252 Its shark week (1/2)
”Ben, I need you to bring these to your old boss Paul in Public Relations.” Owen, Ben's new boss in Male's Health Magazine, handed him a folder with documents. Rubbing his red hair, this overweight manager exhaled with exhaustion after working long hours. ”You can go home after. Good work today.”
Taking the folder, Ben glanced at Owen's belly and cursed. 'If you made these trips yourself, maybe you wouldn't be such a fatty…' However, he nodded and did as instructed, going on his way. After all, this was his job now. Although he was still working part-time when not in school, he held a proper position now as a writer, and they even planned to give him a column on the online version of the magazine.
When he first heard that, Ben's jaw dropped, and he later danced in excitement at home. What did a column on an international magazine's website mean? It signified potential fame and recognition, things he could leverage into social status, which he could convert into vagina!
It was a three-way trade! But a good one!
However, things weren't so simple.
Since he was new, this past week, Owen assigned him to ”learn the ropes,” which in effect wasn't that different from being an intern, except he now worked for Male's Health and no other office. So, Ben met the other staff members, carried out some trivial editing of content, and learned about their procedures and practices. All in all, it was simple but expected. There was an issue though: he feared that in his case, Paul would extend this training phase. Why?
Because of his prior cursing in his feature's comments…
A staff member complained to Owen that it was unprofessional for a writer to speak in that fashion to readers. As a result, Owen made it clear to Ben that he'd need to put in extra effort to learn about the code of conduct in Male's Health.
Yet, in private, this boss told Ben he didn't mind and even joked about it. After all, it was a known fact that flaming was a big problem in the comments, and Owen laughed from some of the burns. In a way, this was natural too, since he himself was a mutated fire dragon…
Despite that, Owen needed to put on a show for the rest of the staff, so the column would be on hold for several weeks as Ben shadowed other writers and did basic tasks during a learning period. In any event though, Ben didn't complain. In the first place, if given the chance again, he wouldn't hesitate to spit poison on those commenters...
This was his inherent nature as a poison dragon. Plus, he enjoyed the job, since for the most part, Owen was a good guy and it paid well. If there was one issue though, it was the late hours.
As Ben stepped out of the elevator on PR's floor, he noticed their facility was also empty, with even the receptionist gone. Having worked here, Ben knew where to go though. So, he walked to Paul's office, but when he approached the door, his footsteps slowed down, because he heard voices coming from inside.
”Dear, I made dinner at home. Haven't you worked late enough today?” Standing at the side of the desk, Tina gave Paul an entreating glance.
”I need to finish some emails.” Occupied with tasks, he didn't even look up from his screen.