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walker-extended-universe · 2 months

Text

S.O.S., Chapter 1

Pairing: Geri Broussard/Cordell Walker, Geri Broussard/Cassie Perez/Cordell Walker

Tags/Warnings: Alternate Universe- Cruise Ship, Stranded, Hurricanes & Typhoons, Natural Disasters, Shipwrecks, Survival, Desert Island, Angst, Angst and Feels, Near Death Experiences, Slow Romance, eventual throuple, Slow Build, Angst with a Happy Ending

Summary: Geri and Cordell were gifted a cruise vacation for their first anniversary as a married couple. Cassie Perez is an activities coordinator on their ship that has her eye on a troubling storm in their path. When things go awry, the three of them will have to rely on each other until help can find them.

@augustofwhump day 5- Stranded

A/N: Don't worry Cassie's not dead she's just Elsewhere

Taglist: @theladywyn, @ihavepointysticks, @klaatu51, @itsjessiegirl1, @neptunium134

------------------------

Cordell looked up at the ship and felt a twist in his gut that he shouldn’t have felt until they were on the open ocean. He’s not sure how Geri talked him into this cruise, but it was way too late to back out now.

He should’ve faked being sick this morning.

“Come on, Cordi! They’re boarding in 10 minutes!”

Cordell took a deep breath and grabbed their suitcases. “You sure these tickets are non-refundable?”

Geri sighed. “Cordi, you promised.”

“I know, I know but-”

“I know cruises aren’t exactly your thing but your parents paid for this and it’s our anniversary and-”

“I know, I know.” Cordell kissed her. “I just- Water’s not my thing. I mean I can swim but the last time I was on a boat was during Marine’s training and I’m lucky my captains never saw me hurl afterwards.”

Geri chuckled. “Well, this isn’t exactly Marines training. And this cruise is perfectly safe. They have safety standards to meet and all the staff are trained for emergencies. And it’s only for two weeks. We’ll be fine, I promise.”

Cordell huffed. “You know that’s the line they give before everything bad that happens in those natural disaster movies, right?”

“Oh my god-”

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” He kissed her again. “Happy anniversary. Let’s get boarded. You have all the paperwork, right?”

“If you got the bags,” she teased.

“Ah, the real reason you married me: free manual labor.”

Geri laughed. “I don’t know if I’d call you ‘free’. I mean, the amount you eat alone….”

“Hey, I’m a growing boy!”

“Last I checked, you were fully grown 20 years ago.”

“I- We don’t know that for sure!” He smiled and followed Geri’s laughter up to the pier.

He could handle a one week tour. If not for his own sense of adventure, he could do it for his wife.

—------------------

“We’re still looking out for a possible hurricane forming at the base of the Gulf of Mexico. No formal warnings have been put in place but we caution anyone going into these waters to stay alert. If you have any concerns, stay out of the water and warn your neighbors to do the same.”

“Still listening to those weather reports, Cassie?”

She looked up at her supervisor. “Weather kind of impacts our job, Brenda. And they’re saying this hurricane could be a big deal.”

Brenda sighed. “If it was that big of a deal, they’d issue a warning. Which they haven’t. So, until they do, we have jobs to do. And for you, that means corralling lost passengers.”

Cassie rolled her eyes but put on her big “I Can Help!” badge, picked up her map, and went to her assigned hallways. She was technically part of the event coordinating team but before the opening receptions, getting passengers to their assigned cabins was an all-hands-on-deck situation. The last thing they needed was a kid getting lost in the engine block or a very good actor getting themselves a free room.

Clearing her assigned hallways was easier than she ever could have hoped. It was a couples cruise, mostly full of elderly couples who had been on a cruise before (some of them she even recognized) with a few newbies who were still pretty capable of using a map. The most she had to do was help reorient a few of the newer ones and carry the bags for one particularly sweet pair of ladies who reminded her of her abuela.

After the crowd died down, she waited for a bit to catch any stragglers. They wouldn’t want to start any of the introductory talks or safety presentations until all the passengers were settled and they were on a very strict timetable. She could waste 10 minutes now to safe someone's life later.

On her final sweep, she passed by some annoyed voices from the stairwell. Just as she’d feared.

“Hey!” she said as she opened the door to the stairs, smile still firmly in place. “Can I help you with anything?”

The couple quit arguing and turned to her. The man looked a little annoyed (and a tad green around the gills) but his partner gave her a friendly smile. “Hi,” she said. “I think we’re a little lost but my husband is allergic to asking for assistance.”

“Well, that’s what I’m here for,” Cassie assured her. “Where are you trying to get to?”

“We’re trying to find our cabin, Room 234C.” She showed Cassie their tickets.

She nodded. “Alright. Well, you’re on the right track. 234C is on the level above us. Just take a left out of the stairwell and it should be a few doors down on the right.”

“I told you,” the man muttered.

The woman glared at him then smiled at Cassie again. “Thank you so much. What was your name?”

“Oh, I’m Cassie.” She could only hope they were asking for “glowing review” reasons.

“Well, thank you Cassie. I’m Geri and this is my husband, Cordell. I’m sure we’ll probably run into each other again; he’s terrible with directions.”

Cordell gave her a tight smile. “Yes, thank you. We’ve gotta get to our room now so we can get to that safety presentation. Especially with that storm brewing….”

Geri sighed. “Cordi, I told you, we’ll be fine. I’m sure they’ve taken all that into account, right Cassie?”

Cassie nodded. “We’re closely following all the safety recommendations from the weather authorities,” she said in her best customer service voice. “And attending the safety presentations will certainly help decrease the risk of injury, so please get settled in your room as quickly as possible.”

“That sounds great. Thank you.” Geri smiled and the couple started heading up the stairs, their shoes pounding on the metal staircase.

Cassie kept her smile up until they were out of sight and sighed. She checked her watch and decided it was safe to head back to her office. She had to get ready for the presentation too.

—----------------

Cordell thought he should get extra Husband Points for agreeing to eat more than cheese and crackers on this floating death trap. His stomach felt unsettled since the minute he walked on board and it hadn’t gotten better since they left port. If anything, it got worse.

He knew it should be impossible to feel the movement of the ocean on a ship this big, but he swore he could feel every dip and swell of the waves as they hit the ship. It took everything in him to walk in a straight line, and his relationship with solid food was on a steep decline.

He was trying to make this fun for Geri. He really was. But it was hard to enjoy dinner when all he wanted to do was curl up around the toilet.

Surely this would earn him the right to pick their next anniversary vacation.

“Are you feeling okay, Cordi?”

Cordell shook himself out of his thoughts and smiled. Or, at least, he tried to. “I’m fine, babe.”

Geri frowned. “Are you sure? You’ve barely touched your steak.”

Cordell looked down at his plate and his stomach curled again. He’d ordered the steak because it was familiar. But by the time it got to their table he was starting to feel sick again and he knew from experience it wouldn’t taste nearly as good coming back up.

But he didn’t want to bring her down with that. So he smiled and said “I guess I wasn’t in the mood for steak after all.”

“Oh. Do you want to order something else or-”

The boat lurched suddenly and Cordell felt the remains of his lunch start to make a reappearance. “Uh, you know what? I gotta hit the restroom but why don’t you order me something new and I’ll try it when I get back.”

“Cordi, wha-”

“Thanks, Ger! You’re the best.” He quickly got up and left the dining room, barely missing colliding with a staff member on his way out.

As much as he intended to find a bathroom, his lunch was not being patient and the balcony was very welcoming. Without thinking much further, he ran over and leaned far over the edge, heaving as what little food was in him rushed out.

Panting, he stayed leaning over the edge, trying to get as much bile out as possible before he returned to dinner.

Why the hell had he agreed to this cruise?

“Sir? Can I help?”

Slowly, he stood up and looked over at the woman standing next to him. He squinted at her, trying to recognize her. He recognized the voice, and she looked familiar, even in the dim light.

“You- You’re the lady that helped us find the cabin. Kammie?”

She smiled. “Cassie. Do you need help?”

“Uh, a little….”

She held her hands out. “Let me see your wrists?”

Skeptical, he leaned his lip against the railing to keep him upright and presented his wrists. He watched as she aligned her fingers at the center of his wrists, right under the crease, and pressed hard.

In a few seconds, the nausea passed and he felt less dizzy. “How….?”

She winked at him. “Old trick I learned in my early days. Wait here a sec.”

She darted back inside the dining area and came back with a glass of fizzy water and a handful of crackers. “Nibble on these and drink the seltzer. It should settle your stomach a bit.”

He muttered a thanks and followed her directions. “I think if I knew I had seasickness I would’ve tried harder to pass on this vacation,” he murmured.

She shrugged. “Well, you live and learn. The good news is, you’ll only feel it for a few days. Once your body gets used to it, you’ll be fine. Well, aside from shaky legs on land but that’ll fade too.”

He grunted. “Yeah, sounds great. Thank you for this, really.”

“Hey, it’s just part of the job. Here.” She opened a tin of breath mints for him. “Take a couple of these. And maybe recommend to your wife that you guys hang out around the deck more until you get used to things at sea. Fresh air and being able to keep your eye on the horizon helps.”

He smiled. “I’ll try that. Thanks.”

“No problem. Let me know if you need anything else. I’m an events coordinator so I’m pretty much always around.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

She smiled and walked away, presumably to handle some kind of event coordinator stuff. Cordell sighed and started sucking on the breath mints. He had a couple minutes before Geri would start to worry about him, but knowing her she probably already picked up on his seasickness and was gearing up to lecture him for keeping secrets for her sake. It was an argument they’d had before and one they would probably have again.

Thank God she loved him.

—-------------

Cassie was woken up by a blaring alarm. She groaned and sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. It was only their third day on the water; what could possibly be going wrong this early in?

She hoped it was a drill she’d forgotten about. She really, really hoped so.

But she couldn’t assume that, so she grabbed her high-vis jacket, her megaphone, and her walkie and rushed out of her room.

The minute she stepped in water, she knew it wasn’t a drill. Something was definitely wrong.

“Brenda, what’s going on?” she called into the walkie.

“That damn storm is what’s going on!” Brenda shrieked. “Out of nowhere it headed right for us! Help us get people into the lifeboats!”

“Lifeboats? In a storm we should-”

“Take people below, I know, but we’ve been hit with some kind of debris and the boys downstairs say we’re taking on water. Lifeboats aren’t our safest option but until someone can get out here they’re our best option. Now get out here!”

Cassie ran for the upper deck, splashing water slowly climbing higher up her legs. She ran into a few other passengers on her way and urged them to head toward the lifeboats.

“Cassie, what’s going on?”

She whirled around and saw her favorite passengers. “Cordell, Geri, it’s a long story but you need to get to the lifeboats. We got hit by that storm out of nowhere and we’re taking on water. We’re waiting on help but there’s not much time for us to get off.”

Geri gulped but nodded and Cordell gripped her arm. “Ger, come on. We gotta go.”

“I know, I know. I’m sor-”

“Don’t apologize. Let’s just go.”

Cassie directed them and took her time guiding other passengers before she made her way to the top deck. The passengers came first, especially when some of them had trouble moving.

By the time she made it up there, there was a scary amount of water washing up on the deck. It took everything she had to keep upright. She joined the line to help load people into the boats, but with the storm picking up it was getting harder to keep things moving calmly.

As she was helping load the last of the passengers, the boat tipped badly and a wave came over the deck.

It was just enough to make her lose her footing and send her over the railing.

—-------------

Cordell woke up to the sun on his face and sand under his back. He tried to remember when he fell asleep on the beach; surely Geri would’ve woken him up so that they could get back to the cruise ship on time.

The cruise ship…..

His eyes snapped open as memories of the day before flooded in. He sat up, frantically looking around. “Geri!” he called- or at least, he tried to. His voice was hoarse, probably from a mix of saltwater and dehydration. “Geri!” he tried again, before getting to his feet.

He scanned the beach around him. The lifeboat they’d used was about five feet away from him. On shaky legs, he walked over to it, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Geri inside. “Geri….” he knelt beside the boat and tried to shake her away. “Geri, please…..”

Thankfully, her face scrunched and she groaned awake. “Cordi? Wha- What happened?”

“We got hit by that storm,” he reminded her. “I-I don’t know where we are now but I think we’re stuck for a while.”

Geri nodded, then groaned again as she tried to sit up. “I- Is it just us here?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t see anyone else, but I just woke up.” He knew there were more people in their lifeboat but there were no people or footprints anywhere.

Geri slumped. “Damn. Okay. Well…. Now what?”

Cordell shrugged. “Find water and shelter if we can. Then think about finding help.”

Geri nodded and reached for him. “Sounds… sounds like a plan.”

#walker #walker fic #walker fanfic #augustofwhump #augustofwhump2024 #stranded

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please-let-me-be-horny · 2 months

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Second time in three days I've nearly gotten into a fucking fist fight with a drunken idiot. I'm not paid enough. The company won't give us the staff or equipment we need. And our town center is getting more and more dangerous by the days. In the last month we have had two stabbings, a rape, and an assault that hospitalised someone. And you want me to throw my body at that bullshit all by myself for minimum wage?

I swear to god, if I'm haven't calmed down by the time my next patrol come around, I'm not doing it. I'm qualified for CCTV and Door Supervisor, but if this company isn't gonna ensure my safety, or at the very least pay me the wages suitable for a dangerous job, then I'll happily sit on my arse in the office and watching this place burn itself to the ground.

I've been here for two years, and I haven't progressed AT ALL in ANY direction in life. I'm STILL in the EXACT same situation I was in when I started this job, only now, I have to worry about homeless veterans stabbing me in the street for the oh so foul crime of doing my job.

#d's stuff

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orangesat10am · 1 year

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The one job that changed my point of view

It was a real mess and I need to get this off my chest, so I can warn people about this kind of experiences.

Mental health should be a priority and everyone sees the administrative staff as aliens, and no job is worth it.

Back in 2020 I was a 23 years old accountant out of college with a year of experience in the field (At my country, I have a Certified Public Accountant license, I studied a 5 years career to obtain it).

I felt I was capable of being way more than an accountancy assistant, and so did my fellow assistants and my supervisor (a really sweet 55 years old man, father of two kids who loved to teach). I had leadership skills, a great analysis capacity and was always looking out for ways to get the job done as quickly and easy as possible. So, I decided I learned what had to be learned at that place (a supermarket), I got tired of being unappreciated by the head of department and underpaid (there was also the promise from my uncle to get me a place at my dream job that didn't happen) and redacted my two weeks notice and headed downstairs to HR. Back in 2020 and being in Venezuela, I was earning 40 USD and the standard back then was 100 USD. My schedule was 7 to 4, Monday to Friday.

You see, my mom had been working there for 16 years and her cousin was actually one of the owners, so when the HR head of department saw me delivering my resignation letter asked what was wrong if she always witnessed how much in love I was with my job. I mentioned being underpaid and my head of department's attitude towards the whole office as the main reasons. I got back to the office and HR called the head of department. I actually don't know what did they tell her, but the lady called me to the little kitchenette we had, closed the door and started yelling at me for quitting. After that, she went straight to my mom's cousin office to wash her hands, thinking I was going to badmouth her. I don't blame her because that same thing happened with acquaintances of my mom's cousin before, but I didn't even talk to her on a regular basis, much less to badmouth my boss who let me work there. I attended my last two weeks and got out.

I spent three weeks unemployed, handing out my CV everywhere I saw they were looking for an accountant. I realized having less than two years of experience is worth nothing here, and as I got no answers I started to get desperate. My mom pulled some strings and landed me a job as an administrator at a bakery (not even my field, but it was a job). Same payment as my last job, with promises of getting better. My new schedule was 8 to 4 Monday to Friday, and Saturday 8 to 12. Which according to Venezuelan legislation is wrong, because we're supposed to get two days off a week.

I learned not having a predecessor at the job you're getting into who trains you and hands you everything over should be considered as a red flag.

The owner's wife did a half assed job of teaching me the ropes. They yelled at me in front of clients and employees to show how powerful they were, humiliated me when I asked for money they owed me and my last paycheck was waaaaaay behind what they should have paid me. I just chuckled and thought how miserable they were. The day I did quit, the owner told me he already knew I was going to quit and was an absolute asshole.

A day before quitting I landed an interview with a friend of my best friend's aunt. The guy, who I will call Mike, currently 43 years old, was the owner of four businesses (the main one being co-owned with his brother Josh, 45 years old). I had to be in charge of accountancy, finances, human resources and help with sales. The only thing I was not allowed to take a part in was cleaning, because I was told my skills were too valuable to have me cleaning. I accepted the job, because it was an out of the bakery, I was offered a daily payment of 4,3$ so it was way more than double what I was earning, but I had to work on a Monday to Friday 8-6 and Saturday 9-6 schedule.

As the previous one, no one handed me anything and this time Mike taught me a few things and I had to figure out the rest. At the beginning I watched how the employees were afraid of getting on his nerves and that should've been a huge red flag I ignored.

As time passed by, he manipulated me into believing he was like a fatherly figure to me, and lots of sacrifices had to be made because he made lots of sacrifices too. Crystal Generation was an usual term he used to define his employees (because we were all under 30 years old) and didn't want to make all those sacrifices as he did (turning down vacation trips, working our off days, unpaid overtime because we earned commissions and feeling unappreciated). I went on mandatory vacations once, took only two of three weeks I was supposed to and he mocked me and told me he didn't take vacations when he was my age and told me they didn't need me to be there all the time because nothing was burning down during my vacations (which means I actually trained my personnel really well so they could be self sufficient during my absence, but he didn't see it that way).

Mike actually got to the point he was comfortable enough to threaten me, bullying me and making my life a living hell. The first time he threatened me because I was late for work I had a panic attack while driving back home (I lived 30 minutes out of the town and was riding a motorcycle) and from that point I had to visit my psychologist regularly. I got diagnosed with anxiety, obsessive compulsive personality disorder and abandonment issues, which I had to notify him of and ask him to please be nicer to me because it was taking a toll on my mental health. Instead, I got to be a running joke for him because going to the psychologist is stigmatized and you have to be insane. Also, Josh joined in making fun of me and had the stupidest ability ever: to annoy the employees, badmouth people behind their backs and overall making the work environment a very toxic one. I had to be a support for the rest of the employees so they didn't quit and be wary of making them feel better whenever they treated them like garbage.

I missed a lot of family gatherings, moved out of my mother's home and started paying a rent and gave my 110% to keep them happy. It did not work and it was never enough. The businesses skyrocketed and so did the workload which was never up to date because I had to be in charge of 20 people, sometimes more, sometimes less. At that point, I was earning 280$, while colleagues doing way less than I did earned 350$+. I told Mike about it and he gaslighted me into believing I didn't deserve it and the businesses weren't well enough to pay me 300$.

After a year and 10 months, Mike tells me he wants to expand the administrative department to cut me some workload and still having me in charge. I looked out for the people and helped hiring them, a 27 years old accountant with human resources experience (Mary) and a 48 years old administrator (also a friend of my best friend's aunt, so I knew her beforehand. May).

A month goes by and Mike decides to have a lot of meetings with them both without including me. I had the feeling something was off and told some coworkers I had the feeling they were going to fire me.

Some time later Mike calls me to tell me I was being downgraded, cut down a huge part of my benefits and gave my position to May. I was even under Mary's position, who I hired to be my assistant. My payment dropped to 180$ a month and was unsustainable, and I was told I had to keep looking out for everything as I did before. I did request a meeting with Mike and it turned into a full scolding session where I felt I was useless and a waste of space.

I appealed to May's human side and told her as I was told by her she was my direct supervisor now I would report to her to avoid speaking to Mike at all costs. Well, May after telling me it was okay, complained about it with Mike and I got an even worse scolding session with May present this time where I was told I had to report to Mike and not her. I kept my mouth shut and wasn't capable of speaking. That earned a scolding too, because he couldn't yell at me without me ending up crying. I asked May to please change my schedule, since we were 3 people at office we could take turns and get two free days a week, and since I didn't have to handle banks anymore I should've be allowed to arrive at 9am instead of 8 and was willing to compromise to have just one hour of lunch. Mike got mad at this petition and chewed me out in front of May again. I voiced out ideas I knew would work thinking out loud, and May called Josh and Mike and presented them as hers in front of me, and Mike congratulated her and scolded me for not thinking about it after being there almost two years.

The last straw came a month later, two days before my two year anniversary working there. The office was emptied to be cleaned, and as I mentioned before I had zero business getting involved in cleaning, so I kept working outside, while May and Mary helped out cleaning. A week later while Mary was in a meeting with Mike, May started going off at me for not helping them cleaning and not cleaning my desk (I handled a HUGE amount of papers daily and the desk was too small), so I thought that's it. This lady just came here, got my job and now wants to chew me out and I won't allow it.

I waited half an hour until Mike got done with Mary and requested for a meeting. He looked bored. I started with "well I've been thinking, I'm not comfortable with these conditions and you want me out of here, so I will do both of us a favor and I'll give up my position in six weeks." The look on his face was priceless, he panicked, asked if I was sure and asked me to meet with him in the afternoon and to keep quiet about it and not to tell anyone.

The afternoon passes by, my shift ends, I'm leaving 40 minutes later and then he comes, believing I'll stay god knows how long waiting for him. He asks where I'm going and I say "home."

A week passed by and he didn't even acknowledge my existence, I texted him because I needed to train someone else to take my position and we can't find a person if I can't tell Mary I did quit and to start looking out. So, I approached Mary and told her. She told me to text Mike one last time because he went on a business trip and ask him if I should wait one last time. He left me on read so I wrote my resignation letter and handed it to Josh, who told Mary to start looking for someone else right away. I fixed up my CV and told a close friend (who got into the place I dreamed of working at) I was going to quit and he got really excited and told me to send him my CV because his boss was looking for an assistant. My friend's boss immediately texted me, telling me she was delighted with my CV and offered me the position right away. I told her I had to complete my 6 weeks notice and she told me it was perfect because she would have enough time to prepare my functions.

When May got to know I was quitting she started being the nicest person ever, trying to get me to stay because she didn't want my workload additional to what she was already having. They interviewed three different persons: the first one lasted three days until we decided she wasn't fit for the position (not at all interested and making us lose time, when Mary informed her she didn't get the position she started blowing up Mike's phone with hateful messages towards Mary and May), the second one lasted two days (she was present when Josh entered the office yelling and cursing at Mary about a misunderstanding) and the last one lasted until noon because I told him he didn't have to use spreadsheets for everything if we had a working system we were paying for.

My birthday arrived and Mike got there with a cake with my name on it. I appreciated the gesture because it was something they did only for me on the time I worked there, but had no second thoughts about it. The following day I met my future boss, discussed my salary (250$ a month) and introduced me to the office, discussed my schedule (9-6 Monday to Friday, finally a whole free weekend and more flexible schedule).

Mike called the lady who held up my position and quitted a few months before I started working with him to be an external accountant. The lady arrived the last week to "check out" my stuff and started yelling at my for following Mike's instructions, questioning why was I qualified to be a colleague of hers and threatening me of badmouthing me with other colleagues.

Two days before the last day, May asked me to go with her and invited me a coffee. There, she told me Mike has been asking her if I already had another job secured, if I had attended interviews and how much were they offering me. She told me she was begging him to keep me because no one wanted to take my position and he was going to ask for a meeting with me, and told me Mary did quit too and we were leaving the same day. I told her under no circumstances I was going to stay, I gave Mike a week to negotiate and he just ignored me. She asked me to please just listen to him.

We arrived back to work and Mike was waiting for me and asked me to go with him. He took me to a café, ordered coffee and cake for me and started talking nicely, offering a more flexible schedule, discussing a nice raise and asking me how would I make things better if I were to stay. I cut him out and said no. All the traces of the nice person vanished and he went back to being cold to me and dropped me at work again.

The last day, he just told me to "learn when to say no" and left in the morning.

After I quit, almost all the employees did too. No one wanted to work with May and didn't agree on how she handled the business. An employee even called me after quitting, telling me Josh was telling everyone he was glad I left because they were already looking for a way to make me quit.

I visited them a few months later because I was interested on some stuff they sold, Mike got excited when he saw me and when I entered he couldn't face me and was really ashamed of talking to me. I decided being still bitter was going to get me nowhere, so I made some jokes and tried to lighten the mood, making him feel better.

At my current job no one has ever yelled at me, I have like 1/5 of the workload I did, no one is harassing me or demeaning me, I have way more time for myself and I even got a promotion to head of accountancy with a salary raise (360$ which is enough to live here). I arrive at the hour I'm supposed to, I leave at the hour I'm supposed to, I decide if I can help on weekends for extra money and they care about the personnel.

I went back to my therapist and told him about the whole deal and he asked me if I wanted to sue Mike for harassment, because he had a huge expedient of my case and assured me we could win the case with that evidence. I told him no.

No job is worth your mental health and not everything has to be sacrificed in order to be successful.

#personal #toxic work culture #quitting #administration hell #mental health

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pradaksj · 4 years

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the swimming lessons

↳do not repost, translate, or claim as your own.

❧ pairing⟶ jungkook/reader

❧ genre⟶ swimminginstructor!jungkook , fluff, a bit of comedy? head canon/bullet points

❧ rating⟶ e for everyone??? none??? idk how ratings work lol i just know that m = the dirty, which this story has none of

❧ word count ⟶ 5,000

❧ summary ⟶ accidental swimming lessons with jungkook were definitely worth the money

❧ a/n ⟶ i literally dreamt something similar to this in like january and told myself i'd write about it when i had the time so hear i am :)) this goes out to all my folks who can’t swim !! i'm on the same boat with you , get it? cause we can’t swim ... ok anyways ... enjoy ! (note: i have not proofread this yet so sorry for any mistakes!! ill get to it soon !! )

“hello, welcome to lucky duck swim school, how can i help you?” the receptionist, who was loudly chewing her gum, sounded more like an automated voice message than a person...

see today was your first official swimming lesson

yay!!

how fun!! ...

://

totally not embarrassing for someone your age !!!

honestly, it wasn't your fault you didn’t have any family members or friends with a big pool you could learn in growing up

and by the time you did, you were too much of in an awkward phase to be properly taught

aka your body absolutely refusing to float on its own anymore

but after several trips to the beach with friends and attending different pool parties, you were tired of being made fun of !!

no longer would you remain at 5 feet and under !!! not on your watch !

and so here you were, ready to start your journey into the world of swimming :))

“hi i um have a swimming lesson at 3 with um ... i believer her name was um—”

hmmm what was her name ??? jennie??? no, maybe it was aaliyah ??? no that wasn’t it....

the receptionist taps on her keyboard buttons, her long nails making a noise

pop, her bubblegum goes

“jungkook”

“yeah jungkook” you mindlessly say.

wait

WAIIITT

jungkook????

ummmmm

that was not the game given to you by the last receptionist

jungkook is a boy’s name !!!

you didn’t want a boy instructor !!!

not with the way you were looking

“i um—i had asked for a girl instructor—” you awkwardly mention

she rolls her eyes

um RUDE

she continues clacking with her keyboard, looking for god knows what

she sighs

“there’s no slots with female instructors available for today, nor for the rest of the month, the earliest i can probably squeeze you in by is july.” she bluntly states.

JULY???

july was when you needed to already know how to swim !!

that’s the peak of summer !

there was no point in knowing during winter or any other season besides summer for that matter

and you were not going to get made of by your friends this year

no no NO

“soo do i reschedule you or.....”

you sigh

“no ill take it” you pout, resembling a child.

“it it makes you feel any better, jungkook’s our best instructor, most popular too”

wink

oh yeah that makes you feel so much better

>:(

you were going to make a complete fool out of yourself in front of the so called “best instructor”

“well go get yourself washed up, get into the pool, and jungkook will be with you shortly” she smiles, her attitude now changing now that (what looked to be a supervisor) was passing by.

what a bi—

flip flop. flip flop. flip flop.

your sandles press onto the water on the floor of the girls locker room, a grouchy look now on your face

this wasn't fair

you made an appointment with a female instructor!!

you didn’t care if he was the best instructor or the most popular ...

squeeaaakkk , you twist the rusty shower handle

...because now you were you were going to be judged for your lack of skills

not that you had any to begin with, but still!

god, you sounded like such a karen ...

it’s just ...

a guy instructor ???

really???

you understood that this wasn’t elementary school anymore and boys certainly didn’t have cooties anymore but like ://

no no, you had to give this jungkook guy the benefit of the doubt

if he was one of the best, it was clearly because he was professional and good at what he does

putting your worries to rest, you turn off the shower

this was going to be fine

just fine

clearly your worries were not put to rest

just a temporary halt

pat. pat. pat.

okay let’s get it !

making your way out to the pool, you dip your foot in

ooooo

cold

VERY cold indeed

1 ...2...

you dip your whole leg in, quickly using the momentum to place your whole body in

“5 feet and below ... you’re my bitch !!” you think to yourself

your hand still clearly gripping onto the ledge, still afraid of accidentally reaching 6ft

.... now to wait

“megan seems to have fractured her leg last weekend on a rollerskating day gone bad, so you’ll be taking up her appointments for the next month of two until she’s cleared for work”

huh ???

“but—”

“also she, well now you i guess, have a lesson to teach at..”

jungkook’s supervisor looks down at his watch

“oh i guess in 30 minutes, could’ve sworn it was at 4..” he mumbles that last part to himself

30 minutes?!

“don’t worry i’ll up your pay for the remaining time that she gets better”

he winks ;) making a clicking noise with his mouth before leaving the staff room

jungkook sighs

today was supposed to be an easy day :/

a simple cleaning of the pool along with a couple of measly hours of being the lifeguard and that would’ve been it but noooo

he just had to be the highest rated swimming instructor on the company website

he couldn’t complain though, sometimes it was fun reading the reviews past students left, even if sometimes they were a little too...

whats the word...

provocative?

it often made him wonder if he was in fact an actual good swimming instructor or if the high highly rated reviews were for other reasons....

honestly it’d be dumb of him not to acknowledge the amount of googly eyes he’d get ranging from the mother’s of his younger students to his actual adult students (female and male)

he just liked to think that didn’t come into play when they wrote their reviews

hehe

changing into his black fitted rash guard, he glanced at megan’s schedule

name : y/n

age: 23 grown

swimming level: beginner aka noob.

he chuckles to himself

well won’t this be fun

he couldn’t lie beginner adult swimmers were always a spectacle to watch

they almost reminded him of baby ducks learning how to swim

only that they’d verbally curse their frustrations here and there

quickly showering, he begins to make his way to the pool

hmm, he wonders..

what should he eat after today’s lesson?

a bacon cheese burger sounded really good

maybe even grab himself some birria tacos from that new restaurant that just opened near his apartment

hmm no he had to start spending less on takeout

sigh

looks like it’d be rame—

woah

as corny as it sounded, he could’ve sworn he felt his heart skip a beat

because whoever it was in that pool was pretty, like really pretty

hOly ?????

wowzers

you couldn’t be y/n ... could you?!?!?!

you were the only person who looked 23 years of age in the pool ...

ermmmmmm

mayday mayday

jungkook.exe has STOPPED WORKING

whoever this jungkook person was, sure was taking their time

deciding to have some fun before your lesson, you begin to gently play with the water

swish. swoosh , the water goes

soon you’d be well on your way to becoming the next michael phelps

hehe

maybe with time you’d even be able to a somersault in the water like your friend always—

“y/n?” a voice from behind says your name

ah finally

taking in a deep breath, you turn your attention to the so called “best swimming instructor”

OH.

MY .

GOD.

WHAT ??????

this man looked like he came straight out of GQ magazine !!!!

this HAD to be some mistake , there was just no way ...

your cheeks feel as if they were burning up

probably because they quite literally were

there was no way you’d be able to come here every saturday for the next month, not without fawning for this dude every single minute

“u-um”

of course you were a stuttering mess

of FuCkiNg course

“that’s me”

cue the awkward smile

“be professional” jungkook tells himself

at the end of the day, you were his student

any crush on you would just have to wait until of course ... you were no longer his student

for now the only goal was : teach you how to swim

the next one down the list being : to take you out on a date !

he offers you a handshake

wow he had a strong grip

“i’m jungkook, i’ll be your swimming instructor for the next month”

he flashes you his all too famous smile

there was just no way this man was real

just nO wAy

“um..”

crap, you were still holding his hand!

idiot, idiot, idiot !

“sorry” you awkwardly laugh

ha ha ha

so funny

god did you just want to hide to disappear

“it’s fine” he laughs

even his laugh was attractive :(

ugh

“so y/n, before we begin with anything, i think it’s important to review about what kind of things you already know and what you don’t”

oh right ...

for a moment you had COMPLETELY forgotten you were here for swimming lessons

how embarrassing

“oh um..”

um, um , um.

IS THAT ALL YOU KNEW HOW TO SAY????

“so like floating, holding your breath underwater, pushing, gliding, arm movement, that kind of stuff,” he explains

you knew a cool trick to make it look like you were water bending :D

of course you weren’t going to admit that here

silently you nod your head no

he gives you a reassuring smile, sensing your timidness

“that’s fine, only more for us—” he corrects himself, “for you to learn,” he laughs

hey you weren’t complaining

;)

“so i personally always like to start off with teaching my students how to float. as long as we get that down then you’ll have no problem learning the rest”

gosh his smile was so infectious

shaking your head, you reminded yourself that this was your teacher

+ you paid 300 bucks for these classes, so you couldn’t afford to be giving him the googly eyes all day

you were so cute :(

jungkook couldn’t help but find you so endearing

the color of your swimming goggles even matched your swim suit :((

so cute !

“okay so the first thing i want you to practice is going underwater for a couple of seconds, just so you get used it,” he instructs, “i’ll demonstrate”

taking in a deep breath, he goes down under

1...2...3

he’s back up

pausing for about another three seconds, he takes in another deep breath of air before going back under

1...2....3...4....5

he repeats the same thing over and over, until the max count becomes 20.

“use my finger as your reference of when to go up, but come up for air whenever you feel like you need to. it’s important to go at your own pace, so don’t feel pressured to get it the first try”

no pressure at all

okay

“you ready?”

you nod your head

“okay, deep breath in”

you sink your head underwater, mentally counting the three seconds before going back up

“good job,” he gives you a high five, and you almost feel like a schoolgirl, “now let’s try to five seconds”

woo!!! 5 seconds here you come !!

taking in a deep breath you go down under again

1....2.....3....4...5

easy peasy ... LEMON SQUEEZY

“okay now to ten”

1.....2......3......4.....5......6....7

umm

now why were these seconds going by slow all of a sudden?

sucking it up you manage to make it to 10, but not without being out of breath

“you okay?” he’s quick to ask

yup, totally fine !

you definitely didn’t see the gates of heaven for a quick moment :D

nodding your head, you enthusiastically say, “let’s go for 15″

he smiles at your enthusiasm

ahh so cute

“1....2.....3......4......5.......6......7......8......9.....10.....11.....12....13...

nope nope nope

you were not going to make it to 15

immediately you make your way back to the surface, trying to catch your breath

“hey you did amazing,” he immediately reassures you, “remember as long your going your own pace then you’re doing just fine”

well doesn’t that make you feel better

you wonder if he’s this kind to all his students

besides the most obvious reason, there was no question as to why he was the “most popular” instructor

and to think you had been complaining earlier !!

and soon you’re back underwater, going at your own pace until finallyyyy you’re able to make the 20 second count

“nice !!” he genuinely celebrates with you, making you feel completely proud for yourself

“okay now that we have that done, we can move onto learning how to float facing both front and back”

ohhhhh

he was just thinking ahead

cool :o

“so what i want you do is first relax,” he laughs, gently pushing your stiff shoulders down

as if your blush couldn’t get any deeper

“now my personal belief is that all humans can naturally float, just that for others, it takes a bit of a push to get them at that state,” he begins to explain

others meaning people like um you

“the key to floating is to relax”

oh you’ve heard that before

many MANY times and each time you’ve tried to so called “relax” you just end up sinking

“the moment you fight or stress for even a tiny bit, you will sink. now i know what you’re thinking, ive heard that before”

damn

he was good

“but sadly it’s true, until you learn to relax then you’ll be able to swim”

you sigh

this was where it became hard

you were the queen of stress

you and stress went hand in hand almost like a married couple

it was just that deep water was scary !! very very scary !!

the amount of horror stories you’d seen on tiktok was enough for you to know, ocean = scary

“so here’s what i need you to do, i need you to place your arms on top of the water like as if you’re going to fly”

you follow his commands

he separates your arms, which had been too close together, giving them a small rub

“remember you need to relax y/n,” he chuckles, feeling the tension in your arms

“relax, i need to relax,” you repeat

“okay now right now when i tell you, you’re gonna take a deep breath in and look down, from there you’re gonna let you body move forward. so remember you’re not gonna jump, you’re just gonna let your body glide forward and float. almost as if you’re flying to me,” he explains

mm it was easier said than done

“you ready?”

“okay deep breath in”

you inhale a deep breath in

“look down”

you do that as well

“and let go”

slowly your body begins to rise on its own

oh my god !!!!!

you were about to float!!!!!

the day has come !!!

no more staying at 5 feet and under

you were ready to hang with the big kids :D

but as quick as the momentum came, the faster it left because soon you felt yourself sinking, the breathing exercise jungkook had made you do now coming in handy

no!!!!

you almost had it :(

it was right in your grasp, only to have it snatched away

not wanting to offend you, jungkook keeps his giggles to himself

“hey at least you almost had it,” he comforts you, “let’s just try again”

you sigh, now letting your doubts creep in

because of this, this time your body almost immediately sank this time

he frowns

you were losing confidence :/

“come on i’ll help you”

grabbing your hands, he signals for you to follow his breathing pattern

“deep breath in”

“deep breath out”

god, was his voice soothing

“i need you to relax y/n, let everything go”

a soft feeling of relaxation washes over you, similar to that feeling you’d get when you were on the verge of sleeping

“i’m gonna let you go at the count of three, and then you’re going to float, okay?”

silently you nod, knowing that speaking would only cause you to tense up again

“1...2....”

he lets go, and soon you’re floating, just like he said you would

you hold your breathe for a good while before standing back up, a huge smile on your face

“holy shit! i did it!!”

he gives you high five with both of his hands, for a second holding them before letting go

“now let’s try floating on your back”

he notices that there’s now a fire in your eyes that wasn’t there before

clearly you were now more determined to learn, excited too

preparing yourself to float once more, you realize you were missing something....

“jungkook...”

he tilts his head, confused by the faint blush on your cheeks

“do you think you can um—”

now it was his turn to blush

“o-oh yeah”

what was his problem???

you were a student asking for help

that was all ...

point blank.

he helps you get on your back, his hand placed under your back as a way to keep you up

“1....2....”

you float easily again!!

“nice!!” he smiles

summer, here you come !!

“okay so we’re gonna keep practicing that for the remaining time that we have and next week i’ll start teaching you about stroke techniques and which ones are easiest to do”

nodding your head, you practice your floating by the end of the hour having it practically mastered

the two of you get out of the pool, now drying off

“you’re a really fast learner y/n,” he compliments you

hehe

you mean, you didn’t wanna brag butttt

you were a fast learner indeed

“thank you,” you say in return, “but that’s only because you’re a great teacher”

woah

did you really say that :o

aren’t you feeling a little bold today y/n

his blush returns for the second time today

well technically you weren’t in class anymore ...

a little flirting wouldn’t hurt right?

if only he knew what to say ....

hmmmm

“well at least you won't ever drown!”

HUH???????

jungkook, you idiot !!!!!

someone needed to smack him straight in the face for that !

at least you won’t drown????

no fucking shit

well there goes his chances with you now going down the drain

but to his surprise, you laugh

“you’re right, i won’t,” you say in return, “well i’ll see you next weekend jungkook”

you flash him a smile, and he was certain he felt butterflies in his stomach

walking into the girl’s locker room, you let out a sigh of relief

wheeeeew !

faking confidence was hard !

very VERY hard

“so today you’re going to learn how to stroke so you can officially be called someone who knows how to swim, next week you’ll learn to tread water and continue perfecting your swimming, and then the final week i’ll teach you some fun extra things”

“sounds good,” you say, definitely excited to learn more.

“okay so now that you know how to float, right now when you float facing downward, you’re going to pull against the current with your arms, alternating each one. now the tricky part is that while you do that, you also have to paddle your legs a little and come up for air when you need to, and when you’re back in the water you should slowly be exhaling bubbles of air rather than holding your breath”

well that sounded hard :/

“let me give you a demonstration,” jungkook says

he’s quick to float facing downward, showing you the maneuver he wanted you to learn while coming up for air every five seconds

thought it was a little childish, he somehow still looked good doing it

he truly was blessed with the looks of a god

he comes out the water

“okay now your turn”

you nod your head, that determined look you had on your face last week now returning

following his example, you begin your attempt at paddling and stroking your arms at the same time

SPLASH! SPLASH! SPLASH!

immediately you begin to panic and water begins to splash everywhere, including on jungkook

noticing your panicked state, jungkook is quick to grab you and place you back on your feet

“hey hey, i got you,” he comforts you, not wanting you to feel discouraged

you sigh

well that was embarrassing

“remember y/n you have to learn to coordinate everything, so think of it this way. your legs have to always be paddling, it’s the arm and coming up for air that switch roles. when you come up for air, it’s only your legs paddling, while when you’re head is back underwater it’s both your legs and arms paddling. once you get that pattern, the bubbling will come naturally”

you make an ohhhhh face

you could do that !

“remember what i told you last weekend y/n, you need to relax and be comfortable so you can build confidence. there’s no need to panic because i’m here,” he smiles at you

gosh this just wasn't fair >:(

cute and charming ????

this boy really had it all

not wanting to disappoint, you try one more time, failing once again

now you were frustrated :/

“damn it,” you mumble to yourself, a sadness to your voice

jungkook feels his heart swell

he didn’t like seeing you sad :(

but doggy paddling was the most basic technique he could teach you so he couldn’t really cheer you up by offering a different technique

you needed to learn to doggy paddle before you could move on to the more bigger strokes

damn it ://

“hey don’t feel bad about not getting right away,” he gives you a small smile, “i remember when i first started learning it took me forever to even learn how float, so the fact that you’re already at this point is enough of an accomplishment”

well that makes you feel little better ...

“but you were probably a kid, im ...”

old , is what you want to say

figuring what you were gonna say, he only laughs

“who said i was a kid? i was probably like 19″

whaaaaaattttt!

assuming he was your age (which he was), you do the quick maths in your head

that was like .... 4 years ago !

how the hell did he get so good in such little time???? enough to be teaching courses ???

“not knowing how to swim is nothing to be embarrassed about y/n, if anything it takes a lot of courage to even sign up for a class so don’t beat yourself up too much for not getting it right away”

he ruffles your wet hair, a small affectionate gesture

you didn’t know how it was possible but you were falling for this man and QUICKLY at that

he was just so ??$%@^!

UGHHHH

“so let’s try one more time, and if you still can’t get it then we’ll push it to next week, a free extra lesson on me”

eeeeek

though the temptation to purposely fails was very intriguing indeed, you still had to try for the sake of it

if you got it, you got it, and if you didn't well ....

an extra week with jungkook it was :D

“you ready?”

you nod your head

“1...2...”

you float and begin to paddle, this time actually getting the hang of it !!!

you hear jungkook’s muffled voice from above the surface, “there you go!!”

holy shit !

you officially knew how to swim !!!

at least enough to save your own life if push came to shove

once you were out of breath, you stand back up, a grin on both of your faces

for jungkook it was hard not to tackle you in excitement so instead he settled for a very enthusiastic high five

“you did it!” he cheers

“ahhh!” you giggle like a child

“from here on out, the rest is a piece of cake!”

yay yay yay !!!

“now let’s start working on deeper strokes, maybe we’ll even have time to throw in backstrokes!”

:////

noticing your changed expression, he awkwardly laughs while scratching his neck

“or maybe not”

this week was the final week of swimming lesson with jungkook

:((

last week’s lesson of treading water and perfecting your swim seemed to had gone by in literally the blink of an eye !

and so today was possible the last time you’d see jungkook unless you managed to grow the balls and ask him out once that clock hit 4, once you were no longer his “student"

by now you were 100% sure you liked the dude... like a lot

and he was definitely someone you wanted to get to know outside of this pool

you just weren’t sure if he liked you the same way

you mean yeah there were definitely times that had you raising an eyebrow here and there, but you always excused it as him simply being a kind hearted person by nature

because clearly his five star rating on the company’s website had to come from somewhere

not that you checked or anything....

who were you kidding

yes you did

your favorite review was the one that went..

“wow!! this dude is amazing !! came here for beginner lessons and even i found myself fawning for the dude , and i don’t even play for that side of the team !! not only were his lessons thorough, but he’s a very charming person ! 10/10 recommend!”

and so you were stuck

did he liked you or was he just treating you like he treated everyone??

“ahh y/n,” jungkook’s voice suddenly brings you back to reality

“today’s our final lesson!” he announces, not sounding too sad

in fact he sounded excited

damn :/

he playfully jumps into the pool, today being his so called “fun day”

“so since today’s your last lesson i thought i could teach you how to do a.....”

he pauses for dramatic purposes

“SOmERSAuLT!!”

immediately your eyes light up

ahhhhhHHHH!!!!

you always wanted to learn how to do a somersault in water, remembering the number of times you’d look at your friend in jealousy whenever she did one

“you ready??”

eagerly you nod your head yes

“okay so the steps to doing a summersault is first of course, you need to take a deep breath”

okayyyy

“from there you tuck your chin to your chest, next you do the moment of the somersault by swinging your chest forward and gently kicking out your legs, so basically forming a ball and then kicking out. naturally, if you have enough momentum, you’ll spin, but if you don’t just use your arms to complete it”

“think you can give me a demonstration?” you innocently ask

he winks at you, “of course i can”

taking in a deep breath, he follows his own instructions, and you watch he perfectly executes his somersault

“woahhh, that was so cool!” you say, even now finding the trick to be amazing

“now i dont expect you to get it right away, so right now that you try i’m going tog hide you thought the movement so you get the gist of it”

sounds fair enough

you weren’t trying to drown on your last day either

“okay, you ready?”

“yes”

“let’s get it!”

taking a deep breath in, you feel jungkook’s hand get placed on your back, ready to push you so you could do the somersault

“1...2...”

and slowly you feel yourself spin with the help of jungkook, a smile already forming on your face

“ahhh!” you smile big and wide, causing Jungkook to smile along with you

“you think you’re ready to try it on your own???”

“yes sir”

“okay 1....2....”

mustering up as much as force you possible could, you push yourself into ball and successfully do the somersault

YUPPPPP

WHOSE DOING IT LIKE YOU???!$%@$!

feeling an immediate rush of adrenaline, you begin to splash water all over once you come back up for air, declaring an all out water fight with jungkook

soon the two of you are chasing one another, you now using your new swimming abilities to get away

hehe

you’re a swimmer

the sound of jungkook’s infectious laughter fill the air and soon you feel him grab your waist at an attempt to stop you

“gotcha” he says, and he turns you around to face him

slowly each other’s heavy breathing becomes relaxed, and it’s as if you’ve felt a shift occur in what you considered your new “friendship”

“so....” he awkwardly says, hands still wrapped around your waist

his was was RED

like cherry tomatoes red

this only makes you giggle

if you had doubts before, you DEFINITELY didn’t have em anymore

he liked you :))))

and you liked him :))))

and in ten minutes you were officially no longer his student so......

“there’s this new restaurant that opened near my place....” you say

immediately his eyes light up

“cancun eats?”

you nod your head and he gives you a toothy grin

“i was wondering if you’d want to go out some time...” you muster up the courage to ask him out

%^@%!@&!@^&@%! = jungkook’s brain

holy crap !!!

you liked him!!!

he wasn’t just delusional !!!

“hello?? jungkook??” you laugh, waving a hand in front of his face for jungkook.exe had truly stopped working this time

nodding his head yes like a child, the two of you being to lean closer to another, the clear goal in mind being each other’s lips

because honestly you’d come this far now, might as well give him a ....

“wait!” he suddenly interrupts he glances at the digital clock on the wall, remembering your final lesson officially ends at 4

because no way in hell was he going to get fired for kissing a student on the clock

3:59

.....

4:00

“okay now,” he smiles, and you only roll your eyes, happy to have taken up on those swimming lessons.

a/n : i was gonna make this longer but this was always meant to be a small little head canon so :))) pls give this a like, comment, or a reblog if you enjoyed it !! (if u can of course) and my ask box is always open for whatever !! :)) see yall next time 💞

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stevenbasic · 4 years

Photo

“Wait tell me again we lost how many people?!?” I asked, still unable to believe it. Too much was happening, too much too quickly. Here I was, sitting in this monstrosity of an office Melissa has somehow arranged to be built for herself while we were away, in front of her gigantic new desk, still dealing with what happened with Sheryl at home (more on that later), and now this?!? More quittings?!?

“Shhh we’ll be fine…” Melissa soothed, trying to placate me as she poured a coffee for me at her new, elegant coffee station in the corner, “it was just the girls from accounting, Sharon from the front desk, a few part-time medical assistants…” I watched her add sugar and milk, and more milk. “Kathy was having trouble with Doris and Marjorie in accounting, anyway.”

I put my head in my hands. I can’t say I didn’t know this day was coming. So many of my old employees hated Melissa. Or, rather, they hated me for being such a weak turd, so easily enchanted by a big pair of tits that I’d hire an under-qualified, under-experienced girl like “Melissssy” to be their boss and basically run the finances of the practice into the ground, which was exactly what was happening. We’d been bleeding money and now we were bleeding people. Out of a total of seventeen or so original employees at the start, now only a handful were left. The rest, all the new hires were...hers: friends, ex-coworkers, people from this drug company to which she has some connection, a friend in sales. And if she made more hires to replace those that just left, the overwhelming majority at this point would have more loyalty to her than to me. I groaned, lamenting how far I’d let this get....

It was as if she was reading my mind when she consoled me. “Aw, shhhh...You still have CiCi, in scheduling, Aubrey and Brittni at the desk, nurse Vida, a couple medical assistants,” she said, listing the remaining original employees as I took my face from my hands to see her standing over me with my coffee, “And, plus...you have me.” Her smile was ebullient, and she offered me the warm cup.

“y-yeah,” I agreed half-heartedly, taking the coffee from her hands, taking my first sip, and immediately noticing she’d put in even more milk than the last time. If I didn’t know any better I’d think she was trying to slowly wean me off coffee, turn me into a milk-drinker.

She sat back on the desk in front of me, looked down at me with sympathy. It had been a little bit of a shock, after a week of seeing Melissa in the most casual of clothes, in the most revealing of swimwear, to see her in a power suit again. She looked so...put-together, but still dramatically sexy. Her legs, even in her fashionable black pants, were strong and shapely, and even a buttoned-up white blouse and jacket had no chance in hiding the curves of her torso. “Anyway it’s done, they’re gone, they all left last week,” she said, reaching out a hand to cup my face, caress it tenderly, “you don’t have to worry. We took care of it, we have it covered.”

“A-and you knew about th-this, last week? Wh-while we were away?” I asked, voice cracking in my dismay. Though she had told me before, I needed her to repeat it, to explain.

“Yes, I did,” she clarified, smiling beatifically, “I didn’t want to worry you. I didn’t want to ruin the nice time we were having, spoil your vacation.” She ran her hand through my hair, brushing it off my forehead. “So I didn’t tell you about all the girls that left. Randi took care of a lot of it, and Amelia. And Marisela, she’s been a great help, too.”

I found myself looking at Melissa's wide, soft lap, and sipped again at my milky coffee. Part of me, I have to admit, was relieved that it happened, finally, that the old veterans were more or less all gone, gone with their perspicacity and judgmental glares. Gone and that I didn't have to face them, that I didn’t need to be there for the unpleasantness. Part of me was glad there was someone else that handled things, that did the work. The way Melissa described it earlier, it sounded like there was a shouting match, a throwdown between Randi - who Melissa had left, probably foolishly, “in charge” while we were away - and the remaining old guard.

I could imagine it, Randi locking horns and talking some real shit - the kind Melissa herself would never be capable of - to the old timers, the ones admittedly most essential to the practice. They probably left in disgust, with only a few of the younger women - who had already found themselves gravitating to Melissa’s orbit - staying on. But - Sharon? My Front Desk Supervisor...she’d been with us from the start! Just like Doris and Marjorie from accounting: they’d all be a huge loss.

“This is all good news, sweetie, a fresh start,” Melissa purred, continuing to assure me that everything was well in hand, “the only people here now are the ones totally committed to helping us grow and change and get better. And don’t worry, we’ll get in some new girls that love the practice, love you as much as we do. We want to keep you safe, secure...” She watched as I nervously finished the last of my coffee. “Do you want another cup?”

“uuuhhhh...sure…” I replied, as already she’d stood, had taken my cup from my hands. I watched her full hips and big rear, blessed with what looked like an extra sway in her tight black pants, as they rolled voluptuously back to her coffee station.

Safety. Security. ”Hey, uh...what’s up with the new security, on the computers?” I asked, as she fixed me another cup, “How much did that cos-”

“Oh, it didn’t cost us anything,” she replied, as once again she poured a more-than-healthy amount of milk into my coffee, “it was all paid for by Lean In…along with the additions, the improvements, the renovations, too.”

She meant her office, of course. This office.

I was shocked when I had first came around the corner, directed by Marisela back to where we used to have two old storage rooms, only to find an entire new wing, a bright, contemporary hallway where once there was none. Had we taken space from the suite of offices next door?! Who’d okayed this?? How’d it get done so quickly?? We were away for only a week and I come home to...this?!? The hallway led, it seemed, to several new rooms: the first, on my right, looking to be the most impressive of them, behind an elegant set of double doors, a transom window above. On the door, a sophisticated placard: “Melissa Monroe - Office Manager”.

This was Melissa’s new office?!? Flabbergasted even before I first walked in, my jaw totally hit the floor when I opened the door and - I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was beautiful, and it was big. Modern, lots of whites, grays, natural driftwood tones brightened by tons of natural light. There was a sitting area with a voluptuous white couch, a big, comfortable chair and a plush white area rug underneath it all. Huge windows with a seductive view of the city skyline loomed behind an impressive desk at which sat a queen ready to receive her subjects: Melissa, my twenty-something new Office Manager. The whole place looked - and, I realized, as I stepped in - smelled just like her. Immediately - crap, whyyyyy…?? Is this some sort of weird instinct, now? - I felt myself thickening across my hip.

She stood, spreading her arms wide, and with a great swell of her chest in pride asked me: “Don’t you love it???”

“I-it’s...b-beautiful…” was all I could manage as I walked in, unable to shake the feeling that I was entering dangerous territory, soil that was not my own. A new domain that was undeniably...hers.

She had giggled, and had asked me to sit.

So as I sat here now and drank my second cup of milk-thick coffee I looked around, again. I was beside myself. So, it was all paid for by “Lean In”?? Great, but I never intended for her to have an office! Previously, she was just stationed in her own area in the main central space, in a semi-private corner but among the other staff. She had had a desk but now - an office?!? And - it’s so much bigger than mine!! By...a lot! It makes mine look like a walk-in closet! Did she realize it?? Was she that oblivious to how emasculating it is seeing a young, attractive employee get a bigger office than you? Or - the more scary thought - was that the point?

“The people at Lean In were so cool, more than happy to pay for it all,” Melissa explained, “as long as it was supporting growth in a company like ours.”

I knew I shouldn’t even ask it...but then I did. “L-like ours?”

She smiled benevolently down at me. “Woman-owned, woman-managed,” she said, as gently as she could, barely containing the giddy, feminist pride that was so obviously bubbling inside her. “Sheryl was the one that okayed the construction,” she added, as if unable to help herself.

In the subtext, I felt like an afterthought, and was acutely aware of the fragile bones of my pride snapping, just like kindling, inside me.

“We all thought the changes, the new rooms, the extra money for staff, would be great,” she continued, taking a moment to look around, admire her handiwork, “perfect first steps in our expansion.”

“E-expansion?”

”Well, of course we need to replace the girls that we lost,” Melissa said, her eyes rolling but then falling back down to me again, “but we should add even more people, make ourselves bigger. It’s part of Lean In...growth, development, success, for women.” She was watching me closely. “Don’t you want to see that?”

”w-well, yes, of course,” I stammered, reflexively, “b-but...wait, what? more people?” Didn’t we have trouble meeting payroll just last week?

”To help revenue, since you’re not bringing in as much anymore - oh, shh don’t feel bad!” she continued, seeing my startled reaction.

I was doing fine! Seeing patients, billing. It’s the financial mismanagement, the crummy scheduling and day-to-days of you and your...your...people that are-

“It’s okay, it’s okay, we’ll fix it. Lean In gave me some ideas, and I got some more ideas at the conference on how to make it work,” she went on, obviously excited for her new plans, “We should hire more providers - they’ll all have to be women, of course, for Lean In - but Nurse Practitioners, maybe a Nurse Asstha...Attess…”

“Aesthetician?” I helped, even through my disarray.

“Yes, that..! <giggle!> They can all make us a lot of money,” she said, “And they’ll all need support staff, so that’s more people…”

Of course I’d considered all this, adding secondary providers like PAs, APRNs, employees that can bill aside from myself so the practice has more income. We already had one part-time APRN, Vida...when I’d done the numbers before it just never made sense to bring on more. Why would it now? And...an Aesthetician - what did they do? Botox, Laser hair removal, chemical peels? At a Geriatrics practice?

“It sounds...expensive,” I said, knowing I was being too meek but god help me unable to disappoint her, not wanting to upset her by really putting my foot down with a ‘no’. “Expensive” was all I could manage. .

“It’s okay,” she quickly replied, ready with her response, “we have the Lean In money to start...and they'll bring in more than you, pretty quickly.“

Oh my god. It was like I could hear the overwrought strands of my stretched-thin ego actually snapping.

“okay okay okay...we can talk about it,” I said, disbelieving how far this conversation had gotten already. I was such a mess, after the travel and the fight with Sheryl and the bad night of sleep, the return to work and the thing with the computer, her office and now this. But I knew I had to step up, be proactive. Remember the last round of quittings, and the new hires after that? That’s how we got Amelia, and Josie, and that stern lady in accounting. “But first we have to replace the people we lost, just so we can operate,” I said, with as much authority as I could muster, adding, “a-and I want to be more involved this time.”

“Oh, of course, sugar, sure, if you insist,” Melissa replied, sweetly, indulgently, “I’ve already asked Randi to start looking for some girls. Here, why don’t we bring her in...” At that, she turned to her right and pressed the button on an intercom. “You two can come in now,” she announced.

In less than a moment the door behind me had opened, and I craned my neck to see both Randi and Marisela stepping in. “Hiiiiii….” Randi keened, while Marisela just smiled. Both were dark of complexion, dark of hair. Both were wearing black, both were in similar outfits. Randi’s pants, though, had flared cuffs while Marisela’s outfit was more figure-hugging head-to-toe. Randi was also wearing higher heels and a clingy silk blouse. Despite myself, I felt my loins respond...I was suddenly in a room with three very attractive women.

Politely, I started to stand, to offer one of them my chair. Melissa, though, immediately stopped me, sticking out her foot onto my seat, between my legs. “No, you sit,” she commanded.

I froze, sat back down, and in the next moment they were behind me, flanking me, one on either side. For some reason, my heart had quickened, and I felt surrounded. “H-hi ladies…” I stuttered, hearing the wimpish uncertainty in my voice, and then the contented purring of Marisela and Randi as they settled warmly behind me, close and confident.

”So... Dr. J agrees,” Melissa began, addressing her attendants, “we need to hire some more girls, and he wants to make sure he’s more involved in the process this time. Think we can do that?”

“Oh, for sure,” Randi answered, her voice entirely too sultry for a Monday morning, “I think we can do that.” She placed her hand on my left shoulder. “Can’t we, Marisela?”

“Mmhm yeah sure...we can do that,” Marisela agreed, her hand now on my other shoulder. I caught myself swallowing dryly, confused. Marisela, in the past, had never seemed to warm to the new girls, to Randi, to Melissa. In fact, I thought she kinda hated them, in her own dark, quiet, passive aggressive way.

When Randi spoke up, it was again as if my mind was being read. ”With you gone last week, Dr J, with less patients, we girls had a lot of time to get to know one another,” she said, hovering close behind me on my left, “I think we all really started to come together as a team-.” .

”...and realize how much we missed you,” Marisela chimed in, on my right, coming closer. I could feel the warmth of both of their bodies behind me, and it was doing nothing for my efforts to keep myself from - ugh - slowly hardening in my slacks.

“We had an early meeting this morning, at seven, all the girls,” Melissa said, her eyes on me, “so now we’re all on the same page, the new and old staff.” She cocked her head. “Randi? Would you fix his hair for me?”

“Haha yeah…” Randi replied, running a hand through my hair, arranging stray locks over my left ear.

“I told them all about some of the stuff we talked about on vacation,” Melissa continued, smiling as her friend tended to me, idly.

”L-like...what stuff?” I stammered, recoiling already at the memories, but allowing Randi’s ministrations. The thought of them all know-

”Ohh you remember…‘It can be more like this when we get home, y’know, with all the girls,’” Marisela said, as if repeating word-for-word what Melissa had said to me, that morning out by the pool as she loomed over me with her huge breasts in that white bikini, “It doesn’t have to be just Melissa. You can take care of patients-”

“...and we’ll take care of you,” Randi said, picking up where Marisela left off, in perfect harmony, repeating verbatim what Melissa had promised me, “Let us do all the hard work, make sure everything is easy for you, make sure that you’re comfortable, happy…”

“...that you get everything you need,” Marisela continued, moving her left arm around my neck, tighter. I felt the subtle press of her d-cup against the back of my head. What the fuck was happening?!?

“You remember…” Melisssa purred, leaning in towards me from where she sat, over me, on her huge new desk.

looked after, protected...

I thought back, in that instant, to the starkly contrasting moment of last night, of my fight with Sheryl.

...supported...nurtured, fed…

Where she, Sheryl...she did what she did. While these girls, this group of women, seemed ready for me, ready for me to land in, ready to catch my fall.

...burped...changed…

“All you have to do is sit back and...let us. Let me,” Melissa said. As my cock pressed uncomfortably into my leg, straining my pants under the hapless cover of my folded arms, I could feel it, imagining it again….a finger trace across my bare belly, like that morning, as I lay on the lounger by the pool, “Let me expand what we can do, let us grow...”

The girls grew closer, like a coven coalescing around me.

But...but...I knew...I knew what I’d said I’d do. That I’d...be better. That I’d...be strong. That I’d...

”I-I th-think-“

”Shhhh...that’s your problem,” Melissa stopped me, before I even began, leaning even closer towards me on the desk, bringing her face nearer to my own, “stop thinking, sweetie, stop worrying…”

”Yeah, Dr, J, that’s right...” Randi breathed.

:”...that’s for us to do now….” Marisela concluded, “...boss.”

================================

Thanks to user at GTSCity Rivense1 a way's back for the idea on the new office, and of course SaulJinzer for the Melissssy render. Check out his DeviantArt: lots of great Denise Milani giantess stuff and his 3D model for her is top-notch.

#Growing Into the Job

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rbankhead-blog · 3 years

Text

Admired Leaders

Former First Lady Michelle LaVaughn Obama is a transformative leader that is admired for a great many accomplishments. She is definitely a visionary that sent a clear message about the need to improve school lunches and health outcomes for children, She started the Let’s Move public health campaign and focused on changing the meals that children eat daily at school. The message was clear we need to change what our children are eating to reduce childhood obesity. She invited children to the White House to help plant a garden, and she focused on dancing and exercising for everyone to include children. She used her own creativity and encouraged others to do the same in addressing childhood obesity. Schools removed many vending machines with sugary snacks, added salads and fresh veggies to the menu, included information to the curriculum to help children understand the importance of eating health meals and staying active, Her focused efforts changed the outcomes for 50,000 children in America and who knows where else. We can clearly see that she is a visionary leaders, that communicates a clear message and uses creativity while encouraging others to do the same. But transformative leaders do something else that she is also know to practice. They promote others around them such as Yene Damtew, hair dresser, Jimmy Wright, the hairstylist for her daughters. African American artist, Amy Sherald, from Baltimore, Maryland painted the portrait of Michelle Obama. Many people ask why the Obamas didn’t do more for the black community. Barack Obama was not the president of the black community he was the president of the United States of America and that includes people of all the cultures, races and ethnicities in this country. Michelle Obama also tackled support for military families, and she put focus on empowering girls to advance academically. Before becoming the First Lady of the United States she was already an accomplished lawyer and writer. She is a transformative

How did Michelle Obama impact my life? The answer may surprise you. I’ve had an twelve year partnership with the District of Columbia National Guard. I worked with the Family Service Center there to develop a program to support military youth while their families are deployed or somewhere in the deployment cycle. During times when soldiers were even at drill (military training) my staff provided youth development program to the youth. Michelle Obamas and current first lady Dr. Jill Biden created a program called “Operation Military Kids” to include military families and youth in the sacrifices suffered by soldiers. They included funding for the program and after writing a grant every year I received more than $700,000 for the “Operation Military Kids program at my university. They visited the DC National Guard Center regularly and treated everyone with love and respect. Both women let the families know that as ambassadors for America their contributions and those of their service members are appreciated. Currently, Michelle Obama host a reading channel where she and former President Barack Obama read books with children. She continues to give back to the American public.

Personal Transformative Leader

William Hare

William Hare is the Associate Dean and Director of land grant programs at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC). For the last fifteen years, he has been my direct supervisor. He is the supervisor that I have had for the longest time in my career. He influenced my career and family before we ever knew he would become my supervisor. I was in charge of creating and resourcing a literacy program that served both college students and youth in public schools. I hired a reading specialist, college students and to employees from an USDA grant to support the program and one day I made a presentation about the program to the UDC administration. He was in the meeting and coincidentally we boarded the elevator at the same time when the meeting ended. He commented” Well I guess someone is getting a large pay increase” to which I responded “ No didn’t you hear there are budget cuts and there will be no raises. He said “Those that don’t ask don’t get but I bet you would get an increase if you asked for one”. I received a ten thousand dollar pay increase. When I sent him a thank you for the advise I wasn’t sure he would remember me or the conversation. A few years later under a new dean he became my supervisor.

I came to UDC to have my Master’s degree paid for as I had been in a terrible automobile accident and learned how short and fragile life could be for anyone. My supervisor at that time assigned me both my work and some of the work of my direct supervisor who was her dear friend. I never complained, I just completed the work and worked on completing my education.

The problem was when she left the university and Mr. Hare came he was asking for reports that I was accustom to completing. My supervisor had never put together any of the information and she usually left the university every day at 2:00 pm. Additionally, he discovered that I had more education, and had written grants and reports beyond her skill set. When I submitted the reports as requested to him, he sent me an aggressive email notifying me that it I would not be the person writing a report of this nature at my level. My supervisor told him the truth in time and I was promoted in my position and she left the university for a better job.

As the leader of our unit he restructured the organization to allow more support in our smaller units. For example, I was only one person being supervised by one person in a unit. When the units were collapsed each unit included at minimum three employees and a leader. I already had two employees being paid with grant funds I secured.

Hare’s vision for the Cooperative Extension Service was for the programs to be come household names as we served the residence through of four land-grant centers. He met weekly with the program specialist to gather our input on reaching the goal of more visibility. Each center was given a budget to create new marketing brochures and fact sheets. fHe purchased display racks and placed one in all sixty-five libraries and recreational centers in the city. they were filled with our brochures. He created a marketing team from our group and he implemented many of our ideas. Additional systemic tools Hare used to support our goals included his practice of hiring qualified people and trusting them to do the work. He invited input from the team and near micro-managed his direct reports, Instead he cheered on our accomplishments and made suggestions only when warranted. Creativity was always encouraged and each center created their own marketing materials with the same UDC logo but very different esthetics. Program delivery was left to the program teams with monitoring and encouragement. Hare worked to remove organization barriers such as the excessive amount of time it took to pay UDC student interns their stipend in support of our programs. Directly he influenced my life in encouraging the new dean to promote me to the position of Director of the Center for 4-H & Youth Development and the State Program Leader for the National Organization. He has been a great leader to work with and an example of transformative leadership.

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levyfiles · 5 years

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27 for the end of year asks?

#27. Have you done anything that scared you?

Ooof Ok. A little backstory then. Warning: this is a long little personal irl tale and hopefully interesting enough to be worth sharing so I’ll put it under a cut.

Before I got my promotion in January, I had spent all of last year already doing the work for less of the pay because my manager trained me to do all the paperwork and accounting for her on Wednesday so she could focus on other stuff. I was fully trained to run the accounting on the full slot count every day but there were no shifts available for me to be supervisor because a guy (let’s call him R) who had worked there much longer than I had taken on more shifts earlier last year. I was patient and worked full time, I even covered for anyone who was sick, did my time until said guy moved on to another department.

Suddenly the shifts opened up and unfortunately at the same time, another guy (we’ll call him B) who had the Saturday supervising shift took some time off because of an injury and of course, like I said in an earlier ask, a really shitty worker quit. I was, from the end of February and all of March and April, running the department from Thursday to Sunday with 3 brand new workers who I had to train at the same time as do the job I had to. It was hard, the hours were longer, and there were times I really felt so drained I thought I’d never get my regular life back.

B quit permanently because he couldn’t do the more physical aspects of our work which involve hauling 1 tonne iron carts full of over 500 slot machine casettes full of money across the casino and then opening said casettes one by one to count and sort the cash. The job involves a lot of repetitive hand-intensive tasks and for all the math and stacks of cash and electrical sorters, the hardest part of the job is getting the money off the floor at hours between 2am - 4am or at earliest 6am. It takes a toll on people and the body. I’m lucky enough that I’ve always been nocturnal so the hours are me at my sharpest and strongest.

At some juncture in May, R who had gone to tables to be a dealer wanted to come back. The hours were shit and guests who play poker are too often assholes to the card dealers. I learned the news second hand from a guest service manager that my manager had already agreed to reschedule him to come back.immediately. I confronted R who had neither told me he was leaving to begin with and didn’t tell me he had plans to come back. He told me everything I heard was true and worse. I was terrified because a) what I had had to go through to train the new crew b) the large amount of time I’d spent waiting for this promotion.

It hurt all the more because R happens to be one of my really good friends. I called my manager that morning to ask her about it. I’ll always think about that phone call and what it taught me about how people are in positions of authority even when they tell you ‘you can talk to me about anything’. Her first reaction was to act like she didn’t know what I was talking about and she flip-switched the moment I told her who told me about it. That I had asked R personally and he told me his return date, that he’d been guaranteed by higher management that he could come back and that everything would be the same; that his stint on the dealing tables was just a trial to see if he would like it given that the dealing department was short (for obvious reasons). She sighed and switched up her tack, suddenly it was “no one was supposed to know” and other crap. Finally I was able to work up the nerve to ask her, “After all we’ve been through, me and the new crew; am I going to lose my position so R can come back and have his old one?” She seemed surprised by the question and the entire conversation in general, but she guaranteed that there was a miscommunication; that R’s return would only impact the new girls. My position was safe.

This bothered me. It bothered me because my manager, before news of R’s coming back had dropped, had started training one of these new girls (let’s call her S) to cover my position if I was ever sick or injured (very normal thing to do) so now there would be 3 people on the crew who could do the job I was doing. Before R wanted back in, I was relieved that maybe S would get a supervising shift so I wouldn’t be so overwhelmed.

Now this is where it gets complicated. The schedule was all over the place. S was now fully trained to cover for anyone who didn’t show, got sick, or injured is great at her job; we all love her. She fits right in. and is always willing to cover shifts and has since become my movie-night buddy. A week after she was trained, my manager sends me an email saying that we’ve got the new crew cemented, she’s got the new schedule all worked out. She keeps me on Thursdays and Fridays, gives R Saturdays, and then S takes Sunday because, according to my manager “Everyone who’s trained to supervise and do the accounting needs to have a regular shift. It’s only fair.”

So just a reminder, the whole of last year I was put on call, working under two adolescent dudes who I had to push myself to my physical limit to be as good as all while waiting and wondering if a shift would ever open up; if I’d ever be able to actually get paid for the job I was already doing for my manager on Wednesdays. That whole time it had never seemed to occur to her to give me one of R or B’s shifts, but now suddenly she has someone new on that’s not me, it’s all about being fair and delegating out shifts fairly. I was really hurt. It was that all my hard work this past two years would mean nothing and to speak up would mean I’d be ruining S’s chance, have her waiting as long as I did or maybe longer to earn a shift. Usual me would do nothing, just take what I had got and never really speak about how mad and hurt I was about being passed over for a year and only given a promotion when my manager had lost two of her staff. I was mad that a guy could leap between departments and still be guaranteed everything and It made me concerned that if I hadn’t called her that morning, would she have bothered to preserve my position. Would it have been a no communication, silent demotion where I check the schedule and everything’s back to what it was last year. It’s hard watching that happen, hard not to think when you’re the one mixed-race black girl in a small predominately white run casino that being treated like crap feels equated to something a little more deep-seated than just coincidence or circumstance.

First I talked to S. I just asked her how she felt about the job, about the trial by fire she went through in her first months working with us and she had been hinting a lot lately about how she felt a little bit of resentment for R because with his return, she was worried her and I wouldn’t be as close. That was a whole other thing we would later need to work out. The conclusion we got to was she didn’t want a supervising shift because she was working part time in maintenance outdoors and she liked it that way. I on the other hand, only have the department we were in.

I made the decision not to be usual me. It was mid-June and I invited my manager out for breakfast after work one day and I sat with her over eggs at Denny’s and I told her how the past year had felt, how it had looked when she made the decision to cut my shifts in the fashion of fairness when I had waiting a year and some months since being trained to get a chance at a regular supervising shift, that when i finally did get the promotion, it was like being abandoned because it was only after R and B were gone. I was terrified the whole time I gave my little speech because I didn’t want to appear angry or overly emotional in any capacity because if she was doing this on purpose, my reaction could easily be taken as aggressive and then I would definitely lose it all.

I was surprised. She apologised to me, said that the thought had never occurred to her that I had been waiting, that she wished I had said something before. Feels strange now. She could easily have been lying to me, but ultimately it doesn’t matter. Now R, S, and I work together and we have a lot of fun at work and we help one another. I still keep all my supervising shifts and R (who turns out is a part time streamer on Twitch) wanted more time off anyway so there’s been no bad blood at all. Weirdly enough, in August, we all went to R’s wedding and celebrated with him until they packed up the venue, and just yesterday, we had a dinner together with R and his wife, S, me and another one of our coworkers. We feel like family most days and that is worth the terror and the fear I had going into the job to start with and speaking up for myself. Sometimes shit like that works out and I don’t think I’m going to be too meek or afraid to take a leap like that where my job’s concerned anymore.

(bravo if you made it to the end of this weird little story

#personal #ask game #sequencefairy

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kinkyacademia · 6 years

Note

Hi there, hope ur day has been wonderful so far! I was wondering if u could write a soulmate AU where All for Ones s/o is a doctor who treats him (but they have no idea and assumes he’s just an injured civilian at first?). Thank you so much and I hope that wasn’t too confusing!💕

You didn’t give me a specific soulmate AU, so I looked some up and chose one :D I love this idea! Also, I have ZERO experience with hospitals, sssoooooo…. this is just a shitpost, a long, LONG shitpost that took over four hours to complete.

PSA: Before you jump on me and say “MINA?!” Mina means “All” in Japanese.

Black Mark AU: You have the exact mark of where your soulmate will touch you blackened along your skin. When you make contact, the mark disappears until either of you die, when it reappears.

~Mod Pasta🍝🍝

It had presented a strangely preventable issue for All for One. Because of how hidden the mark was, he could easily wear lays of shirts to cover it. It had been there for much over a hundred years now, and he effectively hid it. It resembled a puncture mark, and not unlike a donut, had a hole in the middle.

Easy to hide, it was on his lower abdomen. He could wear anything to hide it, even during battles with his infamous brother’s quirk descendants.

It must have been during the seventh one, Nana, that he met you. You were quite young to be surgical resident, but nonetheless you were one working a full shift. You were tired, and running off of strong tea when an injured man came through. He was unconscious, apparently having been found this way, and needed surgery for lacerations of the face and chest.

The procedure didn’t take long, and soon he was breathing normally and his face patched up to almost look new. As soon as he woke up (about four hours later), you approached him and filled him in on what happened. He nodded slowly, although not fully paying attention, and casually folded one arm across his stomach.

“And you should be released in about twelve hours,” You ended with a smile and a bow. He nodded slowly, turning to look away from you with his crimson eyes. He looked half like a businessman and half like an undercover hero with how toned and serious he was.

“Alright. Where was I found?” He gazed out of the window, the street lights illuminating the buildings. It was still around two AM. You looked the information up on your handheld hospital-provided device.

“Uh… The east side of (City), sir. Why?” You raised an eyebrow, and he mulled the answer over before sighing deeply. You quickly rushed to his side, “Don-”

Before you could ask him not to strain his lungs, he began coughing, and his monitors screamed for help. You shouted for anesthetic, pulling enough tubes out of him to wheel him into the O.R.

The problem was dealt with, and he required a feeding tube. Because he was under, you just put it in the most convenient spot, rushing since your supervisor needed to question him and inform him of what happened since you were too incompetent to do so.

It was almost near the end of your shift, and you were changing into normal clothes when your phone dinged. The message was sent to a group chat of all the surgical residents that worked on the slashed-face man. You were simply told to meet in his office, and after about ten minutes, everyone showed up. This couldn’t be good…

Once everyone was there, the chief stared at all of you for a couple seconds. Tension rose and they finally spoke, “Who did his first set of tubes?” One of your colleagues raised their hand shakily with a small “me.” Then he asked for the second, and your heart jumped as you mumbled that you had done it. Damnit, one of you must have failed something…

Everyone else was required to leave. Surprisingly, the atmosphere lightened when they left, and he questioned where you two put the feeding tube. Once he had that information, you were the only one left in the room with him. He cleared his throat, and you half expected him to ask you to sit to take the news that you were fired. You had done the procedure quite quickly, hell, you hadn’t even paid attention to when you washed your hand-

One glance down at your fingers had the answer splayed out to you.

The black mark was gone. It was fully and utterly gone without a trace. Your heart stopped, and blood rushed to your head. The chief saw your reaction and smiled, “Ah, figured it out yourself?”

“I-Yeah… Uh…”

“Go talk to him. His case isn’t that serious, so we won’t be worried about removing you from the team until he leaves. Go on,” He nodded to the door, and you slowly walked backwards until you jumped, back hitting the door. You turned, grabbing it slowly. You were so young, just recently coming into the profession, how could this happen? Soulmates were known to require one of them to move quite quickly, and he looked like he had a lot more important things to do than move near to your hospital.

So you approached his room. He was staring out of the window, eyes now fully open, and face shaved as if he tried to put some effort into meeting you. You pushed your hair back, pressing your lips together. You didn’t even know if you wanted this - you weren’t required to meet him.

Sure, he could find out who did his tubes through records, but you didn’t have to approach him. But you did. You did because you’ve always been empathetic, you’ve always understood that people had things going on beyond what you saw, and hell, he might need you right now. You knocked on his door before opening it, making sure to close it behind you.

“Hello, sir,” The hospital didn’t have a record of his name. He turned his head to you, almost sad in a way.

“Is it you, nurse…” He squinted his eyes to see your name tag, “Sorry, Surgeon (L/N)?”

“Oh, I’m just a surgical resident,” You dryly chuckled to yourself, flattered that he thought you could be that great. He nodded slowly, then looked up to you.

“I know you don’t have my name,” You nodded at his words. Currently he was registered as a John Doe, “Keep calling me John.”

“Oh, ah… Yes sir,” You nodded, then shook your head as you pulled a chair around to sit next to him.

“You can still call me John,” He joked offhandedly, and you actually laughed. You were about to correct yourself, after all.

“Yes, of course. You probably already know my name,” You nodded as a question, and his short nod back was all you needed. He didn’t talk much, but you could enjoy that. The silence wasn’t too tense, but his next words caused it to skyrocket.

“We need to talk alone once I’m done,” His seriousness was instant, leading you to believe that he had conditioned himself into it.

“Yeah,” You enjoyed watching him. His face barely moved when he spoke, “You’ll be out by the end of today, I’ll make sure that’s when I get off.”

You were assigned to a different department until your John Doe was set to go. You had gotten off a couple minutes prior, and you waited in front of the hospital for him. A good ten minutes passed, and you heard your name behind you. Whipping around, you saw “John” in a small black limousine, a lot closer than you had expected. You must have spaced out at some point in the dusk sunlight.

“Come in,” He ordered, but you were nervous to oblige. He waited a couple seconds, watching you glanced back at the hospital to see if it caught his license plate on feed. Usually soulmates were trust-able. You’ve only every heard of them betraying their lover once or twice before. His voice brought your attention back, “I don’t have a reason to hurt you, (L/N).”

“A-Alright,” You nodded, hesitantly approaching the car. He opened the door for you, and you joined him in the back seat. The driver kept it slow to ease your nerves, and John’s attempts at small talk were all extremely one-sided, like, “the weather looks nice today,” and “perhaps we could have dinner there sometime.”

It was almost cute, in an odd way. He was really at a loss for words, obviously not having expected to meet you anytime soon. He coughed when the driver came to a specific stop, “I’d like to offer to take you to dinner, but it’s far past that time.”

“Oh, that’s okay, I had a long shift. If it’s not too much, could you drop me off in front of my place?” You blinked, hoping your large eyes were enough to convince the business man. His eyebrows furrowed, but not because of your question. He nodded.

“Yes, of course,” He looked away from you, thinking about how he his body had even thought someone as sweet as you was a good idea. You were much too good for a villain like him. As the driver took a right, he suddenly turned to you, and halfway through whipping around, he slowed down, catching off guard in a variety of ways, “He’ll need to know where you live.”

“Oh, right,” You told the driver, and he was off in a jiffy. Your soulmate was quite the weird man.

When he dropped you off, he let you out without a word and drove off immediately. He seemed scared of seeming too uptight, and almost like he had forgotten entirely how to function. Once you got inside, you received a text.

-If you are free this Thursday evening, I can book a wonderful dinner.

You raised an eyebrow in disgust, before stupidly remembering that it was probably him. As you texted back, you stopped. A few things weren’t adding up.

That drive you just took was just the driver loosely circling where you lived. He took the correct turn to your house without even asking, and now you unknown caller was the John Doe you were meant to be in love with. Your hands began to shake - what had you gotten yourself into? What had a business man without a legal name been doing in such a rural area as to where the staff found him?

-That sounds great. Where are you thinking of eating? This is John, right?

You knew it was him. No one would propose a date that way other than him. You went to bed wondering who he was, what he was, and received a response sometime as you were getting ready for your next shift that morning.

-John. (Expensive restaurant in Shinjuku), I will pick you up

You glanced down at the response, groaning about how creepy he was. It was easy to pin all his strange behavioral habits on being creepy, but you knew there was an underlying truth behind him. How could a businessman not have a name?

So you gave him an affirmative, returned to work, and tried to forget about the whole incident that was shaping your life.

Thursday rolled around a lot faster than you thought, but the day itself drudged on. None of your coworkers knew about the date except for your friend that worked the desk, “Only a couple hours leeeft,” She cooed as you passed by with viral pathogen readings.

“Until my untimely disappearance, or a sweet date with an awkward guy?” You growled back, and she rolled her eyes with a shake of her head.

“Soulmates don’t do that stuff, (F/N), you’re scared for nothing.”

Nothing. Apparently “nothing” knew exactly when you got off work and that you would even be working in the first place. You swallowed your fear and got into the warm car, John Doe sitting across from you with his placid, watchful eyes.

“Have you ever been on a date before?” He questioned, and you shook your head slowly, pushing your hair back as the car took off. You had tried to at least dress up a little instead of coming out in your usual sweats after such a long shift.

“Dating culture’s never been that lucrative with such an obvious mark like mine,” You fell off into a sour mutter, and he nodded.

“Neither have I. This way we don’t have expectations,” His gruff voice had definitely improved after a week of heeling from his lung wounds.

“That’s kind of optimistic, I can take it,” You smiled to yourself, and he grunted in acknowledgement. The drive was short, and soon he walked around and let you out. He was formal, and to the point. You were seated immediately, and suddenly felt entirely under dressed for this low-lit, formal place.

“Have you been here before?” He inquired, and you quickly shook your head. The food here, quite possibly the best of the best, didn’t even have prices next to the names.

“I’ve never been to this side of town,” You admitted, “My job as a resident only just started, and I rented my apartment a couple days before I met you,” Your eyes wandered the menu. After so many college meals of ramen, potatoes, and dried foods, everything looked amazing.

He nodded slowly, folding his menu and perfectly placing it exactly where he had picked it up, “I’ve been around most of the w-J-ah… Tokyo. I would love to show you sometime,” He didn’t actually seem that enthusiastic, but you forced yourself to smile and nod with a small chuckle.

“Yeah, that’d be nice, huh? What’s your job, if you don’t mind me asking?” Your eyes caught a meal that was right up your ally, and you grabbed a pen from your purse, writing the name down on the inside of your napkin. When you caught his eye watching you, you quickly put it back, “Sorry, I thought it would be better if I had the menu closed, I-”

For the first time you had met him, he chuckled. It wasn’t a lot, but you had somehow gotten him to display an emotion that wasn’t cold or hard, “That’s clever, I like it.”

“Oh, uh, thank you,” A smile sneaked onto your face. He hummed in acknowledgement, and the gentle silence graced you until the server came to take your orders. He also ordered a bottle of the house wine, and you felt a twinge of nervousness at his formality. Of course you were meant to be fully compatible, but that was taking it a bit far.

“So, what made you want to be a surgeon?” He caught your attention, and you thought with wide eyes for a second before nodding slowly to yourself.

“Quirks these days are practically being bred to cause harm. My own, called Suture, is great for closing large wounds in the trauma wing,” You rolled your eyes at that, “Nowadays a villain strikes and that’s it. They want to go out with some big bang, so they hurt as many people as possible as worse as possible. Crazy, huh?” You shrugged, and he nodded placidly before slowly placing his arms on the table, fingers interlocked.

“Villains have changed a lot, but so have heroes. I would call you a hero,” He threw the compliment out offhandedly, but it made heat trickle onto your cheeks while you quickly tried to deny it.

“Oh, no, I’m nothing like those guys! They’re all brawn, all smarts, I’m just a part of the pickup,” You couldn’t keep eye contact. He knew how to compliment you very, very well. He wasn’t unlike a dog, watching and observing, picking up cues and using them to his advantage. The hot wine came out, and you drank while thinking of a topic.

“Oh! You never told me what you do, John,” You perked up, and his nosed twitched before he responded.

“I run a loose group of lawyers. Also, call me Mina.”

After a couple weeks of knowing Mina, you transferred to a hospital closer to where he worked and lived. He commonly would travel places for a day or two and then return, and you would always wait for him, making sure the bodyguards were gone so he could just tell you the minimal details about his trip in peace. You hadn’t moved in with him, yet, but he had suggested it. He was still radically awkward when it came to love, but he was working in it. Something was holding him back. Whether it be fear or nervousness, you didn’t know until he came back after an especially long trip of a full week.

“Hey, welcome back!” You chirped, glancing at him from the couch. Instantaneously you pushed yourself up, cup of water clanking to the wood floor of the brightly lit room. Your boyfriend was tattered, lacerations along his chest and a couple on his face and arms. You went to call your hospital, but he grabbed your phone, panting as he shook his head, “What happened, Mina? Say something, sit down, we have to get pressure on this one, this is bad, what happened?”

“Can you help me?” Was all he asked. You paused - he was always so secretive, never telling you much. Finally you had a reason to know, so you nodded and had the tall, burly man sit on the counter while your small hands worked your quirk around as well as using his own strangely useful first aid kit.

As you hand-stitched a wound on his face, making sure to be as even as possible to keep it together, you asked; “I have to know what happened, Mina. You know I won’t sleep until I know what you haven’t been telling me.”

He sighed heavily, and you tutted for him to use less sudden movements. He was always so good at lying and deceiving people, but not when he was around them at least five times a week. He knew he had to love you, but it was hard when he couldn’t share his entire life and viewpoints with you past the “heroes really suck sometimes” and offhanded comments.

“I don’t manage lawyers, I never di-”

“I don’t think that job actually exists,” You whispered, and he huffed. He was worse at lying to you than he had originally thought.

“Only because you are my soulmate, I know I can trust telling you this,” You felt your heart tighten, and thoughts began moving quicker in your head. This felt really important, “For years, ever since quirks even started, I’ve run the underground world.”

“Okay… I also don’t think that’s an available job, Mina,” You didn’t patronize him for lying, but he really needed to be a better joker. Except, he wasn’t chuckling (you had yet to hear him laugh).

“My quirk is called All for One, and I’m able to absorb, use, and distribute quirks,” With your arm steadying yourself against his chest, you didn’t even feel his heart quicken. He was confident in himself, and you began to wonder if he was actually telling the truth.

“So… villain leadership role, okay. So, how can I know you’re telling the truth?” You hummed, moving in between his legs to reach a cut on his neck better. He was still emotionless.

“I cannot have an ID, or else it would be hundreds of years old, obviously, but I do have mine from,” He only moved his arm as he grabbed his wallet from his back pocket, pants being the only thing he was wearing after you had him remove his suit top. He pulled a picture ID of himself out, and you paused your ministrations to glance at it. When your did, your eyes travelled to the date.

He was right. You quickly resumed what you were doing. What else could you do? Your soulmate was a mass villain leading monster, and it wasn’t like soulmates could be happy for very long without each other. You bit your bottom lip, hands becoming shaky, “So… Someone gave you a quirk that let you live longer?”

“I stole it,” He almost sounded like he was confessing to a pope, and perhaps he was in a way. He had waited hundreds of years for you, and you were quite likely one of the most important people in his life, ever. You were the great All for One’s soulmate, and he had decided a long time ago not to kill you. He only got one of you, after all, unlike how he could absorb quirk after quirk and still hold more. You were fragile in his eyes, practically just a civilian, yet much more than he deserved. Even through his twisted, corrupt mindset, he could imagine you so perfectly in his arms, and you really undid his dark desires.

“Right, villain…” You trailed off, “Does it hurt?”

“Hmm?” He raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected that question.

“Does it hurt the person when you take their quirk?” You pulled back to stare at him, and he blinked in surprise. You were such an odd person, and he loved that about you.

He shook his head, “At least I can give them that solace. They go into a coma for a couple days, and wake up without it.”

“Oh, good,” He was shocked. You weren’t yelling at him, you weren’t begging him to change his ways - you weren’t even backing away and asking him not to steal your quirk. This small, naive girl wasn’t mortally afraid of him, the most dangerous villain alive, “It’s not like I can change you, Mina,” You sighed, shaking your head. It was like he had seen a ghost, yet you were the one who was supposed to be surprised. He had been acting quite twisted all along - at least he didn’t sell drugs, and he wasn’t trying to force you to be a part of what he did.

“Yes, ah, of course,” You blinked a couple times in surprise. He had stuttered. You’ve never known him to stutter, so you pulled back with a smile.

“So, I can know the real you now, huh?” You chuckled, and he nodded slowly.

“I’m not a good person, you know that, right?” He made sure you were looking into his eyes when you nodded quickly, “I’ve killed many people. Good people. I’m going to have to send guards to pick you up every day.”

You nodded a little slower this time, “I already see them watching me when I leave. I didn’t think they were for me,” You returned to what work you had left with patching his sorry ass up, “You’ve made your legacy. As your soulmate, I’m meant to support you, and you to me. We can be bad or good people outside of our relationship, but as long as we love each other and can go to crappy downtown dates in the snow, it’s alright with me.”

He was silent until you finished. That was an absolutely mature, yet slightly twisted on its own response. He thought you would want a normal soulmate, just a normal person, but you were fine with who he was as long as he was a good lover?Hell… he would be the best goddamn lover there was. They didn’t call it soulmates for no reason - he had found someone who was willing to stabilize him and be a pillar, but also could accept the empire he was growing that could literally murder all of Tokyo in seconds.

“All do-” You yelped as the man’s hand snaked round your waist, pulling you into a hug. You quickly reciprocated it. He had likely lost anyone else he loved due to age, who knows what was the last time he had one of these. You felt other scars on his back, and traced a couple with your fingers until he let go. He was a long stronger than you remembered.

When you looked up, instead of seeing his usual placid eyes, you saw casual, wider ones with blown pupils.

“It definitely isn’t snowing, but there’s a local band playing-”

“You literally just came here with blood draining out of you like a leech made out with your skin, pizza and movie. Now,” You demanded, and you saw a flash of sternness pass over his face before he laughed, deep voice filling the room. You let him stand back up, using your shoulder to get to the couch while he ordered a guard to get the pizza.

“I’ll have to get used to that,” He commented as you snuggled into his side on the leather couch.

“The what?”

“Not having entire authority.” You laughed, nodding as he turned the TV and started the search for a movie. Your damned insane, villain-leader boyfriend picked a spy movie.

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eddieeatsass · 6 years

Text

Stripped Bare - Chapter 4

Summary: Eddie gets an offer from his company to work in Barbados over the summer. Beautiful weather, all expenses paid trip, and a stay in a suite at one of the most highly rated resorts in the world. How could he say no? Unfortunately, Eddie soon realizes there were a lot of reasons to say no. His skin doesn’t take kindly to the harsh sun, his suite ends up being the size of a shoe box, and, oh yeah, it’s also a nudist resort. Pairing: Reddie (side Benverly and Stanlonbrough) Rating: E Warnings: Eventual smut, explicit language

Read on AO3

The last two hours flew by quickly, and soon Eddie found himself walking towards the pool deck, nervously wringing his hands and babbling Stan’s ear off.

“What if they think I’m boring? They live here, in Barbados. Their whole lives are probably like one big vacation! I’m just some kid from Portland, Maine.”

“By that logic, I’d be just as lame.” Stan offered monotonously.

“Ugh, but you’re likeable, Stan! You’re like, cool and reserved.”

Stan stopped abruptly, causing Eddie to stumble into him.

“Are you forgetting that two hours ago a lizard made me screamed so loud I could be heard halfway across the hotel?”

Eddie blinked a few times before clearing his throat.

“Yeah but Mike found that endearing.”

Stan sighed and turned to place his hands on Eddie’s tense shoulders, crouching down a tad so they were eye level. It felt a bit like Stan was a father, preparing to give his son the ‘big talk’.

“You are endearing. Everyone who meets you sees that. Yeah, some people might think I’m cool or collected,” Stan seemed to wince through those words. “but sometimes others read it as coldness. Not everyone is going to like you, and that’s okay. But it’ll be entirely their loss. And to date, I have yet to meet one of those people.”

Stan ruffled Eddie’s hair as he straightened back up, receiving an indignant groan while Eddie frantically tried to smooth it back out.

“You’re likeable Eddie, sorry to break it to you.” Stan shrugged dramatically, causing a laugh to bubble up in Eddie’s chest. He found himself wondering how he’d ever have survived this summer without Stan around.

“Long time no see.” A smooth voice entering the hall broke their attention.

Exiting the elevator was Mike, more relaxed than Eddie had seen him so far. He’d changed out of his suit, opting for a pair of dark jeans and a grey muscle tee that drooped low and showed off the toned lines of his chest. Mike was much more built than his business attire let on. Eddie wondered how often someone had to work out to get a build like that. He could practically feel Stan drooling next to him as both boys stood there dumbly, ogling their supervisor instead of greeting him.

Mike belted out a hearty laugh as he caught on to their expressions.

“Too casual?” He guessed, looking down at his body. “I wasn’t sure what to wear so I just threw on one of my gym shirts. Definitely rethinking my choice now that I’ve seen how good the both of you look.” Once again, just like earlier in the evening, Mike was addressing the both of them but looking solely at Stan. Eddie’s heart flipped with excitement for his best friend.

“You look great.” Eddie finally filled the silence. “Right, Stan?”

After another few moments of silence and staring (which Mike didn’t seem to mind), Eddie had to physically elbow Stan to shake him out of whatever no doubt devious place his mind had gone to.

“Yeah! Yes, yeah, you look… great.” Stan echoed Eddie’s words. “Really great.” He added under his breath.

Mike shot Stan a smile so charming Eddie thought Stan might faint, but instead Stan just looped his arm through Mike’s, leaning into him flirtatiously and encouraged him to lead the way.

Eddie followed them across the lobby and through the double doors that led to the patio. Mike locked them back up behind him, so no wandering guests could stumble upon them, and tossed the keys on the closest patio chair.

Eddie surveyed the pool deck, noting how different it was at night. The water was still, mirroring the moon above. The stools at the bar were put up for the night, the umbrellas above the tables closed, and the pool chairs were stacked in rows off to the side. The area seemed bigger now, and Eddie wasn’t sure if it was due to the lack of people or the intimidation of the moment.

A few feet away he could see a group of people talking. They hadn’t noticed Eddie, Mike, or Stan yet, as they seemed to be engrossed in whatever conversation they were having. There were four bodies, one distinctly feminine, one distinctly Bill, and two distinctly unfamiliar. Mike and Stan began making their way over and Eddie took a deep breath, steeling himself, before following.

Now or never, Kaspbrak.

Bill noticed them first, being the only one whose back wasn’t turned to them. He waved above his head wildly as if they could somehow miss the only group of people on the entire patio deck. Eddie absentmindedly noted how cute it was, and one glance in Stan’s direction confirmed he was thinking the same.

The first one to turn around was the feminine silhouette. As Eddie got closer, the lights from the patio illuminated red hair, a freckled face, and a kind smile.

“You!” Eddie shouted excitedly before he could stop himself. His anxiety melted away at the sight of lemonade girl.

She grinned back at him, seemingly just as excited to see this total stranger, and Eddie’s heart fluttered a bit. Is this what making friends feels like?

“Hey, pool boy.” The red-head greeted him, putting enough inflection in his nickname that Eddie knew it had two insinuations. He was her pool-boy, but he was also the boy who’d fallen in the pool while failing to deliver her drink. A second wave of embarrassment washed over him at the reminder of his very public mishap.

Just then, the other two figures turned around from where they’d been making acquaintance with Mike and Stan. One was a big burly man who Eddie thinks he’d seen before, but couldn’t quite place where, and the other was…

No… It couldn’t be…

“YOU!” Eddie repeated his previous greeting, but this time his tone was furious and raised a few more octaves than necessary. He pointed his finger accusingly at the man standing before him.

Hot stranger.

“Didn’t recognized me with my clothes on, huh?” He joked.

Eddie felt his face heating up for a litany of reasons, his anger bubbling in him for no logical reason.

“Uh… you guys know each other?” Bill interjected hesitantly.

Eddie crossed his arms irately, refusing to look away from hot stranger. What audacity did he have to show up here anyway? This was a staff party, and he was most definitely not staff.

“What are you doing here?” Eddie demanded, cocking his hip to the side.

The man let out a warm laugh. Eddie’s subconscious swatted it away before it could crawl into his chest and make a home in his heart. Stupid hot stranger with his stupid hot laugh.

“Uh, Eddie… This is Richie.” Bill clapped a hand on hot stranger’s shoulder.

Eddie’s brain spluttered before it came to a complete stop. His limbs feeling like noodles and concrete all at once. Hot stranger was Richie? Dorky, comic-book reading, principle pantsing Richie? In all the ways Bill had described him, he’d never once mentioned how hot he was. Or warned Eddie of his charming personality. Or mentioned that he had a dick big enough to rival an anaconda.

Okay, maybe a baby anaconda. He was still a human, after all.

“Is he okay?” Through the static in his ears Eddie could hear Richie whispering to Bill.

“He gets like this sometimes, give it a second.” Bill responded.

Eddie’s voice came back to him before his brain caught up.

“You made me wet.” Eddie accused, brows furrowing.

Richie raised an eyebrow, an amused smile pulling at the corners of his lips.

“I’ve been told I have that affect on people.”

Eddie’s face stayed stone, unimpressed by the retort.

“Just ignore him. We all do.” The cheery feminine voice pulled his attention away from where he was trying to shoot daggers through his eyeballs.

Eddie turned to lemonade girl, realizing he hadn’t even introduced himself, had been so rudely caught up in his rivalry with hot stranger… Richie.

“I’m sorry, you’re Beverly, right?” Eddie asked, trying to coat his voice in sugary sweetness to drown out the bitterness from before.

“Mhm! Eddie, right?” Eddie nodded. “And I’m guessing that makes him Stan?” Beverly asked, gesturing to their left where Stan, Mike, and the last un-named stranger were deep in conversation.

“Yeah, that’s Stan.” Eddie confirmed.

Beverly turned to Bill, who’d been standing just on the sidelines of the conversation.

“You’re right, he is cute.”

Bill’s face flushed a deep red and he dropped his head bashfully.

“Don’t worry Bill, he thinks you’re cute too.” Eddie said lowly, delighting in the way Bill’s entire face lit up.

“Oh, and that’s Ben.” Beverly added, pointing to the last man Eddie had yet to meet. “He’s my date.” She said confidently.

It finally clicked in Eddie’s mind where he’d seen the man before. He’d been talking to Beverly the day Eddie had fallen in the pool. They’d seemed so engaged in one another, Eddie was excited to see that it had developed.

It took a while, but eventually Eddie’s nerves subsided. Conversation began to flow naturally, and Eddie was grateful to learn that Richie and Beverly were the most talkative of the group. It gave Eddie an opportunity to sit back and get his bearings, until he slowly began to crawl out of his shell with small interjections.

The atmosphere was warm, and despite the presence of Richie and his constant glances in Eddie’s direction, Eddie found himself relaxing.

That is, until said annoyance tapped him on the shoulder.

“Can I talk to you for a sec?” Richie whispered in his ear. Eddie reveled in the feeling of Richie’s breath against his neck, swallowing thickly before nodding his head, shaking away all feelings other than irritation.

The two walked a few feet away, just out of ear-shot of the others. Eddie crossed his arms over his chest, hoping to appear self-assured.

“What, did you want a repeat performance?” Eddie gestured towards the pool just a couple steps away from where they stood.

Richie scratched the back of his neck, something akin to nerves seeming to take hold of him. It was the least confident Eddie had seen him thus far and it made his gut twist with guilt.

“Uh, I realized I never really, like… apologized for that. I’m not good with the serious stuff, it’s just easier to make a joke out of it, you know? But I am sorry. Really.”

This new uncertain Richie was cute, and Eddie felt the ice around his heart melting much faster than he’d intended to let it.

“It’s fine.” Eddie replied timidly.

“Are you, like, okay? You didn’t hit your head or anything? I should have come to check on you after you ran off.”

The reminder of the aftermath of the event painted Eddie’s face with a blush. The idea of Richie walking in on him while he was dripping wet and frantically jerking off… He’d never have been able to live that down.

“I’m okay, yeah. No injuries here.” Eddie promised.

“Cool.” Richie’s smile rejoined his features. Not the cocky smile Eddie had gotten used to, but a much more intimate version.

“So… can I make you a drink to commemorate this truce?”

Eddie agreed, happily following Richie over to the bar which he slipped behind with grace.

Richie assessed the ingredients available to him, making a choice and beginning to set things out before him.

“How do you know how to do this?” Eddie asked, watching Richie’s hands move swiftly.

“One of the many things I picked up in my years at college.” Richie shot a grin over his shoulder as he began putting ingredients into a blender.

“Virgin, right?” Richie asked casually.

“WHAT? NO, I-I’M NOT-”

“The drink.” Richie’s smile could be heard through his voice, even though his back was turned to Eddie. “You want it virgin, right?”

Eddie wanted to crawl under a rock.

“Yes please.” He responded meekly.

They stood in silence for a few minutes while Richie continued moving about the space with ease. He lined the rim of a glass with what seemed to be sugar and then poured in the bright pink substance from the blender, finishing with a garnish of lime.

Richie presented the drink to Eddie with a hopeful look.

“Strawberry daiquiri. I was inspired by your shirt.” Richie gave Eddie a sly wink before turning back to his work station.

Eddie’s face flushed to match the pink of his shirt, which indeed matched the pink of his drink. He took a sip, hoping to cool down his rising temperature, and let out an accidental hum as the sweetness touched his tongue.

“Good?” Richie asked in reply to the noise.

“Oh my god.” Eddie said after he’d gulped down nearly a quarter of his drink in one sip. “This is amazing.”

Richie returned to Eddie’s side, carrying his own orange concoction.

“What’s that?” Eddie inquired.

“Virgin sex on the beach. You already know it’s my go-to.” Richie said coolly. He plucked the single cherry from the top of his drink and popped it in his mouth. Eddie watched in silence as Richie chewed, swallowed, then began clenching and un-clenching his jaw inconsistently, his tongue probing his cheeks every now and then.

He looked ridiculous, his serious gaze fixed in the distance as his mouth contorted wildly. Eddie was about to ask what he was doing when Richie stuck his tongue out, a cherry stem tied in a knot sitting atop the thick muscle.

“Damn it, I can usually do this way better.” Richie complained, observing the stem in the palm of his hand. He shrugged and tossed it into the trash can across from them.

Meanwhile, Eddie’s heart was beating wildly. While the method had Richie looking foolish, the result left Eddie tingling. If his mouth could do that, what else could it do…

“Ready to head back?” Richie asked obliviously.

“Actually, can you make one more drink?”

Eddie and Richie rejoined the group as they were in the throws of laughter.

“What are we talking about?” Richie asked, squeezing back into the conversation seamlessly.

Bill filled him in while Eddie saddled up next to Beverly.

“Uh, Beverly?”

She turned her attention to him, eyes crinkled in the corners from her smile.

“Since I failed to bring you your drink last time…” Eddie finished his sentence by offering Beverly a glass of lemonade, cold with condensation and garnished with a lemon slice and, of course, a tiny plastic umbrella.

Beverly cried with delight at the display, taking the drink from Eddie and plucking the umbrella out immediately.

“This is so cute!” She twirled it between her forefinger and thumb, mesmerized by the miniature version of a real-life object.

“I will keep it forever.” She told him, tucking the umbrella behind her ear as if it were a wild flower she’d picked. “Thanks Eddie.” She added genuinely, reaching out to squeeze his arm.

Eddie nodded bashfully, tuning back into the conversation everyone else was invested in.

“No, I swear to god! This guy reached over to grab his hot dog and grabbed a whole different kind of hot dog instead.” Ben’s voice was animated as he told his story, getting a rousing laugh from everyone.

“How do you overestimate a distance like that!?” Bill howled.

“What did the other guy do!?” Richie asked.

“He got up, gathered his things, and moved to a chair on the other side of the pool, all the while maintaining a deadpan expression. I think the whole ordeal made him die a little inside.” Ben explained.

“Serves him right for ogling the other guest. Maybe if he had been paying more attention, he wouldn’t have gotten a fist-full of manhood.” Beverly added through giggles.

Eddie laughed along nervously, finding the story funny but also a stark reminder of how different he was from these people.

“One time, before I started working here, Bev, Richie and I visited a nude beach in Cali while we were on vacation-”

“Nooo not this story.” Richie began to groan, overshadowed by Beverly’s excited encouragements.

“Well Richie here fell asleep under the sun, resting peacefully while Beverly and I swam and explored, for hours.”

Richie covered his face with both his hands.

“When we got back to him, he’d turned the same color as Bev’s hair. We woke him up and that’s when we realized that only his front side was burned, leaving his back side an entirely different color.”

“There was a vertical tan line running down his entire body. It was like someone had taken the front side of one person and the back side of another and stitched them together.” Beverly snorted.

“But the worst part by far was when he started peeling.”

“Please don’t.” Richie pleaded, muffled by his hands.

“His snake shed its skin.” Bill finished.

A chorus of laughter left Stan and Ben’s mouths, while Mike hissed sympathetically at the thought of having your dick peel.

“Are you okay?” Eddie asked Richie quietly, cutting through the other reactions. “Burns that severe can be dangerous. Did you get checked out by a doctor?”

Eddie’s concern left Richie speechless, his hands falling and revealing the shocked expression he wore.

“I… yeah, I did. He uh, said I was okay. I just had to be careful not to get another sunburn that bad.”

Eddie nodded, seemingly happy with that answer.

“I have SPF 100, if you need it while you’re here.” Eddie offered.

“Thanks.” Richie responded, still dumbfounded by Eddie’s worry.

“What about you Eddie?” Mike’s voice brought them back to the group. “Any stories you’ve gathered?”

“Uh, actually this is my first time ever being at a nudist anything.” Eddie admitted shyly.

“Awe, we popped your cherry!” Beverly cheered.

“Yeah.” Eddie laughed. “I actually… I don’t know how you guys can just like, be naked around other people. The whole thing freaks me out." Eddie continued, hoping that none of them would be offended. "It's freeing." Beverly offered as explanation. Eddie tried to consider that approach but couldn’t understand. Calling in sick to work when you're not actually sick, deciding to eat an extra cookie despite your diet, waiting two days before returning your mother's email... Those things were freeing. Choosing to be nude around other people, complete strangers no less, seemed like pure insanity. Still, despite his rationality, the intrigue tugged at the corners of his mind. What it would mean to be ‘free’, in such a way. "It's more than that for me." Ben joined in, his voice hesitant. "I struggled with body issues a lot when I was younger. The first time I did this, it was at a nudist beach in Venice. It was like exposure therapy, kinda. It was terrifying, until I realized that no one cared what I looked like. My appearance was irrelevant amidst this shared experience we were all having." Eddie noticed Beverly's hand snake down into Ben's as he trailed off. He sent her a shy smile and she returned it with one of her own. Seeing two people so obviously smitten in such a short time made Eddie feel a tinge of loneliness. Even from where Eddie stood, on the outskirts of their connection, he could feel the draw between them, like they somehow filled a piece of each other's puzzle. "I just get a thrill from it." Richie joked, earning a round of groans from the group. He swirled his hips salaciously as he sent a wink towards Bill, who was giving him a particularly stern look. Stan's voice broke through the laughter, surprising Eddie. "I've never done anything like that before, but it sounds fun, honestly." From beside him, Mike's ears seemed to perk up. "Well, you know, there's no time like the present." Mike nudged Stan playfully. Eddie doesn't think he'd ever seen Stan blush so deeply. "We should skinny dip!" Bill shouted suddenly, as if the idea had just come to him and it was the best one he'd ever had. Eddie, on the other hand, thought it might be the worst. He began to shake his head, squeaking out a measly "nu-uh" which got drowned out among everyone else's unanimous agreement. Eddie looked to Stan in a panic, trying desperately to catch his eyes as the group began to dissipate. Stan was too busy watching closely as Bill and Mike both pulled their shirts off with mischievous grins plastered to their faces. "You know, no one's going to force you to do this." Richie rang out from beside him. He’d been the only one who hadn’t moved "I mean, we'd love for you to join, but we're not in the habit of making people uncomfortable." Eddie's mouth flapped open and shut as words failed him. His anxiety was a fire, licking higher and higher up his body. "Thanks." Eddie mumbled. He heard rustling and looked back up to see that Richie was getting himself undressed. Eddie couldn’t help but stare, even as his chest tightened and his brain threatened to pull him down, his attraction to Richie won out. He'd seen him nude before, of course, but there was something much more intimate about watching him get undressed. Just then he noticed Eddie's eyes on him and stopped as his hands reached his belt. They stared at one another for a moment. Eddie felt the need to fill the silence. "I don't want to be like this, you know." "Like what?" Eddie shrugged, averting his eyes. "Prudish." "I don't think you're prudish. You just know your boundaries." Richie simplified. It coaxed Eddie, but only momentarily. "I want to be more like you guys. More... Free." Eddie said, calling back to the word Beverly had used earlier. He still wasn't sure what this type of freedom entailed, what it would require from him, but he knew it was something he wanted to try out. "Well... How about you strip down to your boxers. Boxers are just like swim shorts, right? Just different fabric. It'll be a baby step towards freedom." Richie teased, no hint of malice in his tone. Eddie liked that idea... Yeah, that sounded doable. His face broke out into a grin, and he's not sure if he misinterpreted it, but he thought he saw a glint in Richie's eyes. Together they stripped down. Richie in his birthday suit, and Eddie in his plain white boxer briefs. Plain, boring, safe white boxer briefs. ‘Well, let's see how boring this is’ Eddie thought, before he took off running, ignoring Richie's shouts from behind him as he cannonballed into the pool. The splash caused halhearted complaints from around him, but they came through smiling mouths. As Eddie resurfaced, wiping water from his eyes, he observed his surroundings. He noticed that the group had broken off into smaller teams. Off to one end of the pool were Ben and Beverly, having a splash fight of their own. Even though Beverly's breasts were now on display, Ben's eyes stayed glued to her face. Not as if he was trying to avoid looking down, but as if her face was just far more enticing. In the middle and off to the side, Stan was leaning against the wall with Bill and Mike flocked to either side of him. Eddie would have been surprised that Stan decided to join in on the nudity, but his intentions were made clear now that Eddie saw how he fluttered his lashes at both boys. He'd known Stan long enough to know his moves. And finally, that left him in his own section of the clear blue water. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that Richie was descending into the water and found himself absently hoping he’d make his way over to him. Eddie let himself float on his back, looking up at the moon that reflected back at him. He felt small waves as the water moved around him, displaced from a figure approaching. Then a face popped into his vision; a big goofy smile, pale freckled skin, and wide saucer eyes. His heart sped.

“Well that was unexpected.” Richie said through a wide smile.

“I’m full of unexpected surprises.” Eddie shrugged, causing his body to float in a new direction.

Richie laughed, looking Eddie up and down salaciously.

“Yeah, I guess you are.”

Richie’s eyes bounced back to Eddie’s underwear, which had become transparent in the water. Not so much that Richie could see everything, but enough to cause a stirring in his stomach.

Richie was contemplating whether to tell Eddie when the aforementioned interrupted his train of thought.

“You know, this isn’t as bad as I thought it’d be. The water’s cool, the heat isn’t stifling like it is in the daytime, and the view…” Eddie trailed off, staring up at the stars that blanketed the sky.

“Yeah… the view is beautiful.” Richie agreed, gaze fixed on Eddie.

“And I actually don’t even mind that I’m in my underwear.” Eddie added after some moments. “I thought it’d bother me more but now that I’ve done it, I feel good, actually.”

“The build up is almost always worse than the outcome.” Richie noted, laying back in the water and letting himself float alongside Eddie. “Once I learned that, the world felt a lot less daunting.”

Eddie hummed, thinking back to all the fear that’d been instilled in him growing up. It had made the world seem dangerous, new experiences never worth exploring. Staying in his bubble had kept him safe, but at what cost? How much had he been missing out on? Fear had been driving him for most of his life.

Richie’s words held true, Eddie’s mind had always been his own worst enemy.

“I admire you for that.” Eddie voiced quietly, as if it was a secret.

“Admire yourself. You can do anything I can.”

“I don’t know how.” Eddie whispered after a drawl of silence.

Their bodies bumped as they floated into each other. Richie chose that moment to right himself, pulling Eddie up with him.

“I’ll teach you.” Richie offered.

His hands rested on Eddie’s waist just below the water, thumbs pressed to Eddie’s hip bones. They’d found themselves mere inches apart, close enough to make Eddie’s breath catch.

“Okay.” Eddie agreed, a giddy smile creeping up his features.

A moan caught their attention, breaking them out of their own little world. They turned to search for the source of the sound, quickly finding it sitting across from them.

Stan was perched on the edge of the pool, parted legs dipped into the water below where Bill stood between them, sucking him off with slow bobs of his head. Stan was twisted to the side where Mike kneeled beside him, their lips locked feverishly.

“Oh my god.” Eddie said, his initial horror subsided by the absurdity of the situation. His lifelong best friend was really getting head from his co-worker and making out with his manager right in front of him.

“Is he always this good at seducing people?” Richie asked.

“Yep. When Stan knows what he wants, he goes for it.”

“Huh. Bill swore he’d never have another threesome after the last time.” Richie added under his breath.

“The last time?” Eddie’s head whirled around.

Another succession of moans, these ones breathier and higher pitched, had them reeling once again.

The new ones belonged to Beverly, who was currently pinned up against the wall of the pool as Ben’s hips pistoned back and forth. Eddie couldn’t quite tell, given that their lower bodies were submerged in water, but the steady pace of Ben’s movements were enough to confirm the suspected activities.

“Wow, what do they put in this pool at night?” Richie joked, cupping his hands under water and bringing them up into the air, letting drops trickle through his fingers.

Eddie’s brain finally caught up with what was happening, and he jolted in his spot.

“Ugh, there’s probably juices in the water now!” Eddie clamored for the edge of the pool, lifting himself up and on to safer ground as quickly as he could.

“Dude, ‘juices’? Please don’t call them that ever again.” Richie scolded with fake seriousness.

“Whatever you call it, it’s gross.” Eddie lamented. “I need a shower.”

Richie’s chest deflated, not wanting the night to be over yet. He was just getting to know Eddie, and so far, he really liked the little spitfire.

“Is your bathroom just as small as Bill’s?” Richie asked suddenly.

“Yeah, probably. I think all the employees have the same sized living quarters.”

“Damn, the bathtub in there is tiny. If you want, you can wash off in my room. We’ve got a Jacuzzi tub in ours.”

The offer hung in the air between them until yet another moan disrupted them for the third time.

“Jesus christ, let’s go.” Eddie pushed himself up off the ground, ushering Richie to follow him. They grabbed their clothes, pulling them over-top of wet skin hurriedly. Eddie led them to the set of doors they’d entered through, using the keys Mike had left nearby to unlock them. He left the keys behind, flicking the lock back on so as the door shut behind them it secured the privacy of the others.

It was silent as Richie led Eddie up to his room. Tense, but not in an uncomfortable way. Eddie could feel the thrumming of an energy he couldn’t yet pinpoint. He wasn’t sure if it was the result of his imagination, spurred on by the scene they’d just left, or if Richie felt it too.

But as Richie unlocked his door and welcomed Eddie inside with a palm on his back, he found himself hoping it was the latter.

#reddie #reddie fanfic #reddie smut #reddie fanfiction #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrak #reddie lemon #reddie lemons #it fanfic #it fanfiction #it smut #my posts #my writing #stripped bare

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mist-over-water · 5 years

Text

Decade in Review.

2010.

One of the newest members in my group of friends began spreading lies about me, saying that I had been bitching about everyone behind their back. I hadn’t obviously, but they believed her, and in the space of a day, I had lost all of the friends I had made in my five years during high school. My first lesson of the decade: if I have something to say to someone, just say it!

I left high school, with one friend, whom I had had since primary school. I passed all of my GCSEs, and I began sixth form. I was part of the first year to attend this sixth form, and it was exciting to help work out the kinks, and I got to study two different types of English (language and literature), photography and sociology.

After my brothers’ girlfriend had suffered a miscarriage the previous year, she got pregnant again, and my twin nieces (Ellie and Layla) were born; they were premature, but oh so perfect, and changed my life, honestly.

I went to North Carolina, and spent my sixteenth birthday there, where I met my best online friend. I had an amazing time, and again, it was an experience that changed my life forever.

I stopped speaking to my dad, for many reasons; that’s such a long story, that now’s not the time.

My mum’s boyfriend moved in, and began a seven year story of abuse.

2011.

I met four of my best friends; they changed me so much for the better. WE shared some good memories, some of which I still cry reminiscing on to this day.

After getting scolded at sixth form, I actually began putting some effort into my A Levels, shocking my teachers at what I was capable of!

The friend I visited in America came to visit me in England for three weeks, though as none of us could drive, it was not half as exciting and action packed as my time in North Carolina! Sorry about that!

One of my best friends that turned my back on me in the previous year? I began speaking to her again, she is still my best friend to this day, and we began opening up about our struggles with mental health a lot more.

I began bulking my CV out a lot more, between work experience at my old high school, and volunteering at a charity shop and an art gallery, I barely had any time for myself!

I also began running a creative writing club at sixth form, which formed the basis of them beginning the creative writing A Level! One of my proudest achievements.

My mums dachshund got pregnant, and we kept one of them - my little dachshund/Jack Russell cross, Molly!

2012

My hard work paid off - I was the only one in my group of friends to get offers from all five universities I applied for! My first choice was University of Lincoln, and I moved 150 miles away from everyone I knew to study English.

I became a really shitty person. With the psychological abuse my mums boyfriend put me through, that friend who came to visit me, and I went to visit? I treated her awfully. I pushed her away on purpose, I hurt her so bad. I think about it every day, and every day I regret it.

I joined the Anime Society, and met a lot of great, fucked up people. I met people on my course. I met a lot of people, most I don't speak to anymore, but given half the chance, I'd welcome them back in my life with open arms.

I began drinking too much, like I don't remember much of my first year, I tried passing this toxic behaviour off as a personality trait. How wrong was I.

2013

A long story, but I got in my first 'relationship that wasn't a relationship', and he broke up with me at the beginning of the summer as he was finishing university, and I was only just beginning, and we lived on other sides of the country.

Upon reflection on things I ultimately regret, I made the decision to begin speaking to my dad again. He ultimately got married, in a wedding I was the only family member to not be invited.

I moved in with four gay people, and experienced the best parties I've ever been too, honestly. Though as housemates, they were insanely flawed.

I got into my first real relationship! He was psychologically abusive, took all of my money, nearly got me kicked out of university, made me lose all my friends, and... What a fella.

He raped me, five days before Christmas. I still suffer with trauma from this, but I'm not ashamed of it anymore.

2014

I attempted suicide. I broke my families heart and I promised my Nanny Gate that I would never hurt myself again.

I broke up with my boyfriend! To which my housemates took me out for drinks and a celebratory meal. They had no idea what had happened to me, but they knew he was bad news.

My dad forced my mum to sell my childhood home, forcing me, my mum and our abuser to move into a tiny two bedroom house, with seven dogs.

Another niece, Imogen, was born!

As well as drinking too much, I began trying drugs, trying to pass it off as a quirky part of my personality.

That friend that I visited in America, and she visited me in England? I began speaking to her again. Although we don't speak much, I could talk to her every day if I could. I'm so thankful that even if she didn't forgive me for everything I did to her, she put it behind her to rekindle our friendship.

I moved in with two of my best friends! Though by the end of the year, we would hate one of them. This happened all the places I lived during university.

I began dating a man I thought I would marry.

(Also, fun fact, I went on holiday to Walton-on-the-Naze that year, where I stayed at the same part of the caravan park @onetruejonsey lived with his girlfriend at the time, I got drunk, and got lost, and tried to get into his caravan! If that's not fate...)

2015

I got my degree without much effort, and I realised I've never really tried at anything. My dad and my boyfriend didn't attend my graduation, but mum and I had a blast.

For so many reasons, I fell out of love with my boyfriend, though he manipulated me into staying with him for almost a full extra year.

I got my first job as a Healthcare Assistant! But I quit as I saw too many residents being treated badly, and no manager or supervisor was interested in hearing my concerns. I done work experience at my old sixth form, trying to find an age group I'd like to teach, turns out older kids weren't that. But I did get a Christmas Temp job at EE.

2016

My boyfriend broke up with me, so angry that I had tried to break up with him and he had not let me, I got back with him just to break up with him. I am a pretty little bitch, honestly.

I went to Kenya with my mum, so we could complete our bucket list item of seeing giraffes and elephants in the wild. It was incredible, and made me reevaluate how lucky I am.

I got a job at B&Q, though my supervisors were awful, I made some good friends with other members of staff.

I planned to take my life at the end of April.

My Granddad Gate got there first, losing his battle to COPD just three days before I had planned to die. Seeing my Nanny Gate and mum, I decided to not go through with it.

While window shopping on Plenty of Fish, I met @onetruejonsey.

One of my friends from sixth form got me into trying harder drugs. I decided to stop speaking to her, I sometimes still get an angry text to this day.

Me, mum and our abuser got evicted from our house.

2017

@onetruejonsey's mum, knowing the situation with my abuse at home, offered for me to move in with them. We went to London for four days, and decided I should move in by the end of January, six months into dating.

I got a job with him and his mum at McDonalds, we were everyone's parents, and it was amazing.

I was discriminated against because of my mental health, and I gave a days notice that I was quitting. Someone else put in a formal complaint about how they had treated me, which made me feel a lot better about everything.

My Nanny Gate was hospitalised over Christmas, where she stopped speaking, eating, and drinking. Her three favourite things.

2018

@onetruejonsey and I experienced the worst argument I've ever had in a relationship; one of which I still think back to, to try and figure out what happened, and learn from.

My poor mum went off work sick for a broken foot and got evicted from her bungalow in the same month, meaning she had to go back to our abuser.

My Nanny Gate died, but my mum, brother and I were all with her when she passed.

This meant my mum had to pack my Nanny Gate's belongings as well as her own bungalow, the deadline for each was only a couple of days from each other. I moved back in with her for a month to help with this.

I was unemployed for five months, and after working so hard to get out of my overdraft during my time at McDonalds, I ended up with £5 in my bank.

With my Nanny Gate not around to say anything anymore, I began self-harming again. Though @onetruejonsey then made me promise to stop it, and I hate breaking my promises.

I got a job as a Housekeeper at Premier Inn, after my second interview. It was only a Summer job, and they tried so hard to fire me, but never found the grounds. After a teaching job fell through, I got my act together and became one of the best housekeepers at the site.

My fourth, and final niece, little Millie was born. With her ginger curly hair, my heart could have burst with love.

@onetruejonsey and I have a tradition to go to the zoo for my birthday, with my mum and nieces. Surrounded by them and giraffes, he got down on one knee and proposed to me! I cried so much, and so many people congratulated us. Even the guy who yelled "HAS SHE SAID YES YET" which makes me laugh everytime!

2019.

@onetruejonsey and I learnt to drive, and we brought our little car, Moss. We have plans to update him to a better car ASAP, but at the moment, I'm so in love with him that I can't bare the thought of getting rid of him!

After nearly getting our own flat, I can't imagine life without a dog. We decided to stay put with his parents, and save as much money as we can to buy a house. A house we will raise our children in one day, dog and bearded dragon included!

2018 was such a shit year, it took up until Summer this year to recover fully from it. When we decided to start planning our wedding. Of which we have booked 90% of everything.

I went on my twenty-first teaching interview, and after that rejection, I decided the universe was sending me a sign. I had not enjoyed any of my previous work experience, and I didn't enjoy working with the kids during interviews. I made a conscious decision that I would not pursue that anymore.

I was discriminated against at Premier Inn when I went into crisis with my menal health, the same day our hotel manager was visiting with an apprenticeship tutor. I spoke to her, and she offered me a job at a different site, where I would do housekeeping and reception, and an apprenticeship, and get a pay rise, AND one day becoming assistant hotel manager, but maybe at a different site.

My decade did not go as planned. I hoped to be teaching by now, but the universe has had different plans for me. A lot of bad stuff has happened to me, but that's karma I suppose. While at university, I spoke to a good friend, and we talked about how bullshit dream jobs were, and I made a promise to myself that I wanted to grow up to be unapologetically happy. So in this decade, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to work whatever job will pay me that I enjoy, I will come home to a fiance who loves me and I love him, we will have our wedding, we will buy our house together and drive in whatever car we can get, I don't care what it cost or how new it is, we will have our Bassett Hound and whatever little pets we want, and we will one day have children together. And that child will be so loved, I will move mountains for them to never experience pain and hurt of the likes we have experienced.

#personal

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sunshinesukuna · 5 years

Text

divine | nct jaehyun teacher!au x reader

Summary: The kids practically pushed you toward one another.

Genre: Fluff

“And that marks the end our lesson on cell structure and function,” you said. The students in front of you cheered and clapped. “Don’t get too excited, yet. You haven’t even done your exams.” The cheering turned into groans of dissent. You could hear someone muttering things about you in the back.

“I heard what you said, Jackson. Come see me after school later.” Jackson seemed to brush it off, scoffing and looking away. Somebody knocked on the door.

“Come in!” you called. Leaning on the doorframe in thin glasses and several papers in his hands. it was the school’s resident heartthrob, Mr. Jung Jaehyun. He taught mathematics, and you had often consulted with him when you were faced with difficult physics problems.

“Well aren’t you being awfully mean to the students,” he remarked. “And I believe that the class period has changed.”

“Oh, hello Mr. Jung. I was just tidying up, no need to mind me. And Jackson needs to come to me after school because I was going to give him a few tips on his dancing with... GOT7?” You swiveled your head towards the blonde-haired boy. Jackson’s eyes were as big as saucers.

“Am I right?” you asked. “Your b-boying earned you that trophy at the Arts Festival last month, but your dancing still lacks technique, and you need a brushing up on the basics, Jackson.”

You gathered up your books and laptop. Most of the class was still dumbstruck at what you had just said. You started walking to the exit.

“I see. By the way, your outfit looks good today, Miss (Y/N),” Mr. Jung said. You didn’t know what to respond with, so you simply nodded your head and went to your next class.

Over the next few weeks, you met Mr. Jung in small but sweet little encounters. You were moving between classes again and stumbled upon Mr. Jung. He was wearing a smart black suit. One of his hands ran through his hair. Suddenly, you got why all these people were calling Mr. Jung the school heartthrob. He was.. well... really damn handsome.

“Miss (L/N),” he said as he passed by during break one day.

“Mr. Jung.” You wanted to ask him about some meeting results from last week, but you must not have been paying attention. A puddle caught you by accident. You felt yourself falling through the air. Trying to reach for something was impossible in the hallway. Nothing was there to cushion your fall except... Mr. Jung’s arm.

“Oh! Are you okay?” Mr. Jung asked. You hoisted yourself up. The students’ excited murmuring were all pointed at you. Some female students were glaring at you, but Mr. Jung paid no mind to them at all.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m alright.” Your brain was having trouble stringing together words. Small shocks of electricity prevented your body from being to function normally. You freed yourself from Mr. Jung’s grip. “Don’t need to worry about me, ‘cause I’m... gotta go!”

What, what, what, what, what, you thought over and over. You had just made a fool of yourself in front of Mr. Jung. Now he would think you were a total weirdo. You stopped by the bathroom to get yourself together. The person in front of you was sweaty with disheveled hair. After returning back to a better state, you walked out of the bathroom and went to go to your second class.

Fate would have you meet Jung Jaehyun again, this time, at break in the staff room. Your stomach let out a loud grumble. The last meal you had eaten was last night’s dinner, and your stomach was not putting up with it. Mr. Jung looked up at you.

“Are you hungry, Miss (L/N)?” he asked. You waved your hand.

“No, not really. I just didn’t have breakfast.”

“Have mine.” He slid a sandwich from his table. You picked at the plastic covering it before sliding it back to him.

“No, it’s really alright, Mr. Jung. I’ll just buy something at the convenience store later at break.” You opened your laptop again, trying to get him to take back the sandwich.

“No, no, no. Just take it. You have a class after this, right?”

“Well, yes, but-” He stood up. Picking up the sandwich in his long and nimble hands, he put it in your lap.

“Eat. And call me Jaehyun.” Mr. Jung Jaehyun extended his hand. The corners of his lips went up in a smile. Gosh, he really is handsome. You shook hands with him.

“Then call me (Y/N).”

The halls were empty and deserted. Outside were some kids playing basketball for their extracurricular activities. There were bound to be some students inside too, but none of them were showing up. You passed an empty classroom with its door ajar. Walking up to it, you were prepared to close the door, when you heard your name.

“And so we’re going to lead Miss (L/N) here, and you’ll be out here, and-” a student babbled from inside. From the crack in the door, you spied several students and... Jaehyun?

“I heard my name being called? Is there anything that needs me?” you said, bursting in. The students stuffed something into a drawer. You confirmed your suspicions. Ten students were crowded around two tables, with Jaehyun at the head.

“Um, oh, yeah!” a student said. You recognized them as the head of the student council. “The student council needs your help with these matters, and since your our supervisor...” The student led you out of the classroom. They began to talk about an upcoming student event and how the student council would step in.

You nodded and gave bits of advice all while looking back at the classroom. Only one question was stuck in your head for the rest of the day. What was that man up to?

The rest of the week went smoothly. You still had your little encounters with Jaehyun, and each day he was getting sweeter and sweeter. One day, he gave you a ride home on his motorcycle when your car broke down. Another day, he bought you some food for lunch.

Finally, Friday arrived. One last day and you would get two more days of more work! The only thing that relieved it was the fact that you got to do the work at home, instead of at school.

It was a free period, so you were roaming the halls in search of a student you needed to speak with. “Miss (L/N)! Miss (L/N)!” somebody called. You turned back to find the head of the student council behind you. They were panting, exhausted after running.

“What’s the matter?” you asked.

‘Well-” the student paused to take a long breath. “We’re setting up the gym for next week, and we wanna see what you think of it.” You put your hands on your hips. Well, at least this would occupy you for some time.

“Yeah, sure, let’s go.” On the way, the student chattered along about the progress of the event. He pointed out key locations around the corridors that they would use later on. However, none of his words seemed to be staying in your head.

Thought of a man snuck into your brain. A man with soft brown eyes that crinkled whenever he laughed. A man whose voice was as smooth as fresh hotel sheets. A man who had captured your heart.

Jung Jaehyun.

The student had left you at the doors of the hall, saying that they needed to go check on something else. You opened the door.

In place of the harsh lights above, spotlights were installed up above. The dim light made it almost impossible to see. Suddenly, a huge spotlight on top of you lit up.

“What is-”

“Oh, (Y/N). I don’t know how to say this, but let’s get it on,” Jaehyun said, scratching the back of his head.

“I really, really, like you. I don’t know, there’s this-” he paused for a while. “This warm, feeling in my heart whenever I see you. I feel really giddy and warm and just- just wonderful.”

“Oh Jaehyun,” you rushed up to him. Your small height was no match for his taller and stockier physique. He slinked his arms along your waist and pulled you closer.

“Be my girlfriend?” Jaehyun asked, bringing forth a single rose.

And without you knowing it, your lips were on his silky ones. Jung Jaehyun’s scent was enveloping you all at once, loose strands of his hair touching your eyes, and it all felt divine.

#jaehyun #nct jaehyun #jaehyun nct #nct #jung jaehyun #jung yoonoh #nct jung jaehyun #nct jaehyun imagines #nct jung jaehyun imaginees #jaehyun nct imagines #nct jaehyun teacher au #teacher au #jaehyun teacher au #jaehyun nct teacher au

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prorevenge · 7 years

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How I became Summer camp Sherlock.

Okay so, I was having a conversation with a friend and they said this was a good story to post here. I hope you all agree. I decided to add a bit more information on this one than in the original story I told her, since I wasn’t expecting to post it here until she suggested it. Please, enjoy.

Background Info: I work as a staffer at a small summer camp, and during the off season they have retreats. Staffers aren’t treated badly, but we are the lowest on the totem pole and do ALL the hard work, from 7 AM till around 2 AM, so we have some long work days. We also don’t get paid as much as the counselors; we only get about 100$ dollars a week. Our food and board is the rest of the payment, you see, and most of us aren’t old enough to worry about rent quite yet. The camp also has a very strict hiring policy because they have a good reputation and value every member of staff. Also, I’m either an insomniac or narcoleptic, or both if that’s possible (doctors have said all three answers so, I dunno), AND anemic. So, I’m CONSTANTLY tired and trying to nap everywhere. This is important.

The Story: for several week someone from staff has been stealing money from the rest of the workers. Lots of it. At this time I didn’t have a nickname like everyone else, though they did occasionally call me Smartass because I love random facts and can get pretty snarky for the fun of it, or Ninja Napper because I sleep wherever and whenever I can and will attack you if you touch me. But I also love to watch Sherlock and write detective stories, so when my bosses were talking about how to solve this problem, I volunteered.

The Revenge: So I started by scouting everyone out. My closest friends were out of the question, since they roomed with me and I knew where they were at all times. Still, I investigated a bit before ruling them out completely. Then I moved on to the rest of the staffers. There were two I was suspicious of; Britney and Dayton. Britney held true to all the stereotypes about a girl with her name. I know a few nice Britneys, but she was not one of them. How she got on staff I have no clue. Dayton was obnoxious, but a good worker. However, whenever I joked about being keleptomaniacal (because I love stealing and wearing everyone’s clothes- we were all pretty close at this point so it was just fun), he went quiet and laughed nervously.

I checked out the counselors next, but they were clean. Too busy dunking campers in the pool or doing crafts to care about the missing money problems of staffers. Same with Tech team, Rex team, and outdoor team. That’s when I knew that my two suspects, Dayton and Britney, were the only two options. It only took me a day to rule out Dayton. He was off campus when the next theft occurred. Britney had been in the pigpen cleaning dishes, near where the Crime was committed. She was smart, though. She had a ‘witness’ testifying she talked to her the entire time. Even though no one was really sure when the theft took place, they believed her alibi.

The Game: She was relatively clever. It took me two weeks to catch her. First, I had to get her used to some things. 1. I nap everywhere. It was easy to adjust her to this, since I was famous for it (Ninja Napper) already. I don’t sleep in those five hours we get to rest between finishing cleaning up Late Night and serving breakfast in the morning, so I sleep everywhere. On roofs, halfway up the rock climbing wall, under the serving counter, on TOP of the serving counter... you name it, I’ve slept there. Check. 2. It’s impossible to wake me up from noise or light- but touch me even barely and I’ll attack. This was also easy because it was true. Once I managed to sleep, I was dead to the world. If someone bangs pots over my head (happened) I stayed asleep. If someone flicked the lights on right in my eyes (happened) I stayed asleep. If someone brushed me on accident, I attacked. (Ninja Napper) 3. I leave my money wherever. This was a bit of a sacrifice. I’m pretty laidback- and lazy because I’m always tired- so it’s not too far a stretch to believe... but in truth I’m meticulous with my money. I had to leave it and let her steal it for two weeks. That was my paycheck, and she was taking all o it. But sacrifices had to be made if I was going to properly get revenge on Bitchney. 4. I’m an idiot. Everyone knew I was investigating the thief. Including Bitchney. So, I accused several OTHER people, and confided privately about my suspicions to her. Don’t worry, I told the accused beforehand what was going on, but no one else knew. She was... very agreeable when I suggested anyone but her.

The Trap: Finally I set the trap. Over the span of a week, I let her steal about a hundred bucks from me in twenties, each time following her ‘tips’ and ‘accusing’ several people. (The week before it was all fives and ones.) Then, one day, I took a nap next to a handful of twenties (reminder that all this money was my paycheck.) and waited. I videoed her walking up, taking the money, and giving me the fucking bird. Bitch.

The Reward: So, I showed bosses where she kept the money (under her mattress. SO original) and the video. I explained my random accusations to everyone who didn’t know- who all thought I was a bitch by then- and made a ridiculous amount of Sherlock jokes and references on the way, because how could I not? Bitchney was fired, I was given my money back plus a little extra, and my nickname has been Sherlock ever since.

Tl;dr I caught a bitchy thief by napping and making Sherlock references.

Buckle down and let me tell you about Bitchney’s Reichenbach Fall.

Once I went to my bosses with the evidence and they were able to say that she definitely did it, there was a meeting called between her, and... let’s call them Lestrade, Mycroft, the Queen, and Mrs. Hudson. That would be the Camp director, camp supervisor, and the two staff coordinators. Let it be known I was on first name basis with both director and supervisor before this summer, and the coordinators were fond of me since I worked hard and cheerfully to make up for my mostly-accidental naps.

Because I was the witness, the one who provided the evidence, AND the ‘consulting detective’ (couldn’t resist during the investigation), I was called into this meeting as well.

I laid out the evidence, showed then the video and the money, and brought in each ‘accused’ person from the last two weeks so they could confirm that it was an act and I wasn’t a clueless but lucky idiot. Bitchney, in her plastic blue chair, was glaring at me with populargirl-knives-for-eyes.

The time came for her to defend herself. She tried to spin some bullshit story about me framing her. When that didn’t work, she tried to say I was her partner wanting the money to myself. First of all, I couldn’t resist saying at this point that she was acting like a one of those dumb crooks from a tv show. That also didn’t work, and she said a few choice words to me for my comment.

Finally, they excused me from the room. After all, I was a big help but I was just a staffer. It wasn’t appropriate for me to be in the room or contribute to their deliberations. I waited outside for a good twenty minutes before the door was slammed open so hard it almost hit my face (I will admit to tying to eavesdrop) and Bitchney walked out. When she saw me, I fully expected her to leap at me.

Bitchney did not leap at me. She cursed me out, said she’d ruin my social media accounts and call me out on all the slutty stuff I did, and left. As she left, I called to her that Crime never slept, but I certainly did. (I do believe I commented that earlier. No one asked, so I didn’t get to tell this story to explain it ;-;)

Joke’s on her. I don’t have any social media, and I’ve never even dated.

So! While it wasn’t as fun or clever as the actual revenge, it was still hella satisfying to be part of that. Last I heard, she tried to reapply this year. Haha no. The bosses aren’t idiots and won’t rehire a thief.

Tl;dr: “Crime never sleeps but I certainly do!”

(source) (story by 1stdreadpiraterobert)

#prorevenge #by 1stdreadpiraterobert #pro revenge #revenge stories #pro revenge stories #pro #revenge #revengestories

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hansmarx-blog1 · 6 years

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Few Clouds, 5°C

Bommerholzer Str. 9, 58452 Witten, Deutschland

A place you should avoid

Wir sind jetzt dabei, den zweiten Teil unserer Reise durch die USA vorzubereiten. Die Flüge sind gebucht , Harpo hat auch ein Platz im Frachtraum ergattert, es kann losgehen. Am 27. März fliegen wir nach San Francisco, nehmen ein Mietwagen Richtung Sacramento und fahren am nächsten Tag nach Salt Lake City, um zunächst einmal Michelle Simpson zu besuchen, unsere alte Freundin aus Park City. Wir hätten also gerne ein Motel in der Nähe von Sacramento, wo wir auch mit Harpo unterkommen können. Das ist nicht ganz so einfach in den USA. Viele Hotels nehmen keine Hunde, andere werben damit, dass sie Pet friendly seien. Das ist schon mal gut, nicht so gut ist, dass sie sich ihre Freundlichkeit zum Teil fürstlich bezahlen lassen. 50 und mehr Dollar dafür, dass die Töle mit ins Zimmer darf sind da gar nichts. Zum Glück ist das nicht überall so, aber man muss aufpassen.

Das Haus einer bekannten Kette, bei der wir ganz gerne übernachten, machte auf den Bildern einen guten Eindruck Komma aber die Bewertungen auf TripAdvisor hatten es doch in sich. Man wundert sich fast, dass es Hotels auf solche Bewertungen einfach ankommen lassen und sich schon mal gar nicht dafür interessieren. Overall Rating

(13 Reviews) Horror show

March 13, 2019 I'd give no stars if possible and more photos are to come too. My worst experience in a hotel in my entire 58 years on this earth. They disrespected my service to my country as a Veteran. The lady at front desk had no idea of what she was doing or talking about. They have rooms that are so nasty they should be condemned "but as long as the money rolls in who cares" appears to be their moto. Gave us the wrong room and I hobbled to room with my caregiver and the room was already taken and it was OMG like a dumpster and on the one bed was 3 YES 3 little babies I mean like 15 months oldest maybe and for the 3 seconds we stood there it almost made me sick the stink coming out of that room. The weed smell through the whole hotel is like nothing I've smelled before. As I said this is the worst experience I've ever had. I called corporate office and got disrespected again by a "supervisor" and I use that term loosely as possible. The only bright moment in this whole ride through hood trap was speaking to a Jennifer the boss of the incompetent "supervisor who disrespected me. If your a drug addict, gang member or just plain trash do stay here, you'll fit right in and be right at home. I have filed complaints with CPS, The Health Department etc. I've sent all the photos along with a email to every local news station also. This type of behavior cannot be allowed to exist. It's a breeding ground for everything not good for our City and neighbors

Disagree with other reviews here

December 30, 2018 Super friendly staff. Those others must have been fired or something. The parking area and vicinity is patrolled at night and parking was no problem at all there was extra parking unlike other Red Roof locations here in Sac. There is like 10 fast food places within walking distance. (that's me though. For sure, Wendy's across the street. I went to Del Taco like less than a minute drive away. Patricia told me she has been here six months and was very nice letting me know about the veteran's discount. Thanks.

Want Some Heroin with That?!

December 15, 2018 One star only because zero stars aren't an option. I wish I'd checked yelp before booking this piece of sh*t hotel. The lobby appeared clean and contemporary so I figured it was a decent enough place. We came to Sac to see the Nutcracker ballet and when we arrived back at the hotel we were quickly accosted by a turd selling heroin and crack. He even had the nerve to shove a bag of his drugs in my 12 year old daughter's face! To make matters worse, he came out of the office and when I called down there to report him the clerk refused to answer the phone. It appears that the staff is in on the drug selling shenanigans. I called the sherrif's office and reported it. After this I'm posting on Hotels.com, Traveladvisor.com, and contacting the better business bureau and Red Roof Inn's corporate office.

Roaches

November 23, 2018 Reserved a non smoking room but the room smelled badly of smoke. Could have delt with that but the room was filled with cockroaches. Went back to lobby and requested refund. Clerk was polite and processed refund with no issues. So no complaints of the employers. But can't stay in a place with so many roaches. Neighborhood is pretty sketchy too. Did not feel safe parking and staying there.

Very insulting staff and unprofessional lazy manager r December 19, 2017 I just want to start by saying I never write reviews but after the treatment my family received I had to make sure I start good or bad for all deserving businesses. We checked in and was a little surprised how unfriendly and very short (morning) front desk staff was. Tatiana I believe was knowledgeable of her job but short and not friendly. So checking into the room it was clear management didn't check rooms after staff or give *need to fix list for maintenance. There was black hair on bedsheet. Quilt had food stains and other stains I don't wanna know what they were on them. We also noticed black hair in shower. Tub was not clean at all. we called front desk not asking for anything but just telling them for their knowledge. Also, one bulb in living room out and needed few other maintenance things done. Painting, toilet kept stopping up and broken window lock. So my husband had went to grocery store second morning and called front desk to say no service and please don't knock on door because our 11 yr old 12 next week son was there and we told him not open door unless we called to tell him. She said ok, no problems. Third morning we left hotel from bank which is five minutes down the street and it was 1130. We lost track of time but only 30 minutes and told her we were staying. She gave me attitude and said ok but we needed to be there by noon to pay or we would be charged a late fee. Umm ok but we got there by noon. When we got back our son informed us manager had called room and asked him why he was alone and it was against the law. Shocked we went downstairs to find out the problem and asked why they didn't question us when we paid before going up to room. There were two girls who immediatly started scolding us and saying it was against the law and treating us like bad parents. We told them to check state laws because it's at parents discretion after a certain age. And a almost 12yr old was ok alone for 30 minutes to a hour. They then acted shocked and said well they wouldn't do it. So we went back to room and as time passed I couldn't stop thinking about it and spoke to my husband who said it's just those girls and the night shift employee was really nice (a young guy) and security team was also nice and professional we decided to see if anything else would happen as we had one more day on reservation. That night there were sketchy young people outside obviously high and loud. I called front desk and I guess when security is off two days it's party time. Also that night my son had his hand under mattress and pulled out some old candy wrappers. The next morning at breakfast we told Tatiana and she was rude and said maintenance checks all rooms and basically implied we had done it. We even said we didn't expect anything just wanted the management to know they need to walk thru rooms to check on employees. The rest of day went on without incident and we were supposed to check out next morning. So my husband had lost car key and we couldn't find it. We looked all over property and couldn't find it. We made another reservation on line and called front desk (Tatiana again) and told her we made a reservation on line and needed another day. I explained my husband lost keys and she said ok. Our insurance (Geico, and they are awesome) sent a tow truck to us and opened our car. They waited ten minutes for us to search car and leave with them to go and have another very expensive key made. We were at dealership having a key maid when Tatiana called and said they found a car key and it was to a Ford. I was happy but it was to late (not her fault) However, we got back at 12:49pm and went to office to get key. Tatiana said we didn't sign papers by noon and manager charging us $25 late fee. We said we had called before noon to inform them we needed another night and why. She said nope we were supposed to sign by noon and computer started flagging us and charging us late fee. She could've checked us out and had paper there for us to sign and checked us in after we got back. Again, not their problem and manager wasn't there but we could have her voicemail. We were upset and told them we were leaving and we would return to checkout. She said we had 30 minutes or she was keeping our whole deposit. We ran upstairs and five minutes Tatiana calls and says her manager had called Sheriff because we didn't checkout on time. I got really angry and felt like I was being treated extremely poorly by staff. She didn't care and we now only had $10 of our $60 deposit left. I asked why she said 30:and she yelled no, and hurry up. We been informed already of hotel policy's which I thought when I called at noon to tell her we were staying we covered that. She didn't say otherwise. I hung up on her and still hurried out thinking no way a chain like this would let their employees act like this. Then a knock at door and rude maintenance man and two housekeepers stood their until we left, never getting a deposit at all. We waited and manager never came. it was working hours. I know this was long but I will write this review everywhere, every week until refunded deposit and a apology I will stand on Watt Ave and stop business. People gotta know. and as we waited in parking lot a man came out yelling cause he was charged $20 for one dirty towel. Horrible service.

#motel

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marta-bee · 6 years

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Choosing to Vote is Good. Here’s How it Works.

So you’re excited to vote out Trump’s friends this November? Good.

But … maybe you’re a little confused or overwhelmed. Maybe you haven’t realized it yet and won’t know what to do come November 6. That’s less good. Completely understandable, because it is complicated and technical. But as someone with nearly two decades’ experience voting, volunteering with voter advocacy groups, and one miserable stint working as a paid poll registrar, I’m here to help.

(Obviously this is for my American friends. Everyone else, feel free to scroll along!)

(Also obviously, America is huge and ridiculously complicated, and your experience may differ from state to state. Hopefully this will still be helpful.)

(1) Am I registered?

In the US you need to be on the voter rolls before you can vote. It’s actually pretty straightforward, but you do need to do it before election day. You’ll need to feel out a registration form, either by printing and mailing it in, completing it in person at your board of elections or with one of the groups you sometimes see on the street registering voters.

In theory you only need to register once, unless you change your name or address. But governments aren’t perfect and sometimes they’re downright tricksy. It’s a good idea to check before each election to make sure you’re still properly registered.

(True story: one year another voter with a similar name moved out of state and re-registered there, and my local board of elections de-registered me by mistake. They fixed it, of course, but that was much easier because I wasn’t trying to address the problem with an overworked and undertrained staff on election day.)

(Equally true: many governments are deregistering lots of people they suspect are felons (which impacts racial minorities more than whites), have name mismatches between their registrations and other government records (which impacts people with multiple names like Hispanics more than those with more common names by Anglo standards), those who move around to multiple addresses or go long periods without a set address (which impacts both the homeless and younger voters less likely to own a home), or even just those who simply haven’t voted in several elections. None of this is okay. None of it is the voter’s fault. But it’s also all easier to fix when you’re not having to address it on election day.)

Check if you’re registered here.

(2) Where do you vote?

Most people vote at polling locations, usually largeish buildings that aren’t owned by private people or companies. Schools, fire departments, and churches seem popular places in my experience. You should receive the address of a polling place you’re registered with in the weeks before the election. Expect long delays, particularly if you’re voting at peak hours (before/after work and lunchtime).

Most states also let you vote at the county board of elections in the weeks leading up to the election. Some are only open in standard business hours (Mon-Fri 9-5), though some have evening or weekend availability. There’s often less wait, though again this depends a lot on when you go in.

Finally, most states allow mail-in (absentee) ballots. You need to request a ballot several weeks before the election, which they will mail to you and you should in turn mail back completed. Some states only allow this for voters who can’t vote in person, for example people traveling out of state on election day or those with physical or mental conditions that make it difficult to vote in person.

Find out more on your state’s regulations for early voting here, or absentee ballots here.

(3) What should I bring with me?

Besides a good book? ;-)

You’ll probably need some kind of ID. States vary: some have really stringent laws and demand a driver’s license or the non-license official photo IDs issued by the DMV. Others take less official photo IDs (like school IDs and benefit cards), and some just need proof you live at your address like a utility bill or pay stub. More details state by state here.

Also, bring your voter registration card if you have it. You should receive it by mail before the election. Technically not required, but having it proves you’re in the right place, which can make the precinct staff more motivated to help you, in my experience.

(4) Who should you vote for?

Obviously that’s your decision. But if you’re not going to vote straight-ticket for whomever your party nominated (good!), you should probably familiarize yourself with the different candidates. Ballotpedia has a neat tool where you enter your zip code and can see the candidate for each race in your county, along with link to their biographies, voting history, policy positions, and campaign supporters. ,

Many states (not all) also have ballot initiatives, where voters can vote directly on legislative proposals. Again, the key is to know what you’re voting for or against. See Ballotpedia’s list of initiatives on the ballot this November.

(5) What if they don’t let you vote?

Say you do everything right: you register, you turn up at the right place within the proper hours with the right ID, And you’re still not allowed to vote for whatever reason.

Sometimes administrative errors happen. Remember you’re working with staff who received fairly minimal training for a single day’s work, and have been dealing with (perhaps justifiably) irate people all day. Be as nice as you can without sacrificing your rights. Ask them to check the voting rolls again, and if they still can’t find you ask to cast a provisional ballot. They’ll forward it to the Board of Elections, who will count it once they confirm you actually should have been allowed to vote.

Sometimes it seems more sinister, though. If you think you’re being bullied or if the lines are excessively long or for whatever reason you think they’re purposefully trying to keep you from voting... still be as nice as you can without sacrificing your rights. Get them to check again for your name and file a provo. But then find someone helping monitor the election -- they’ll either be in the precinct, or on the sidewalk a little way from the polling place -- and tell them your problem. They may be able to help, and if they can’t help you in that moment, they’ll certainly report the problem so appropriate legal action can be taken if there’s a trend.

If all else fails, call 866-OUR-VOTE. They’re staffed by election lawyers who work to address these issues that keep you from voting, and really want to hear about your problem.

(Another true story. In 2014 we had a poll registrar – the person who verified voters were in the right place and gave them their ballots – who turned several voters away because their IDs didn’t match the names they were registered under. We’re talking a difference in a diacritical, or where they had two last names on the ID but only one on the voting rolls. My state’s law allows for minor variance as long as the voter is “identifiable” as the person in the ID; it doesn’t need to be an exact match, but apparently the girl registering voters didn’t know this.

(I went in, respectfully identified myself, pulled up the appropriate regs on my phone, and convinced the registrar and her supervisor to let the two ladies I still had on hand to vote using regular ballots. I don’t doubt this worker was just frustrated and under-trained, but it did help I knew who to complain to!)

So in closing:

I jest, of course. Keep it legal. But do vote.

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