Chapter 5: H is for hire!

Talin took his cellphone out from time to time hoping that he would get a call from the three jobs that he applied for.

Three days after Talin applied, he finally got a call, it was from the convenience store.

"Hi, may I speak to Mr. Talin Cuevas please" a cold yet charismatic voice of a girl asked.

"Yes, speaking, good afternoon ma'am"

"Mr. Cuevas you can start your first day at work tomorrow at 3 pm in the store" the girl added.

"That's good news maam thank you so much" talin gladly responded.

"It's not me that you should be thanking, I'm just an employee here, boss asked me to give you a call and tell you that you're hired."

"But still thank you for doing so."

"It's none much, goodbye see you at work tomorrow good luck on your first day." The lady replied hurriedly and ended the call.

"Yes, thank yu- .." Talin did not get to finish his words as the lady ended the call in a flash.

It was the next day, Talin made no delays and immediately got changed. He threw his tedious clothes on the bed and put on some white polo, black pants, and a pair of black shoes. He looked like the boss of his own company.

He packed up some clothes for extra shirts, zipped his bag, and went downstairs.

Mrs. Cuevas was cleaning the kitchen when she saw Talin coming down. She was stunned by Talin's look.

His appearance now was completely different from what he looked like at home. "Are you going to a

prom?" His mom couldn't help but wonder why Talin's dressed up formally.

Talin walked up to his mom and greeted her good afternoon with a smile on his face.

"I got hired yesterday Mama and today is my first day at work," Talin smirked.

"I know you'll be hired sooner son, of course, they'll miss out on a great employee if they don't hire you," mama Cuevas said proudly.

Talin put a smile on his face and agreed. "I'm leaving now mama, I'll help you with our financial problems soon when I get my first paycheck. Thank you for cooking lunch for me." He hugged his mother.

"Take care will you?"

Talin nodded. "Take good care of yourself son, Good luck on your first day." Mama Cuevas said patting her son's shoulder.

Before he went to the convenience store, some girl stopped in front of him and whispered.

"Your first day at work huh? No worries we'll make your first day not too much stress for you to come back tomorrow." And then the girl smiled and walked away.

Talin remembered the girl who called him yesterday and how her tone of voice.

And he can only glare at her.

..

At the convenience store's door, a man who was in his 40s sat down on a chair while waiting for a customer to enter, it's the store's guard.

Andero! Newbie is here! the guard greeted Talin with a smirk.

"Good, good" the guy in the beverage area shouted.

He looked at Talin with a poker face.

"You… you shouldn't be standing there and waiting for us to tour you around, that is such a waste of time! If you weren't a newbie I would never consider your behavior. But because you are, you can only be obedient!" the guy named Andero joked.

"Haha kidding! C'mon, follow me I'll show you around."

"Since we're here this is the beverage area, this is how you put drinks in order, by their number of calories! Wondering why? Coz some of our customers are in a calorie deficit diet and they requested us to do so."

..

"Now that you're familiar with the areas, your work for the entire week is just to organize, put stocks or rearrange the products, okay?"

"By the way I am Andero, I have worked here for over a year and a haft so feel free to inquire if you have problems in here."

Some girl from the counter came, it was the girl from earlier and the one who called Talin.

"And my name is Iko sorry if I creeped the shit out of you earlier hehe it is our way of welcoming newbies"

"And the guy right in front of the door is Mang Nonoy." the girl spoked

" I- i am Talin Cuevas i'm 17 years old"

"Bro what's with the introduction? You sound like a horrified kid on a crime scene"

"No, it's more like an introduce yourself in school thingy Ander hahaha." Talin's colleagues laughed.

"Sorry guys I'm just nervous" Talin uttered.

"Don't worry about it Tal, oh shoot can we call you that? Iko asked.

"Yeah sure, sure"

"Oh! Time for work." Andero said while pointing his mouth at the customer.

Talin followed what his colleague had said, he went to check on the stock of the products and checked if it was empty. He also took notice of the disordered products along his way.

He struggled for the product's name for a moment but he couldn't utter a word to his colleagues as he can see they were quite busy. So he silently checked out all the product's names and memorize their categories.

While getting to know each of the product's names, he heard Andero's voice.

"Hey what's wrong?"

He looked at some unlabeled skincare products.

"Ahh it's the Dermatologica one," Andero answered.

Talin was stunned by what he heard.

"You really know all of the products in the store? That's so brilliant of you Ander"

"No call me bro or dude instead" Andero insisted.

Well, to be honest, bro my mom is the only one who supports me and my brother and her bread and butter is doing laundry, yeah it supported me and my brother when we were kids but it isn't enough now that we're grown-ups and we still have an apartment to pay." Talin answered sadly.

"Same reason bro but I'm living alone" Ander clarified.