1.k.
“We’ve tried
that,” Tanya Jefferson – aka Business Woman – said to the man behind the
desk. “We followed the signs with the
‘red fives’ but ended up in a gift shop instead of at an exit.”
“I’m so
sorry,” the man said, lightly brushing the ginger colored fuzz of his upper lip
with his middle finger. The woman was
quite attractive and he hoped she might notice his thickening moustache and pay
him a much deserved compliment. “There
was a changeover in hallway labeling recently, but I’ve managed to get the
current key-code listing e-mailed to me.
So exits, once marked with a green letter E, changed last week to the
red five. It appears as though the
designation has changed again, this time to a brown two.”
“So we follow
the brown number twos?”
This was the
third time the woman had visited his desk today. She was obviously into him, and he’d always
had a thing for black girls. Why hadn’t
she mentioned his ‘stache yet?
“That’s what
it says, but if you run into trouble again… just come back here and find me.”
He leaned
forward and flashed his eyes in what he hoped was an attractive way. The woman smiled. Was this approval of his eye flash or did the
light suddenly glint off his facial hair, capturing her gaze with its lustrous
twinkle?
“Thank you…
Roger,” she said, glancing at his name badge during the pause between the thank
you and his name. Then she turned to her
companion –a male companion he noted, surprised by the jealousy– and motioned toward
the brown twos.
Roger was
delighted when the woman returned twenty minutes later. She was scowling. He found the severe expression very
seductive.
“Brown two,”
she said, pausing long enough for him to nod an enthusiastic gesture of understanding,
“marks pathways to several restroom locations.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh.”
“I’m so sorry,
Miss…” he figured that it was time he knew her name.
“Not that it
matters, but you can call me Ms. Adams,” Tanya Jefferson said.
“Ms. Adams,”
he said, a shiver running through him.
“I apologize. Let me find out
what’s going on. I’m not supposed to do
this, but for you,” he winked, “I’m going to break protocol and phone upper
management.”
Roger pressed
and held a bottom on his head-set and said, “Code 58008… Yes, this is Roger at Help Desk Nine. I have a guest here who is having trouble
finding an exit… Oh no, red five was replaced with brown two according to this
morning’s e-mail, however, brown two seems to mark restroom locations… Oh…
yeah, very funny. Right. I know.
I think someone in corporate is being cute and paying themselves a lot
of money to come up with all these changes.
I know. Yeah, and how much extra
money do I get for all the extra work their on-a-whim changes create at my
level?”
“Roger?” Tanya
said.
“Oh, sorry,”
he said, clearing his throat. “So yeah. Where does the guest need to go to get
out of this place? Uh huh… Oh, okay… And
you’re sure about this? Thanks.”
Roger released
the button on his head set and said, “So as a result of follow up surveys and
comment cards, corporate has discovered that numerical labels were confusing to
our guests and even illegal according to certain building codes which require that
exits be clearly marked in specific ways.
Maintenance is, at this very moment, installing exit signs over all exit
doors and convenient exits signs with arrows to lead guests to those previously
referenced final exit signs.”
Tanya leaned
forward, her lips trembling –from repressed passion Roger assumed– as she tried
to smile, and said, “Could you kindly point us toward any one of these numerous
exit signs?
Roger winked
and lifted his hand slightly, gesturing toward an overall-clad maintenance man
perched atop an aluminum ladder, leisurely installing an exit sign.
