Day 1
“Happy B-Day…is it really happy? What does it even mean and why we are telling “happy” every year, when we are getting older? The pressure is growing: to have children, to get married, to buy apartment… I don´t have any of these things, but that doesn´t make me unhappy. The number of serums and price of it, makes me unhappy, but I think 40 something years old are new 30ties and that is ….”
Trrrrrrrrr
The sound of mobile automatically stopped the podcast in her headphones. Dora answered.
“Hi honey, how are you?” her mother’s voice always sounds soothingly.
“Fine, mum. I am going to the office today, after six months. I have a new desk and hopefully it will be fewer persons per room. How are you? Is there something new?”
“Everything is fine, and we are OK. We will have dinner in two weeks, as you already know, with most of our family, so I just wanted to remind you, please don’t forget.”
“I am getting late, so I need to run, and I won´t forget. I have already bought the ticket. Bye, love U.”
“Love you too Dora and don´t run”
Klak.
It was a sunny Monday and Dora descended underground station after putting away her sunglasses.
`I love family gathering and especially last few years when most aunties, give up on questions like marriage or children. In their opinion after 35 and being single, it is just sad. I will meet everyone at once, be up to date, have fun with some cousins and feel again like a child. My Grandma will be there, and she is special to me. I have spend almost every summer with her. All around will be my mum´s and granny ´s specialties. Yammi, I cook only when I must. We only think how they put so musch effort in cooking for us, when we are adults and we need to prepare our own food. But endless peeling and cutting and washing vegetable destroyed my wish to eat healthy every day. I am one of these people that buys a lot frozen vegetable. My skills as a cook are not bad, but definitely not that good. O the train comes.´
It was rush hour and subway was overcrowded. It was barely place to get in, let alone to sit. Dora had her new black suit and she would´t sit even, if there was a free place, and risk getting a dirty stain on her new suit.
WTF is with these people in subway. It is a clearly a station, and people need to get out, and there is enough place to move, but nobody moves from the door! They just standing on the door ignoring everybody around them and blocking the door on purpose. People are so insolent today.
I must ...I will do my best to try to eat healthier and be kind to myself. Ana is the best therapist and she told me to stop overthinking and to be nice and supportive to myself. To love myself, just because I exist. Everything is fine and presentation will go well, I have prepared everything. My station.
Somebody throw up in that corner…why do I even notice disgusting stuff like this? What is that horrible smell? Urin? Well urine in the subway is not so rare and if the city decide in some ideal world, to put enough public toilets, on public places, well, everything will be cleaner. ´Dora thought. ´Especially for women, because of menstruation. And some stand for babies in men toilets too, so that every father with baby can go in a walk with his own kid and have possibility to change a dipper. Oh, I should start some project with city.` Dora thought and walk to her office.
´It is a beautiful day, and one can enjoy. Let’s start some old playlist or radio, and I need to walk faster. Beautiful spring, sun is shining, the city starts early with wildflower “save the bees” project and now you can see it in in all its glory how beautiful it is. I am so happy that I was part of this project. Air has a nice smell almost as outside of the city.´
“Doooooora, Doooora, wait!”
After first word, Dora turned around and there she was. Short, blond, high pitched annoying best-friend-withCEO-lady Jenny that had already quit the job few months before.
´With every word in this high-pitched tone, I get this painful feeling, like someone is stabbing me very fast, with long sharp object in my brain.´
“Hi Jenna, what a surprise! I tough you have quit few months before.”
“Well, I had, but then I have decided to come back, and here was opening in the financial department. So, why, not? I have missed you guys, and, in another company, can you imagine nobody was friendly to me. Did you gain some weight? We never had a long conversation, it will be good opportunity now that I am third time back, and third is a charm haha, don’t you think”?
´Third time? Wtf? Of course, you can come back whenever you wish but rest of us must here also work, but we don´t have friends on high places and does she ever stop talking. My nail polish is scratched in two places, I will have to fix it, as soon as I get to the office.
“O that is great Jenna, there is nothing new, same old, same old.”
´I wanted to ask her something, but it was like my brain was completely one big empty place and everything become white. I literally have zero interest for her life.´
” Dora, are you OK? Your face is weird a little bit.”
“Yes, I am OK. Don´t you worry, I am going through some ideas about new project in my head.”
´Just stop talking. Last time when I was honest with her friend about project and company organization that stopped my career for last two years. Maybe I need to quit. Finally, the front door.´
“Well Jenny, I am on the 11 floor, so bye.”
“Yes, see you at lunch Dora, we are on the 5 floors, hence you can come to visit us, ciao!”
Who the fuck have time to visit other people on the job? Odd lady.
After stepping from the elevator, according to the online map that we received last week, the new floor design, my Desk should be in the new part just around the left conference room. The same electronic device that we use, to open the door was somehow more picturesque with new color on the wall.
´The hallway was bigger or it was optical trick? There was some new wallpaper, with beautifully green plant in combination with some smiling random people on a sunny day. Now I see the space.
Shit, it is open space for too many people. Nice, but sill an open space, so now we can all hear and see each other. Noise canceling headphones for me then. The room was prepared for 50 people, and it had some nice bright colors and should these random people who are smiling make us smiling, too?
My table was in the corner and next to the window. I hate working with artificial light, so this, was great.
Few people have already started, I see some jackets on chairs but there was no people – they must be in cafeteria. Of course, Mark and Sonja are already there.
“Hi guys, good morning. How are you all?”
Mark is my boss, and he is 47 years old, but I am not 100% sure, because I am not a good listener. Anyway, he has 4 or 5 children, he is a little overweight and always pretending that everything is great, and constantly speaks about his children. His best buddy, our colleague Nate, is 5 years younger than him, no wife or kids, so I assume our boss envy him sometimes. Both of them are always whispering about something in Marks office. It is a glass office, so we can see that they are talking and pointing on Mark Facebook page. Then, there is Sonja that came 2 years ago,sometimes she is very annoying and it is unclear if she just can´t help herself or she does it on purpose?Lana and Zi are fresh from Uni, both 25 years old, funny and nice. Zi is a B.A.S.E-r so he has a lot of adventures stories and we call him “adrenaline junkie”. Lana is partying half of the week, so sometimes I notice that they is sleeping with open eyes. They/Lana would like us to address them as they.
The best for the end. My best office friend Maya, and Lucas. Maya is almost two years older than me but after 10 years working together, I feel like we know each other longer. She is married. Lucas is in marketing, very toll and very laud, and sometimes dramatic, but always supportive.
“Shell we?” Lucas asking me and Maya and mimicking like he is drinking a coffee.
Lucas is trying to date as many man as possible, before he is officially 40 years old, which is in 3 months. Before he become “middle aged man” according to his words.
“We shell, hahah” Maya responds through laugh.
“I have met adorable guy on this app, and I would like you guys to meet him tonight. His name is Borg and he is a DJ- Model. We will have some drinks in pub across the street” said Lucas with excitement.
“Lucas, it is Monday. And will he “assimilate you”hahahahaa. I remember you had only mentioned that you had sex the whole weekend with some bearded guy. And what´s with the name?”
“Dora, very funny, but you know that I don´t watch Star Trek, so just let it go. We will ignore the fact that today is Monday. And yes, we fucked the whole weekend. ” said Lucas with a wink.
“OK, people, we will go, I have some news too” said Maya with conspiracy smile.
“Yes, we will go and thank you guys for not noticing my new suit.”
“Dora, your suit is amazing, and we did notice it from the moment you came, but you know black is not a color and we don´t need to wear a suit. We are not lawyers.”
“I feel some sarcasm there and I don´t care because I love my new suit. I have presentation in 30 minutes, but we will discuss details at lunch around 12?”
“Perfect, but there is nothing to discuss. We will meet there. I have lunch with client. Bye” said Lucas and goes away.
Maya went in direction of her table and day with endless meetings has started. Dora forgot to take some water with coffee and now the presentation will start in 2 minutes. Most of her coworkers came few minutes earlier and the conference room was full. Dora started.
Day was over in a blink. It was already 5 p.m. and and people are starting to go home. Dora was still at her table writing emails.
´I will just answer on few more Emails and I will be ready to go. I told Maya and Lucas to start before me.´
Bzzz
“WHERE TF ARE U”
´Shit, it is already 5:50 I need to stop, or they will be so mad. Of course, when you are in a hurry elevator is too slow and the only red stop between office and pub just turned red.´
The pub was in the next street, but Dora needed to pick up the car, that she left few days before at mechanic. It was in the same street. He already wrote her a textm that she can pick up a car until 7 o clock p.m. She will be so late.
