The Fifteen Minute Novel is a novel written fifteen minutes at a time with each week day’s section starting with the sentence from the previous day. At least it is attempting to be a novel. For now I am just aiming at one continuous story, worked on for fifteen minutes each day. Started Friday January 1st, 2021 (in case you want to search for the beginning. I can’t wait to see where it ends up. It could be good, or it could be a mess. We’ll have to see. For now, here is today’s fifteen minutes.
Day 58: “You will need to spend some time looking over the system and familiarizing yourself with the program.”
“You will need to spend some time looking over the system and familiarizing yourself with the program.”
James nodded.
“We use the standard forms,” the man continued. “Accounts receivable, travel and gad reimbursement, payroll, that sort of thing. I’m sure you’ll pick it up. There are manuals for what we allow as expenses here that you might want to start reading while you wait for Linda.”
“Thank you, I will,” James said. The man nodded and moved towards the door, confident that James could at least keep himself occupied for the moment. He closed the door behind him, leaving James alone. James placed his bag beside the desk and settled himself in the chair. It squeaked gently with his weight. He pulled the top page from the stack and read it over. It contained his password and his company issued e-mail along with a long list of things he was prohibited from using his work related e-mail for.
James scanned the list and realized the list was a long winded way of saying that his work e-mail should be used for work. He shrugged and set it aside. He then booted up the computer, typed in the password when requested and was pleased when the password worked. He pulled up his e-mail and found several emails from someone named Linda. Guessing she was the Linda his new boss expected to walk him through his orientation, James clicked on the first of the e-mails.
It contained the standard new employee forms and James reached for his wallet. Getting started on the filling out of paperwork wasn’t a bad thing, but he felt that filling in his particulars, like full name and social security number would be best done without an audience.
‘I doubt many employees have to double check their full names. He didn’t know if he had been given a middle name and had to check.
‘Aaron,’ he read. ‘I wonder where they got that one from.’ He shrugged and added his new middle name to both the new file and his own mental file. He copied his new social security number from the crisp card he had stashed in his wallet and then added his new address. He added his driver’s license number to the file and then put his identification away. The rest of the paperwork was mostly a matter of ticking boxes. He ticked them off electronically and saved each page. When he filled in all the necessary bits, he e-mailed the completed document back to Linda and opened the next e-mail she sent. This one proved to be the employee handbook.
Having nothing better to do, James began to read. Each section had a spot for him to initial electronically to prove he had looked at the page. He was initially a page to certify that he understood sexual harassment was wrong when there was a knock on the door. He looked up but before he could call out, the door was opened. A woman stood in the door. She was dressed more or less as he was. Her dress slacks were cut in a slightly more feminine line and she wore heels instead of his men’s dress shoes but otherwise their attire came from the same catalog. He sent a mental high five to Carson for getting the dress code correct.
James smiled. “Let me guess, you’re Linda?”
Ten til Midnight 