0 comments

American Contemporary Fiction

Ellen cleared up her locker in an order that she must leave the premises of the company where she had worked for the last 15 years, a job she loved so much and now she has to go for two reasons. Was she a victim of conspiracy of her co-workers with their supervisor and her boyfriend? The result was then for her to resign stating the report she had submitted was not true Their conflict started when she joined another group of friends and then a rumor circulated that Marisa was dating his boyfriend that's why she left her. Ellen and Marisa didn't expect this to happen. Marisa was their supervisor and Marco was his boyfriend. At work Marisa would tell her to look after the newcomers she hired to work. they had this particular worker that would do all the work and didn't mind the people around her whether they are working or not. Her name was Jane. Jane focus on her assigned task to sort all the parts of the computers she disassembled. The most important part was the greenboard, If you look at it, the pin needles are actually gold so as a recycled material it will cost a high price. How many green boards were packed into big cardboard boxes that were filled into container vans ready for export or delivered to a domestic customer?. The next important part are the lithium batteries extracted from the cellphones and smart phones. Batteries from old cellphones are the round ones while batteries of smart phones were flat. Barrels of these round ones were sold by the barrels while the flat ones were packed in big cardboard containers. Steel and aluminum were also recycled from computers and other home appliances. Copper wires had different sizes volume and length and commands high prices and high demand in the market. Fine wires from battery chargers, telephone wires, electric wires come in many sizes. Ellen instructed her group to look closely after Jane so one day two girls tried to take her place in front of the conveyor where they are picking green boards batteries plastic aluminum and steel parts. Instead of giving way to them she threw the materials into the bin very hard saying nothing so the two girls had to step back and went to Marisa and told what Jane did. Ellen was there looking after Jane. Ellen tried to explain to Jane that she must follow the supervisor. Jane continued what she was doing saying nothing. The same thing happened when Jane was opening laptops, with the instruction of Jane to be assigned to work with two newcomers. Jane was caught by surprise when one of them asked her to sweep the floor. Sarcastically Jane said "Do it yourself" she continued what she is doing. Ellen didn't go with the girls but she joined another group where Marisa got an idea to let Ellen write a report against Jane. Ellen didn't know Marisa and Marco were getting closer to each other. They ate at the same time during lunch break and Ellen was taking hers at the other lunchroom. Why did Ellen agreed to write a report against Jane? She thought that would remind Marisa that they are still friends. How stupid Ellen had done that. When the Human Resources called her at the office she can't believe to be out of job submitting a report against Jane just to please Marisa. Now she didn't know where to go after picking all her things and she knows she is not in her right mind, to do something that she ruined herself in favor of a friend and the loss of a dream job she had held for a long time. It didn't came into her mind the hardship of landing a high paying job in the manufacturing industry where others consider it as low paying job but it depends if you were doing it for a long time you have earned enough and the pay is above average not other similar companies could give the same pay. So was it Ellen's mistake to give a favor where she paid a high price to loss a job and a boyfriend as well. Five years passed. Ellen had been working at a cleaning company where they cleaned commercial establishments and private homes. Most of the time they cleaned big enterprises like restaurants when they catch fire. This restaurant was housed in an old building. When Ellen entered the building kitchen utensils were not arranged properly by the previous cleaner so what she did was to put items in one location, then put containers of spices, canned goods like beans, soups and baking goods on shelves. It took her two weeks to be able to clean the floor deep cleaned the stairs going to the second floor. At the second floor she focused her attention on the male and female washrooms beside each other. The female washroom had an antiquated sink with an oval mirror. She brought out all the items and separated those that looked new like toilet paper. Some cleaning stuff that she was able to use, She washed the floor and cleaned it imagining one could sleep on the floor, that's what she wanted to do as a qualified cleaner. In her mind she will no longer do the group work like the one she had before. In cleaning she could add more hours to work independently in private homes. She tried to totally forget her experience in the past and concentrated on her present job. What she expects was to get more clients then she will have a totally independent cleaning company of her own. She had clients like doctors and other professionals. And she is working out to clean a whole building with real state offices owned by only one broker. No way to get another boyfriend like Marco whom she heard he married Marisa. Nowadays you are not sure what the future holds but if she could find a better guy who knows maybe she could get back all what she had lost.

September 25, 2022 03:17

You must sign up or log in to submit a comment.

0 comments

Bring your short stories to life

Fuse character, story, and conflict with tools in the Reedsy Book Editor. 100% free.