First Day
The woman wore jeans and a white tank-top, standing against a stark white background. Her mouth was slightly open in a pouty half-smirk, and she looked directly at the camera. “What do you see when you look at this picture?” the professor asked, gesturing to the screen at the front of the classroom. She looked right at me. Of course I was the first person she asked. It was my very first class as a graduate student, and I had no idea what I was supposed to see. A woman? In stylish clothing? She was pretty? “Um, well, she looks well-dressed?” I suggested, because it was the only thing I…
Permanent Employee
“Have a seat, Natalie,” the HR Director said, gesturing to the uncomfortably stylish chairs facing her desk. I sat and crossed my legs. The skirt I wore tightly squeezed my hips when I sat, as if they were encased like polyester-covered sausage. I seemed to have gained weight in the seven months since I’d started temping at the sleek marketing company. Perhaps it was the coconut cake I scarfed every day as a “snack” to get me through another painfully boring afternoon scouring the web for tech resumes…or maybe the hazelnut latte that went with the cake…or maybe the lack of exercise from working two jobs and going to grad…
