What You Want Part 3
Two Weeks Ago
"Do you speak English?"
"Yep, and a bit of Espanol not to brag." The Beef Up interviewer didn't seem to appreciate Chip's forced chuckling. The blonde coughed a second later, sitting back and offering a meeker. "Yes."
"Alright, and I see you put Wholesome Foods manager under prior job experience. May we contact them for reference?"
Chip tsked. "Uh not really, on account of me no longer being 'brand friendly'." The interviewer just raised her brow, before turning back to her computer with a sigh. "I see…well,lucky for you as long as you can talk Beef Up doesn't tend to be too picky with hiring."
"Uh..thanks?"
The interviewer shook her head. "Can you work nights, Monday through Friday?"
Chip shrugged. "Sure, what's that like, til 9? 10?"
The interviewer snorted at that. "A little later than that."
'til 6am are you kidding me?' Chip shouted in his head as he was led down the corridor of cubicles to the one by the Men's restroom. Great.
"So what do I-" Chip's query was interrupted as his interviewer shoved a paper into his hands, before gesturing to the phone sitting there on his cubicle desk next to a cheap headset. "You call the numbers on the paper and sell some Beef Up. Have fun." She sounded extra sarcastic on the last part.
Chip frowned as he peered at the headset before looking back over his shoulder. "Wait, but how do I-"
The interviewer was already gone.
"Uh oh."
Chip bit his lip as he looked back at his 'work supplies'. "Okay…shouldn't be too hard…" That said, five minutes later, someone in a neighboring cubicle had to politely tell Chip he was wearing his headset upside down.
Present
"Bill wait-" Chip had to take a second to breathe before he continued chasing after Bill down the hall to the building's elevator. Tilly and Cricket had elected to stay behind in the Kludge. Tadd chose to take the stairs. "Could you at least slow down?" Apparently not. "What are you even gonna do?"
"I just want to have a small chat about your hours." Bill explained with a no-nonsense frown as the elevator doors finally opened and the farmer stepped inside. Chip's annoyance flared as he held the doors open and begrudgingly walked in to stand beside Bill. "I don't need a savior, Bill." Chip shoved away the thoughts at the back of his mind that pointed out that Bill lending a hand was the only reason Chip wasn't going insane living under a bridge right now.
Thankfully Bill didn't point it out either. They both just stood there in semi awkward silence as Bill punched in their floor number and the doors closed. (because of course Tadd had to be that specific).
The silence was short lived of course. As soon as the elevator doors slid open a plethora of office sounds and tics filled the air. Chip cringed, keeping his head low as a couple of his coworkers turned their heads to peer at the two, eyeing Bill's clearly against dress code attire.
"Bill," Chip's final plea fell on deaf ears as Bill casually walked down the side hall. "Alright Chip, where's your-"
"Whistler!"
Chip jumped, instinctively tucking in his shirt. "Ah! Sorry. Coming bo-" He coughed as Bill gripped him by the shoulder with a sigh. Chip gritted his teeth in slight panic as his boss apparently picked his head out from across the office and came to them.
As soon as Bill saw Chip's boss, he let out a soft groan. "Of flip flapping course-"
"Whistler." Chip's boss, Mr. Jyle Donelan crossed his arms as he came to stand in front of the two.
'Of all the people in Big City,' Was Bill's exasperated thought as he sighed, rubbing the space between his brows. Chip meanwhile had shrugged off Bill's grip, stumbling forward. "Boss, I can totally explain why I'm two minutes and thirty seconds late." Bill fought the urge to groan again, memories of this soul crushing place all coming back to him. Poor Chip, he'd probably been struggling even more than Bill had-
"What?" Jyle shook his head. "Forget that Whistler, I need you to help Jan Pawn in cubicle thirteen, she's dying out there." Bill frowned, following Jyle's pointed hand to the poor woman stuttering up a storm as she nervously tried to talk to a potential 'customer'.
" Ho boy , alright I got it" Chip shook his head as he darted over to her, completely ignoring Bill momentarily calling after him. The farmer hummed in slight frustration as he lowered his arm, Chip now too distant to hear him.
Jyle turned to frown at him. "Hey, wait a minute, do I know you? You look almost , infuriatingly familiar, have we-" Bill sighed, grabbing his hat from his side pocket, and putting it on, immediately sparking realization in Jyle.
"Bill Green!" Jyle snapped his fingers in triumph. "The farmer who sold by far the least amount of Beef Up in our company's history, I knew you looked familiar." Bill offered a tight lipped, fake smile. "Well now I don't know about that-"
"Well I'm glad to see you Green."
Bill blinked. "You are?"
Jyle nodded, sporting a cocky grin. "Because I've been training since our last fight race, and I'm more than ready for a rematch-"
"Oh no, no, no," Bill shook his head with a short laugh. "I didn't come here for that." Jyle's frown returned. "Oh….well then what do you want, farmer?" The shorter man barked as his demeanor quickly shifted. "Sorry, but we can't afford any more new hires right now, you'll have to-"
"Hehe, no ." Bill shuddered at even the thought of working here again. "Actually I'm here to talk to you about Chip."
Jyle hummed in confusion. "Whistler? What's there to talk about, he's doing great."
"Well that's very nice ,but-" Bill blinked just now recognizing the word, "great" used in reference to Chip and his work ethic….huh?
"Um, sorry, what?" Bill laughed uneasily.
Jyle cocked his brow as he cracked open a can of Beef Up. "You got dirt in those ears, farmer? I said the kid's been doing great. He's definitely a heck of a better salesman than…." Jyle looked Bill up and down as he trailed off, the implication obvious.
Bill was a bit too confused to be offended by the perceived insult, so confused he accidentally stalled long enough for Jyle to roll his eyes and carry on his way to another cubicle. "Well nice talk farmer, but also don't stay too long, this is a place of business after all."
"Chip's doing….great? At work?" Bill blinked again, scratching the side of his forehead.
"It's true, unfortunately." Bill jumped, spinning around to see Tadd sitting there in the cubicle next to him. Huh, well that was convenient. Tadd sighed, the sound of his sharpener whirling as he inserted another pencil. "He's a complete moron of a manchild, but…blort if he can't sell some Beef Up."
Bill arched his brow, leaning against the wall slightly as he stuffed his hands into his pockets in thought. "Huh.."
Tadd shrugged, taking out his sharpened pencil to blow on it before grabbing another. "I wouldn't believe it either if I didn't see it with my own eyes. Blort, he was completely clueless when he first got here."
A Week and half Ago
Tadd groaned as the sound of incoherent mumbling continued to bug him. What he got for having a cubicle next to the copy room he supposed. He sighed, trying to concentrate on the call. "Sir I promise you, you will see a major change in your appearance when you start drinking Beef Up." Granted probably not a good change per say, but hey that's what you get for trusting a telemarketer.
"Uh huh, so you want to start with the 12 pack, very good choice sir let me just-"
"Urghhhh, c'mooon, work you piece of-"
Tadd huffed, barely containing his urge to scream. "Actually, if you could just excuse me for a moment." Tadd didn't bother to hear out the customer's snippy reply as he placed the rube on hold. "Alright then." The twenty-five year old spun his office chair around to actually face the copy room and the poor sap inside. Just as Tadd suspected the sap looked new, probably got hired the other day and-'Wait a second…why does he look familiar?'
Tadd squinted, leaning forward in his chair. A second passed, then another, then-'What the blort? That's the guy I heard about on the News, that rich idiot who crashed his chopper. Chip uh, Whistler! That's it.'
…So what was he doing working for Beef Up?
Tadd frowned, before cringing in forced empathy as Chip accidentally smashed his finger with the copier lid. Tadd rolled his eyes, sighing as he cupped a hand around his mouth. "Pssst." Chip, jolted, looking around like an idiot like he'd heard a ghost.
Tadd shook his head. "Over here." ' Moron.'
Chip's eyes widened as he finally saw him. The blonde still looked behind him like Tadd might've been talking to someone else(when the copy room was completely empty). He pointed at himself a second later, mouthing "Me?"
Tadd rolled his eyes. "Yes you." He pointed at the copier. "Sometimes you have to hit it a little to get it going." Chip blinked, squinting his eyes with a frown. "What?"
'For a Whistler he sure has bad hearing.' Tadd sarcastically quipped to himself before repeating himself in exasperation. The idiot still paused, looking back and forth at the copier then back at Tadd. Tadd sighed after a minute, gesturing towards the top of the machine. "Hit it."
Chip blinked. "Umm," He tilted his head at the copier with a confused frown. "Like right now?"
Tadd groaned. 'For blort's sake' He shook his head as he reluctantly stood up and walked the short distance from his cubicle into the copier room. "Like this, okay." Tadd smacked the top of the copier with a loud thud. Chip's eyes widened as he watched it hum to life a second later.
"Oh," Chip blinked. "Thanks for that."
"Yeah sure no problem." Tadd briskly replied. 'Now to just get back to my cubicle before he starts-'
"I've just been kinda struggling to be honest ."
Tadd groaned. '-talking.'
Chip shook his head with a sigh. "I just don't understand how we're supposed to sell, this. " Chip gestured to the open can of Beef Up he had set on the counter whilst trying to get the copier to work. "It tastes like if a cactus and a skunk had a baby." To demonstrate the blonde took a sip of the drink, only to spit it out seconds later.
Tadd shook his head with a sigh. Eh Chip wasn't wrong.
So he shrugged. "I don't know you were once this big ceo right? You gotta sell it, lie a little."
Chip frowned. "Uh huh…right…it's just that, I'm kinda not supposed to be doing that." Tadd blinked. "I'm sorry?"
"Like, I'm not really supposed to be lying it uh," Chip shrugged, like he wasn't really certain. "It's like..bad?"
Tadd had to do a retake, like a serious retake. "So? What are you, a child?"
"What? Noo, Of course not." Chip obviously fake laughed. Tadd rolled his eyes. "This is a job, ok, you leave your morals at the door. You sell Beef Up and you get good at selling Beef Up."
Chip slowly nodded. "Uh…yeah okay. No problem."
Tadd shook his head in bewilderment. 'How sheltered is this guy?'
"Oh hey," Chip suddenly perked up. "I never introduced myself." He reached his hand out in a friendly manner. "I'm-"
"Chip Whistler. I'm aware." Tadd ignored Chip's hand. Nothing personal, he just didn't want anyone around the office to start thinking he was friendly. Would just cause him more work. "You're new."
Chip shrugged with an awkward laugh. "Yeah I guess so, do you-"
"Know about the whole the chopper thing, yeah so does half of Big City." Tadd shook his head as the copier finally dinged as the idiot's copied customer list popped out a second later.
"I was gonna ask if you knew where the bathroom was around here." Chip's mouth tightened into an awkward frown. Tadd rolled his eyes. Again, with the favors. "It's on the other side of the office, left of the drinking fountain."
"Oh cool." Chip nodded. "So what's your name-"
"Tadd, Tadd Late." Tadd answered with a sigh. If the moron was smart, he'd refrain from making the obvious-
"Oh." Chip perked up with a light chuckle. "I get it, like a tad la-"
Tadd didn't let the moron finish, grabbing Chip's collar and wrenching him down to his level. "Yes, like a tad late. Oh how original you are, I should give you the gold medal for comedy." Chip blinked, giving the shorter man a pointed frown. "You seem to like interrupting people."
Tadd rolled his eyes, releasing the blonde. "Yeah well it's a bit hard having a pun for name you know."
"Oh tell me about it." Chip sighed, in something close to empathy. "You should see the kind of jokes my family cracks, it is brutal ." Tadd frowned at that, most people he'd have scared off by now, just his 'alluring' personality at work. Also this lunatic had a family? Weird.
"So uh..TGIF, am I right?" Chip smiled awkwardly, at least it looked awkward with that dorky gap in his teeth, yeesh people used to be afraid of this guy?
"What? It's Wednesday." Tadd shook his head. "Whatever, I gotta get back to work."
"Oh yeah of course." Chip laughed, as he stepped to the side and gestured to the door. Tadd just raised his brow with a frown before sighing again as he left for his cubicle. He'd be surprised if the idiot lasted more than a few more days here.