FIRST DAY
Jaleen paced back and forth, doing her best to avoid the barrage of people walking past her on the crowded sidewalk. She was weaving through the crowd and hoped that she didn't look suspicious. Her clothes were non-descript and plain, like she was instructed. Jaleen was waiting for her new employer, and she hoped she hadn’t been tricked. With the economy in the toilet, when a job reached out to her without her applying, she took it with no hesitation. They had a whole onboarding process on Workday. She was an hourly employee for a cleaning service. Fresh Starts was the name of it. She apologized as she bumped into someone and bowed her head down to avoid their hostile gaze. She just needed to make herself as unseen as possible as she waited, but each person walking past made her want to go home. But she didn’t have much more savings to cover rent, and she didn’t want to be homeless with her cat, Captain Marble.
“Jaleen?” A stern yet friendly voice cut through the bustle of the street. Her head snapped to look at the source. It was a woman with a similar chestnut complexion to Jaleen who caught her eye. The lady had her hair pulled into a top puff; her eyes were lined with wrinkles, the only indication of her age. She and Jaleen were dressed similarly in dark, baggy clothes.
“Yes?” she asked as she tried to straighten her back; she needed to look confident. Her undesirable height made her self-conscious.
“Hi, I’m Marnee. It’s great to meet you.” The woman walked too close to interlock their hands. Marnee had dazzling dark eyes.
“You too, ma’am.” She tacked on quickly, eyes darting around nervously as people grunted and walked around them. Marnee didn’t pay attention to those faceless people. “Thank you for hiring me.” Jaleen blurted out, and immediately wished she could inhale the words back.
“Of course, your job history is why I picked you,” Marnee said as she placed a hand on Jaleen’s shoulder. “I think this will be a good fit for you.” Jaleen wasn’t entirely sure, since consistent employment was an issue with her. Something always went wrong, and she had to turn tail and run. No job lasted more than three months.
“Thank you,” she said again, her tone meek as she started to slouch again. “So, what are we doing?”
“Follow me, my dear,” Marnee winked as she ushered Jaleen through the people, unmoving when people bumped into them as they walked across the sidewalk into the lobby of the building she had been waiting in front of. “Keep your head up and follow me,” she said as she placed herself in front. Jaleen followed, trying to look like she belonged. As she looked around, she saw that they were surrounded by women dressed in a similar fashion. However, the other women had carts loaded with cleaning supplies.
“Are we maids?” Jaleen whispered to Marnee as they boarded the elevator.
