixing in some sugar to her coffee. “I’m Diana by the way. I assume you are our new team member?”
“Hi, yes I’m William. Pleasure to meet you,” William said extending his hand to Diana. She put her coffee to the side and shook his hand with both of hers in a gregarious gesture to make him feel as welcome as possible.
“It’s so nice to have you joining us. You’ll find we all are really happy working here. Megan takes great care of us and we get to help people every day with the most important journey of their lives. Customers really come to depend on us. It’s very rewarding.”
“That’s great to hear. This is actually my first job in retail so I don’t know too much about what is expected of me.”
“That’s easy honey, you just do what needs doing. A shelf is out of order? You tidy it. A woman needs help finding something, you lead her to it. A customer needs help, you help. It’s all pretty straightforward actually. The hardest part is just having enough people to help everyone. That’s why we’re all excited to have more hands to help!”
“I guess that’s straightforward enough. I’ll do my best Diana!”
So for the first day William did just that. Women would approach him and ask a variety of questions. William didn’t have any instant answers, but he did his best to be friendly and offer his help. William went on a few extra long detours of the store while leading some women but he eventually was able to help everyone who asked. A few times he asked his coworkers for help too and everyone was so friendly. When it came time for his lunch break he was feeling great, but a little tired.
As William made his way to the back room, he was shocked to see a vast buffet had been setup for the employees. William asked a coworker if this was just there for his first day but he was informed that lunch like this was provided every day. William was grateful as he felt famished from his long morning of walking the store floor. While the store wasn’t as large as a super store, it was much larger than a typical grocery store. William had probably walked 5 miles in the five hours since he arrived this morning.
Moving along the buffet line, William grabbed food from several trays. The food all looked relatively healthy, roasted chicken breast, mushrooms in brown sauce, broccoli, roasted potatoes, and of course the requisite salad bar with accompanying sides. William filled his plate up as full as he could and sat down to his meal. Further defying convention, the food was all prepared expertly and tasted wonderful. William was used to a buffet’s food quality diminishing with the volume produced.
Megan met William in the afternoon to do some extra training with him. William had to take some time out of this to thank her for the meal and the overall hospitality of herself and the other employees. He was blown away by how well the day had gone so far. Megan simply explained that she treated everyone as well as she hoped her employees would treat her customers. This resonated with William and he resolved to do his best to make her proud of him.
Megan ran William through the use of the cash registers and a few other administrative tasks around clocking in and out for the day. She then dropped a bomb on William. “Which course would you like to lead going forward?”
“Course? What do you mean?”
“Everyone leads at least one course here. We offer different classes for new moms to be able to come learn a skill or gain other support. It’s one of the best perks we offer for our customers.”
“Oh umm, I’m afraid I might not know much about being a new mom,” William tried to laugh off the idea that he’d teach women anything of use. Megan did not laugh along.
“Take a look at the available courses and let me know which course you’ll take. Courses are twice a week and last an hour.”
William noted the seriousness of the request and nodded his acceptance of her terms.
Scanning the list, William had to find something that he could actually succeed at teaching. There were courses on things that felt completely inappropriate for him like breastfeeding, post birth recovery, and, of course, Lamaze. Those were all instantly off the list. William had no practical knowledge on these areas and would never have any. Continuing down the list, William saw some more practical skills, knitting, sewing, and interior decorating all seemed like something he could learn enough about. William just had to decide which one he could fumble his way through the best.
William knew nothing about interior design and he imagined a very different kind of man that would. His apartment was decorated in blacks and browns. He couldn’t even name complimentary colors. So that was out. Between sewing and knitting, William had to decide whether he was better at using his hands or at measuring and cutting. Knitting seemed the better bet as he felt it was more forgiving to mistakes.
Before the day had ended, William found Megan and shared his decision to take on the knitting course. William wanted to show her that he was committed to the job, especially on his first day. Megan thanked William for choosing so quickly and got his classes scheduled onto the store’s calendar. Before Megan left, she went and grabbed a packet of paperwork.
“Here are your documents on your benefits. Healthcare and retirement are included for full time employees, and don’t sleep on those. We have the best benefits in retail and I think it’s especially important to take advantage of these opportunities. Most retail stores don’t offer even half of what MTRNTY offers. So check it out tonight. You’ve put in a good first day William. go ahead and clock out and we will see you again tomorrow. Bright and early!”
William took the package of paperwork and did as Megan instructed him. Clocking out of his first day felt satisfying in a way that he didn’t expect. He had been out of work for so long that he felt a great welling up of pride for a job well done. On his drive home he decided to stop at a craft store to get a book on knitting as well as the accompanying supplies and tools. He was going to make Megan proud of him and show he was committed to the job.
Several hours of reading and failed attempts at producing a glove, William switched his attention to the package of paperwork on MTRNTY’s benefits. Reviewing the healthcare options, William was surprised to see that the plan covered preventative care at a very high level. It even included YourEssence at a huge discount. He would only have to pay 5% of the cost himself. Guaranteeing that he wouldn’t get sick and have to miss a day of work seemed like a pretty good idea. William resolved to signup for the healthcare the next day so he could get going on a prescription for YourEssence.
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