Chapter Text
Tori woke up slightly later than she expected, until she realised that no, she hadn’t woken up from a peaceful night's rest, but instead from a quick nap on the subway. As she looked up, her eyes adjusted to the strangely bright lights of the rattling car, then swore loudly. Greenwood. She’d missed her stop four miles ago. She checked her watch and swore quietly under her breath. 9:30am. The interview was in a half-hour.
Tori was never great with first impressions.
Practically sprinting out of the subway in her two-inch heels, she barely held onto her handbag before hailing down a taxi, wincing as she realised she’d be paying more money. She was a bit stingy after her ‘ramen noodle days’ of college and of course, her lack of income. Honestly Tori couldn’t help but wonder if college had been a waste. With no job, no non-family relationships and somehow, no spare time at twenty-six, she was beginning to doubt she’d get anywhere when adding all her failures to college debt.
Botany. What had she been thinking?
Tori handed over the ridiculous ten dollars (she was sure it was a scam - how, she didn’t know) without tipping (the driver honked his horn in anger) and rocketed through the parking lot. She glanced down at her watch, almost smiling to herself. 9:57am. She looked back up again, only to find her reflection, followed by a sharp thud.
She had walked into the door.
Tori let out a long groan from the pavement, cradling her sore forehead, before realising her hands had also been scrapped up pretty badly. Perfect. She wondered if there was a security man watching the feeds. She hoped he was having a good laugh at her stupidity.
But no, just her luck. The door in question squeaked open to reveal a man.
Screw employment, her dignity just took a leaping dive off the board into a pool of shame, where she was left drowning at the bottom. She’d be the laughing stock of the office, unless this guy kept it a secret and held it above her head for the two weeks she’d be there before getting fired, by the probably ‘old-guy-has-been-in-the-business-for-forty-years’ boss for not getting his coffee right in the morning, when she wasn’t even his assistant.
“Oh, my gosh, are you alright?”
And then, she remembered Pam’s words. Nice people. A glimmer of hope hung blurry in the distance, but Tori was determined to catch it before it faded away into the dark, dank pit that was the rest of her life.
“Oh! Uh-” She cleared her throat, “Yeah, yeah I uh-”
“Ran into a door?” The guy chuckled and crouched down to her level on the path and grinned, though, thankfully, it wasn’t snarky or teasing. Just amused.
“Huh, so that’s what that was.” She turned her head to the side in thought, tapping her finger against her chin before reaching over to grab the handbag she had lost in her tumble, only to find the guy had already grabbed it. He stood up to his full height -Woah, was he tall,- and held his hand out.
He grinned when she took it, and called, “One, two, three-” before hauling her up. Thankfully, it seemed the man made up for Tori’s severe lack of upper body strength, when she was pulled up safe and sound off the asphalt. “Jim. Halbert. Yeah.”
“Tori. Lucky. Thanks.” Silence fell for a moment, before the man- Jim- pulled open the door for her, leading her into the plain office building. After making her way through reception, Jim and Tori made their way into the elevator, pausing as they both chose the same floor number.
“So, what are you in for?” Jim glanced down at her.
“Well, you probably heard when I was talking to the receptionist but I’m getting interviewed for a… well, a receptionist position. Paper orders, organising meetings, making calls…” She trailed off before turning back to him. “You… already know what a receptionist does.” She sighed and covered her eyes in embarrassment.
“No, no, inform me of the wonderous world of files and phone calls,” He spoke with a glint in his eye. “I work as a salesman actually, you wouldn’t believe what I sell. It starts with ‘P’ and ends with ‘aper’...”
“Oh shoot, let me guess.” Tori held a joking finger to her mouth, pretending to be in deep thought. “You sell… stationary right? I knew it!” Jim nodded in approval at her answer and Tori broke out in giggles. Pam was right! She’d already made her first friend- given that she wasn’t currently knocked out on the sidewalk dreaming of this situation out of panic and head trauma- and was-she checked her watch- only five minutes late! She’d pray for her cousin every night, every meal or even every damned phone call that Pam would receive a thousand blessings for getting her this job. Well, she hadn’t gotten the job yet, but they were desperate, right? Surely they wouldn’t deny her such a simple job.
Surely-
“We’re here.” Jim broke Tori out of her thoughts and the two went for the door of the office, but Tori stopped him a moment before his hand pushed it open.
“Your boss isn’t a hard-ass is he?”
“Oh, don’t worry, you'll find out in about... fifteen seconds.”
“Um, hi! My name is Tori Lucky- silly name, I know- and I am getting interviewed to fill a receptionist position at Dunder Mifflin Paper Company Incorporate. I have a degree in botany, I got fired from Starbucks… why? I tripped on a dog and spilled hot coffee on a higher-up. I also broke the dog’s foot. Man, I felt sorry for that dog… wait, do I have to sign anything for you guys to film me?”
The door was pushed open and Jim coaxed her inside with a hand on her shoulder. She had tried not to wince and pull away, but was only successful in the latter. Hopefully, she thought, he didn’t notice.
About seven seconds later, a man about as tall as she was, perhaps a little shorter, came bustling up toward the two. He was not what Tori had expected.
“Konichiwa! Nice to meet you! I’m Scott Michael, or Michael Scott, however they do it in Japan,” Tori’s eyes widened as did Jim’s behind her. She already knew his type; the loud, insensitive idiot with no filter, who was in love with the sound of his own voice. She hadn’t spoken a sentence to him and he’d already brought up her race. Lovely.
Honestly if she was employed, she expected a rice cooker to show up in the dining area by the end of the week.
“I can take a joke! I’m actually super funny! I think… There are just some people, y’know… that aren't as funny as they think they are. And they’re actually racist? I’m not sensitive or anything. It’s just...”
As he finally stopped speaking and looking her up and down,- she’d resisted the urge to shiver at least three times at that point- she held her hand out and smiled as friendly a smile as she could manage and introduced herself. His eyes drifted again and she resisted the urge to snap, Eyes up here!, instead reaching her arm across her chest to adjust her shoulder bag, covering the little skin she had exposed at her collarbone. Jim stood awkwardly, but as if this were the daily at the same time. Later, she would realise, it was.
“How would I describe Michael… Michael is funny, sensible, smart. Y’know he can read the room super well! Like that one time he played out a car crash with two HotWheelz and a Barbie doll after the HR’s mother died in an accident. She quit. Really sensible guy!”
He’d finally gotten to the point thirty seconds later, and finally she was seated in her possible-future-boss’s office, ready to bolt for the door if necessary. After a few minutes of Michael running his mouth about God knows what- she hadn’t been paying attention- he finally opened up the resume she’d mailed him. She flustered slightly, realising the original seel was still on the yellow envelope. He hasn’t read it yet.
She could see why Pam left. Creepy, annoying boss who Tori just knew would put off anything and everything because he was boss. She couldn’t blame her for wanting her marriage to start outside of a shitty office job. In fact, Tori recently found out her second cousin enrolled in an Arts Program. Good for her.
“Botany, blah, blah… a reference from a café owner… a library receptionist? Call the Boring Police!” Michael muttered through her stapled paper pile before creating loud siren sounds that reverberated off the plaster walls.
“I am the fun boss. I’m a fun guy! One time, Debbie, who was my boss from HR, had her mother die in a car crash, so, I wanted to pay respects in the form of a short film! I got an award for it, so...”
“He likes to pretend that the award got given to him, and that he didn’t just buy it from a tourist gift shop.”
Loud, obnoxious men like Michael didn’t like boring people. So, Tori decided to lay it on thick.
“I know it’s not much and you could probably do with someone more exciting, but Pam really gave it a stunning review… she was your previous employee, right? Pam Beesely?” Michael turned his head up at that. Good.
“Oh, ho, ho! Now this is getting interesting! Pamela Beesely, you say. She was the best receptionist I’d ever had.” He looked off into some non-existent distance as if reminiscing, even though Tori knew Pam had only quit about three weeks ago. Once she’d explained her relation to the ex-receptionist, she’d known she got the job, if only for her future boss to make jokes on her last name, race, chest or relation to Pam.
Finally wrapping up her interview, Michael told her he’d ring her to tell her if she got the job. Great. More waiting. Tori once again cringed when Michael put both hands on her forearms from behind and shook her, and made her way through the office door, out into the desk area.
Michael followed her out, but before he could continue, a familiar face cut in.
“Michael!” Jim called and stepped up toward them both, “Sorry I was late to work. Had a thing, in a place, at a time, y’know?” Tori hid her giggle underneath a cough and watched as Michael punched him lightly in the shoulder and told him not to worry about it.
“Jim is really welcoming! He’s… he’s… Sorry, what? Oh! Uh, that’s him. I’m gonna…”
Despite the cooky boss, Tori could see herself working here. The office was quiet, and the people seemed to keep to themselves for the most part. She wondered if they did lame office parties, or celebrations. Who was she kidding? Michael looked ready for a day off every moment he could find. She was encouraged to look around the workspace, but before Michael could take her around, a startling tone from his front pocket turned him around into his office without a word past, “That, is my girlfriend.” Before winking and scuffling off.
Huh.