Ready to see how Corey's first day at work goes? Read on to find out below and enjoy, my loves. =)
Waking up the next day, Corey showered and got ready for the first day of his new job, working at Gas Chambers Ink. It was still fairly surprising to the tattooed man that he had gotten the job in spite of his limited references, but he wasn't going to question it. After all, with his prior experiences and work ethic, Corey felt he was a more than capable and qualified person for the job, so today he was going to get the chance to prove it to his new bosses and co-workers. After getting dressed in a plain black t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, Corey grabbed his phone, wallet, and room key and left his room to begin his walk to Gas Chambers Ink. As he walked along, Corey could only wonder what his first day on the job was going to be like. Maybe he'd have to work under one of the other tattoo artists there, or maybe he'd just have to help out with some small stuff there like assist customers that came in. Whatever the job, he'd do it to the best of his ability and not complain about it. 'After all, it's the least I could do to prove myself to Jeff, Shannon, and everyone else working there,' Corey thought to himself. Reaching the tattoo parlor, Corey pushed one of the doors open, stepped inside, and was immediately greeted by the sight of Alex helping a customer out with the stuff they were going to need to care for their tattoo. Looking ahead to the back work area, the tattooed brunette could see that Jeff and a couple of other tattoo artists were working on a few more customers. Stepping up to the receptionist's area, Corey caught the tail end of the talk Alex was having with the customer.
"I still can't believe you got something like 'Drug Free' tatted on your knuckles," Alex said, looking at the customer's, a man with shoulder-length black hair and who was wearing a dark blue shirt and black shorts, newest tattoos. "Doesn't that hurt?"
"Nah, not so much," the customer said, shrugging. "When you've gotten as many tattoos as I've gotten over the years, you get used to the sting of the needle."
"If you say so," Alex said, still staring at the man's tattoos before finally managing to look away and look up at the man. "So, do you think you'll be able to work tomorrow?"
"More than likely, I will," the man said. "I'm no newbie when it comes to getting tattooed, so once I can let my fingers heal up, I should be good to go with using them tomorrow."
"OK. But, make sure to call Jeff, Shannon, or Jesse if you can't make it tomorrow. Just so that they can know ahead of time if they'll have to call anyone to cover for you," Alex said.
"Yes, mom," the man said, sharing a laugh with Alex as he took the ointment and care book from the younger brunette. Turning around, the man said "Oop! Sorry, man. My bad."
"No worries," Corey said, waving off the near collision. Watching as the dark haired man walked out of the parlor, Corey turned to Alex and said "Morning, Alex."
"Morning, Corey," Alex said, smiling up at the Pittsburgh native. "Ready for your first day of working here?"
"You bet," Corey said, smiling. Jerking his thumb back towards the door, Corey asked "So, I'm guessing that guy is one of the other employees that works here?"
"You'd be right in saying that," Alex confirmed with a nod. "That was Phil Brooks, but, a lot of people call him Punk. I think it's because of his style or something like that. Whichever you choose to call him, he'll be cool with it."
"I'll be sure to settle on a name tomorrow, then," Corey said, filing this bit of info away. "So. Where do I start working?"
"Well, since Punk's got today off, Shannon might have you working his chair today. I'd go ask him first, if I were you, though," Alex said.
"Cool," Corey said before he headed back to Shannon's office. Making his way back to where he remembered Shannon's office was, Corey knocked on the door and waited until he could hear Shannon say "Come in". Grabbing hold of the doorknob and giving it a turn, Corey pushed the door open and saw Shannon sitting behind his desk. Giving a wave of his hand, Corey said "Morning, boss."
"Morning, Corey," Shannon said, smiling and returning Corey's wave. "Ready to start you first day here at Gas Chambers Ink?"
"Yep," Corey said, nodded. "So, where do you want me working today?"
"Well, since one of my usual artists is out because he got a tattoo of his own today, so I was thinking maybe I could have you work his chair today," Shannon said.
Letting out a bit of a laugh, Corey said "Alex told me the exact same thing when I first got here. Guess she's thinking like a boss should."
Laughing a bit himself, Shannon said "Yeah, that's Alex. She may not look it, but she's got a good head for things are supposed to work."
"If you don't mind me asking, just how old is Alex?" Corey asked.
"She's 18 years old, so it's fine that she's working here," Shannon said. Seeing the look of surprise on Corey's face, Shannon let out another laugh and said "Yeah. That tends to be the general reaction when we tell people how old Alex is. She looks so young, so people just tend to think that she's still about 13 or so."
"Trust me. I think I can relate a bit there," Corey said. Seeing the look of slight question on his boss's face, Corey said "Back where I'm from, I have a younger sister who's 20, but there are people that still tend to think she's a teenager herself. It's always funny listening to my sister prove them wrong."
Laughing a bit more, Shannon said "Well, she sounds pretty great. If you ever plan to, you ought to invite her to come visit you here. I'm sure she'd like seeing her brother at work."
"I'm sure she would, Shannon," Corey said, smiling as he thought of Alexa. "Well, I guess I should get to working now."
"OK. Good luck with your first day. And, make sure you hang back after we close. I'm gonna need to talk to you about something," Shannon said.
"OK," Corey said, before turning and walking out of the office. Heading back around to the front of the parlor, Corey took a breath in and let it out as he thought 'Well. Here goes nothing. Time to start my first day at my new job.'
After arriving in the morning, the tattooed Pittsburgh native settled into helping work with the other employees of Gas Chambers Ink. Around when everyone was taking off for a lunch break, Corey was introduced by Jeff to two of the other tattoo artists, a bald man with a short beard named Raymond Rowe and a tall woman with long black hair with red streaks dyed into it with some shaved off on the right side of her head and the rest was combed over to the left named Jessicka Cricks. Making his own personal introductions, Corey eased into talking with the two, Jeff, Alex, and Shannon during lunch. As it would turn out, the tattooed man got along pretty well with two of his fellow co-workers, with one of the main things that helped them establish a bit of a friendship with the two. Once their break was done, the group went back to work up until the parlor closed at 8 that evening, with Paige coming in at around 3 in the afternoon to relieve Alex of her post for the day. All while Corey worked and talked with his co-workers and the customers he tattooed-many of them being female, something Jeff and the others couldn't help but laugh a bit at; even Paige shared a laugh with the others-he started to feel like he did when he was working at the tattoo parlor he worked at in Pittsburgh. Sure, the clientele wasn't exactly the same, but everyone that came in seemed pretty cool, and that was something he really liked. ...Well, he could do without a lot of the flirting-subtle and not-so subtle-from some of the female customers, but he felt that'd be something he'd probably get used to in time.
When 8 o'clock came around that evening, Shannon closed up the shop and, after everyone was done cleaning up, the day's money was all accounted for, and left, it was just Corey and Shannon left. Looking to the taller man, Shannon said "Well, I'd say today was a success for you, wasn't it, Corey?"
"It was," Corey said, grabbing hold of the take-out container of pasta that he didn't finish eating during his break earlier and the bottle of water he had . "Although...looking back on things now, I was honestly thinking that you and Alex were joking at the whole "Beware the eye humpers" thing. Thought that was just something you guys said to spook new employees."
Laughing at what Corey said, Shannon said "Nope. I mean, I guess the slight flirting is most the ladies' way of saying thanks for their tats, but, sometimes, some of the girls just go a bit overboard."
"I'll make sure to file that away for later," Corey said. "So, was there something you wanted to talk with me about?"
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, right," Shannon said, suddenly remembering what he wanted to talk with Corey about. "I was going to ask you about days during the week you'd want to work. If you don't know right off the bat, just let me know tomorrow, and I can work on fitting you into the schedule."
"Cool. I'll, uh, be sure to let you know tomorrow. I don't even know when I want to work, to be honest, so maybe after I sleep on it, I'll know," Corey said.
"Great. Well, that's all I have to talk about with you for now. I'll see you tomorrow...let's say tomorrow afternoon at 3, around when Paige comes in. Saturdays tend to be pretty busy since it's the weekend, so we could use all the artist hands around we can get," Shannon said.
"Sounds good to me," Corey said. "I'll see you tomorrow, then."
"OK. Be safe on your way home," Shannon said, waving goodbye.
"Thanks. You do the same, boss," Corey said, waving back to one of his bosses. Walking away from the tattoo parlor, Corey let a triumphant smile slide across his face. After a long day of tattooing and getting to know some of his new co-workers, Corey was feeling on cloud nine right now. And considering the fact that Shannon was already trusting him to help with busier days at the tattoo parlor was having Corey feeling even more determined to work hard at his job. With luck, when he could eventually get paid, he could send some money back home to Alexa and have some to keep for himself. All it was going to take was keeping up the good work and working well with everyone else.
...OK. So, I know that it was pretty bare bones-y what all went into Corey's first day, but I feel it was best to go this route so that I could move into some of what I have planned for the next chapter. But, hey. At least we got to meet three more of Corey's co-workers in Raymond Rowe (check him out in Ring of Honor (ROH), he's cool), Jessicka Cricks (better known as Jessicka Havok, or Havok), and Phil Brooks (known to the world as CM Punk...yeah, I had to include him). And, it looks like Corey had a pretty good first day. I mean, he had to deal with some of the lady customers flirting with him, but at least he blew it all off. With more work on the horizon, seems like things might be looking up for Mr. Graves. So, until the next chapter, don't forget to R&R please. =)