Realistic or Modern ⌜ "More Than A Day in Your Shoes" ⌟ ↝ ⌞ Stale Biscuit & Ouiaboo ⌝

[Ouiaboo]

∴ Ouiaboo , Stale Biscuit ∴
× Setting ×
A manufacturing company.
Two departments - manufacturing/productions and marketing.
A small town/city scene.
× Characters ×
Tobias Vanderhall - Ouiaboo
April Miller - Biscuit
...more to be discovered...
......................................................................................​

× Before he'd come here, to this town at this new job, Tobias could almost count the days in cigarettes. He'd almost gotten so low to one a day, seven a week, thirty in a month. Now, it was back to three times that amount. He blew through a pack every few days. What started as an excuse for a break during the workday had become much more than that. An addiction, burning a gaping hole in his wallet, but his salvation, too. Solace. A haven for his tired head and heavy heart. It was snowing today. His shoes crunched snow into chunky clumps that clung as he walked, until the bottom grooves filled and turned slick beneath him. He almost slipped twice on his way to the store for groceries and smokes. Once heading into work. At least he could blame the early-day darkness for his clumsiness.

When he arrived for the day, it marked the first month he'd been working, and already he knew the ins and outs around this place. He had pitched an estimate to his superiors that he might have the inputs fixed in under six months, much to their astonishment.

"It's not hard," he had told him at the staff meeting. "You all know the game."

Get someone competent in-charge, someone who can memorize the intricacies, can cut away cancerous holes where money was leaking.

Tobias tossed the items he'd bought from the store down on his desk, set his suitcase beside them, and slung his coat over the back of his office chair. Thinking back on the meeting, his eyes fell upon the box of cigarettes. Speaking of holes... He squinted his eyes, opened a drawer, and shoved the box in it.

It had been sometime that morning when he was called away from his beginning-of-shift responsibilities by one of his employees. Something with the machines throwing errors? Tobias lifted himself from his chair to take a look. Upon inspection, however, he realized that this was far out of his line of expertise. He held the bridge of his nose as his employee tried explaining to him what the problem was.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

The employee stopped mid-sentence.

"Which department deals with machine errors?"

"Tech." They realized their mistake. Tobias simply shook his head.

"Get someone from tech up here," he said to another employee nearby, who gave a nod and went for a phone. "Someone from analytics, too. Can't very well compare the numbers without one." One last look to the employee who had called him, and he returned to pinching his nose. It wasn't so much a nervous tic as a genuine ache. He needed another cigarette.

Profiles:

Spoiler: April Miller

face claim;; original work by erise
name;; April Miller
age;; twenty-six
occupation;; market research analyst
personality;; A young business minded woman, April has always been a rational and logical thinker. Nothing good comes out of rash and emotional thinking so she tends to leave her feelings for when her job is over. During work hours, she is seen as diligent and strategic in her methods. Disliking disorganization, she prefers to keep things clean to increase self efficiency while completing tasks. Efficiency is key to a successful life, or so she believes and follows those words in her everyday life. Some call her strict, but she can be understanding as she knows people often make mistakes and will even work double shifts if one of her partners are having trouble. Does not tolerate liars though, and will immediately call someone out on their lie if she finds out about it. April is not a woman who enjoys being taken advantage of. Outside of work, she's more relaxed and laid back, still keeping to her idea of efficiency. April tends to joke around more and is easier to approach compared to when she's at work. Rather helpful and seemingly kind, she not a stick in the mud as her job persona makes her out to be.

Spoiler: Tobias Vanderhall

N A M E .: Tobias Vanderhall
AGE .: twenty-eight
C A R E E R .: corporate manager, manufacturing department
A B O U T .: Tobias has always had a mind for application as opposed to theory. When he was younger, he had his heart set on becoming a lawyer and, after the crushing realization that it would forever be out of his reach, opted for business instead. He found that he had the knack for dealing with people, a perfect mixture of composure and urgency. The company April works at recently went through a slip in management, falling behind on quotas and not making the minimums. Tobias was brought in to take care of the problem from another location. He's referred to as a "fixer", the type of gung-ho the corporation needs in the manufacturing line to get the outputs matching the standards again. He lives in a constant world of flux, where things change constantly and an organized schedule is almost impossible.
S E C R E T S .: Tobias excels at his job due to the basic assumption that the level of aggression shown in his business techniques would maintain the hierarchy that fell apart in the company before. What no one knows is that Tobias has a soft side that no one sees. He's good at his job through practice and a desire to live well and make a difference, although not the difference he'd originally desired. As a result, his mental health can be off and on, and he smokes to wind his nerves down. He is very critical of himself, which not only has resulted in his present prowess career-wise, but also has distorted his own view of how he should live. He has trouble relaxing, and has a dry sense of humor.

 

[Stale Biscuit]

The bitter taste of coffee lingered on her tongue as she stared blankly at the thick file that was laid out onto her otherwise orderly desk. The folder was a dark green, the edge slightly bent upward while the paper inside looked to have been shoved in without a care in the world, a single sticky note with barely legible handwriting attached to it. April heaved a sigh as she slumped in her chair, the woman unconcerned with how she looked to her co-workers, all she knew was that she could feel her head begin to ache. If this morning wasn't already hectic enough having to deal with Joseph and his wild imagination which almost caused them to be late for school, but now she had to put up with her antics as well. She didn't even have to read the note to know who it was from, the fact that it was on her desk this early in the morning told her all she needed to know. Jenny, her co-worker of four years, a cheery young woman who was a bundle of energy ... for everything that didn't include actual work. She never understood why she'd take this job if she wasn't willing to put the work in, a matter fact, how did she even manage to get the position with this kind of attitude? April knew she wasn't a bad employee by any means, but her tendency to distribute work to others made her seem less then reliable. Thin fingers pinch the bridge of her nose in disappointment, her brow furrowing just imagining the work that her so called friend had left for her this time. Heaving another sigh, she decided it was time to stop avoiding the inevitable and face reality. Lifting her gaze towards the folder, she read the sticky note, Jenny's high pitched voice resounding in her head as she read it.

"Hey April, sorry to do this to you so early in the morning, but the boss left me to clean up his mess and I definitely think he's got the wrong person for the job. Could you please do this for me? I'll be so grateful to you

The note finished. Picking up the piece of paper, she noticed another note hidden behind the first.

...if you do this for me! I promise, I'll treat you to something extra fancy.

- Your best gal, Jenny​

Somewhere fancy huh? I don't think her salary is big enough to feed my appetite, she thought to herself, a small chuckle escaping her nude colored lips. It didn't matter how she felt, she knew Jenny wouldn't stop nagging her about it until she got her way. Yes, doing this went against her ideals when it came to workplace etiquette, but Jenny was with her when she first arrived at the office. The woman knew how to play her like a flute. Oh well, guess she could open up her schedule to fit this in. With that, April propped herself back up into a more comfortable position, adjusting the height of her chair to match that of the heels she wore. Soon, she went about cutting on her computer and logged in, the signal that officially marked the start of her day.

April Miller, one of the few women who worked in this particular department, was a Market Research Analyst whose main job dealt with gathering data that would help better company sales. In her case, her current task was to help with the promotion of a new skin care product that catered to the the young teenage fantasy. It wasn't really her taste, but that didn't stop her from completing her job, and so she went about scouring the online market sales, seeing what ads worked and what didn't. The black-haired woman picked up her favorite pen and notebook and began jotting down a few numbers that she thought was relatively important along with some of her thoughts and comments. She continued doing this for nearly thirty minutes, her eyes staring into the dull monitor as if she was in a trance. It wasn't until she felt a slight tap on her shoulder along with a husky voice calling to her that she snapped out of it. She turned her head to see a balding middle age man accompanied by Joe, another co-worker of hers that she constantly saw, but never really associated with much due to some of the rumors that surrounded him. The other man was a stranger to her. I wonder what this is about?, she questioned as the man went to introduce himself as Robert Madison, a man who worked in the manufacturing department. Odd. It wasn't normal for the two of them to associate with one another due to the differences in their field, causing April to be slightly more curious as to what he wanted.

"Hi Robert, I'm April Miller a member of the Analytics department, although though my job tends to focus more on market research," she admitted as she grabbed Robert's extended hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"No, the pleasure is all mine Ms. Miller." he assured, releasing her hand before going about telling her his business in the office.

"I was talking to Joe about a little problem we're having in manufacturing that requires a member from analytics and he recommended you for the job." he stated, April filling a slight tinge of annoyance rise from the pit of her stomach.

"Oh did he now?" she inquired, a smile gracing her lips. Why the lazy son of a ... Joe knew April's schedule as did all other employees, and if he didn't she would be more than happy to remind him of it later.

"Well, if you don't mind me then I would be happy to be of assistance to you. I'll be in your care." she said, grey eyes staring daggers into Joe who didn't care about her opinion at all. April continued to smile through her anger as Robert thanked her before escorting her into the corridor, the two now headed towards the manufacturing department's office. She didn't know what the situation was, but she knew there was going to be one in Analytics once she got back.

Ouiaboo