Sarah looked up from the doodles she was drawing on her block and glanced at her watch. Quarter to five, just a few minutes to go before she could go home. She heard the door of her boss's office open. He stuck out his head and told her "I've got some work for you". "Oh no, why now!" she groaned as she got up. He pointed at a stack of papers on his desk "I need these for my presentation tomorrow morning. Ten copies, color copies of the charts, normal copies of the rest, one set on overhead foils. Everything in binders, the works, as usual." She looked at the ferret in disbelief. The "You Bastard!" nearly escaped her lips as she picked up the stack of papers. They had been sitting on his desk when she was in his office shortly after lunch.
She was waiting for the copier to warm up when he walked by and said "Good night, see you tomorrow!" in a very cheerful voice. It took all her self control to keep from screaming and going for his throat. Later she found out that the charts were interspersed with the other pages so that she could not just run the stack through the copier, but had to pick it apart, copy it and then sort everything back together. In a way it was lucky that her boss was already gone otherwise at least one of them would have ended up in hospital or jail. It was well past six when she got to her car.
On her way home, she thought about her job. It had never been glorious, but it had been ok. When she was working for her old boss she had some interesting and challenging tasks along with the drudgery. She had even attended several courses on computers and learned some useful things. But since the new boss had come some two months before, it had been pure hell. "Assistant Manager indeed" she snorted, "Secretary" was too good for what she did. Some interns had more challenging jobs. "Tomorrow I'll update my resume and when I find something, anything, they can color me gone. Anything except flipping burgers that is."
When Sarah came home after picking up some groceries at the mall, it was nearly seven. Her husband George was already home and watching TV. As she put down the groceries in the kitchen, he called "Honey, I'm hungry, be quick about dinner!" She walked into his den and looking at the three bottles of beer, she asked him in her best approximation of a normal voice "You've been home for quite a while, why didn't YOU fix dinner?" George turned around to look at her "You know I can't cook. And I'm totally busted." He turned back to the ball game on TV. Sarah's voice rose several decibels "You think I stayed so long because I love my work? I'm just about ready to kill that bastard of a boss!" He jumped up and growled at her "Woman, I'm hungry and stressed out. And I want to watch that game!" When she saw the anger in her husband's eyes, Sarah shrank back and fled to the kitchen, fighting back the tears.
A short while later Sarah set out the dishes and called George to dinner. "Honey, I'm sorry about before and..." he looked helpless at the beautiful squirrel with her bloodshot eyes, groping for words. Finally he sat down and they ate dinner in silence. When he was finished, looked at her as if he wanted to say something, but then he got up and went back to his den to watch a movie. Sarah cleaned up the dishes. She thought about joining her husband but decided to take a hot bath instead.
After the bath she called her parents.
"Hello, Jane Carolinae speaking."
"Hi, mum!"
"Sarah, nice to hear from you. How are you?"
"Not so good."
"Tell me."
"Well, first I hate my job. My new boss is such a bastard. Half the afternoon I sat there twiddling my thumbs, and ten to five he gives me a task that takes me an hour to do, and that he needs first thing in the morning tomorrow. And he had it ready to give to me the whole afternoon."
"Sorry to hear that, Sarah. Are you going to do anything about him?"
"I've decided to look for a new job. Once I find something, I'll just quit without giving him any advance notice, preferably when he needs something from me. I'm really looking forward to the look on his face."
"Good for you, and good luck."
"And George was in a foul mood, because of his job and because I came home late. He was so angry, he yelled at me and we didn't talk at all during dinner. After what I went through at work I could really have used a sympathetic ear."
"You know you can always call me. And this is really bad. I hope this was only bad luck, that the both of you had a bad day at the same time. After things calm down a bit, I'm sure he will make it up to you."
"Thanks, mum. Goodnight."
"Bye, Sarah, and don't forget to call me when you have any news about your job. And whenever you need somefur to listen to you. I love you."
"Bye."
After talking to her mum, she felt much better but the events of the day had drained her so she went to bed. Despite feeling very tired, she slept fitfully, awakening several times. It did not help, that George slept facing away from her, something he did only rarely. And he lay right at the edge of the bed, as far away from her as he could be without leaving the bed.
# # # # #
When the alarm woke them, both felt rather antisocial. During breakfast they hardly spoke to each other, and what little they said was more snarled than spoken. He even left without his customary goodbye kiss.
While her boss gave his presentation, Sarah updated her resume, and made copies of the certificates she had gotten for attending the computer courses and of some of her better sketches. Then she turned to the classifieds in the newspaper she had bought on the way to work. There were several openings for secretarial jobs, two openings for a receptionist and a few others that might be possible with her limited skills. Apart from the dozens of burger joints and shops looking for warm bodies of course. And exactly one opening for a graphical designer with some computer skills. "ZZ Studios, where have I heard that?" she mused. She copied the number and address to her notebook. "Better give them a call. Maybe just once I'll find a job I can like." Sarah was just about to pick up the phone when her boss walked in. He did not look happy. She managed to suppress a grin. Sure enough, he took his anger out on her by sending her on fool's errands that kept her occupied for most of the day. When he left at quarter past four, she dropped what she was doing and went to the lunch room to drink a cup of tea and calm down a little.
Sarah walked back to her cubicle, picked up the phone and dialed the ZZ Studios number. The phone was picked up after a single ring.
"ZZ Studios, Marvin speaking, what can I do for you?"
"Hello, my name is Sarah Lotor, I'm calling because I'm interested the graphics designer job."
"OK, just give me a two cents version of who Sarah Lotor is."
"Well, I'm 29, I majored in Art Design at the Columbus Art College, but I've been doing secretarial work since I graduated. And I've attended some computer courses."
"Good enough, when would you like to come over and talk with my boss?"
"Today? I could be there in about 30 minutes."
"Hmmm, hang on a sec, miss. I'll ask Zig Zag if she has time."
"Where have I heard that name before?" She only had to listen to the muzak for about half a minute before Marvin was back. "Zig Zag said she'll be in until about six. If you want, come over and bring your rap sheet."
"Thanks, I'll be there. Bye!"
Sarah leaned back in her chair. "That went better than I expected. Did I make such a good impression or are they desperate to find somebody." She powered down her PC, made sure she had her resume and drawing samples and left the office.
# # # # #
When Sarah pulled up in the parking lot and looked at the warehouse, she remembered where she had seen the "ZZ Studios" logo before. Her husband's "secret" video collection, or come to think about it her younger brother's as well. She sat in the car, torn by indecision. The image of a certain ferret's face with the evil grin practically burned in made up her mind. "It's not as if I haven't drawn my share of nude models or done sat there as a model myself. And I used to like those drawing lessons." She picked up her things and left the car.
When she walked in, there was a male badger sitting at the desk, writing on a clipboard.
"Hello, I'm Sarah Lotor."
He got up and shook her paw "Hi, I'm Marvin, pleased to have you here. If you'll follow me." He led her back into the building. "Just a tip, my boss prefers to be addressed as Zig Zag, no Madam or Miss or something like that."
When they came to an open door, Marvin knocked on the door frame and they entered the room. "Zig Zag, this is Sarah Lotor. Sarah, this is Zig Zag." Sarah put her file on the desk and they shook paws.
Zig Zag pointed at a chair "Have a seat, Sarah." Sarah sat down and Marvin left the room. As the stripped Skunkette paged through her file, Sarah watched her "Really interesting fur pattern."
After a few minutes Zig Zag looked up "Some of your drawings are pretty good." She held up a drawing of a smiling male raccoon "Friend of yours?"
"Yes, actually that's my husband George."
Zig Zag smiled "You have drawn quite a few pictures of him. Does he model for you often?"
"No, I usually draw them from memory. Drawing them helps me relax sometimes."
"OK. So tell me a bit about yourself and why you want to work here."
"I majored in Art Design five years ago, but I could not find a job in that line of work. To pay the bills I took a job as "Assistant Manager", actually something like a secretary and I've been working there until now. Not my dream job but it was kind of good enough. Until two months ago that is." Her face clouded "Then I got a new boss. I find myself wishing I had the claws of a feline and could use him as a scratching post." She paused for a few seconds "So I'm now looking for a new job and I saw your ad."
Zig Zag told her "Fine, here's the deal. I have an Art Designer and Web mistress and she does a terrific job. But since she moved to Pennsylvania, married and got another job she is only working part time now. Our business is doing very well and she just cannot keep up. I've outsourced some jobs to a Graphics Studio but this does not work as well as I'd like it to. They usually assign their least talented furs to my jobs. When we get the pictures they make, she usually has to spend some time on them as well to get them into a usable state. So I need some fur to assist her and do the grunt work, initially at least. You'd be working with and for her. Interested?"
Sarah thought about this and smiled "Yes, I'm interested Zig Zag. Give me a few more details of what I can expect."
Zig Zag got up "Let me give you a short tour of this place and I'll tell you a bit more about the job."
They spent the next half hour touring the converted warehouse and talking about the job.
When they got back to Zig Zag's office, she told Sarah "If you want, you can start this Saturday. Sabrina is visiting this weekend and she will be here Saturday after lunch. Come here in the morning so Marvin can get you started on the paperwork and then you can meet your new "boss" after lunch."
Sarah looked at her and said "I'd like to start on Saturday, but there is one tiny problem. I'd have to quit my current job without giving them due notice. Not that I would not like to see the look on my boss's face when I just walk out. But they are going to put a big black mark on my reference sheet."
"That does not concern me. I'd know why it is there and I won't hold it against you, just the opposite. Of course it would make finding another job more difficult if you decide you don't want to work here any more."
After considering that for some time, Sarah got up, held out her paw and said "Bye, Zig Zag see you on Saturday!"
# # # # #
When Sarah entered her apartment at half past six she felt good. She looked forward to telling George about her new job and spending a nice evening with him. That he was not home put a slight damper on her spirits, but she knew he had to work late often. "I'll have time to prepare a nice dinner for the two of us." She put on fresh clothes, brushed her headfur and started getting dinner ready.
She had laid the table and the food was just about ready when her husband came in. George gave her a quick peck on the cheek, grabbed a beer from the fridge and sat down at the table. Sarah served the food and he barely waited until she had sat down before digging in. They ate in silence for a minute, then Sarah spoke up.
"George, tomorrow I'm quitting my job."
"Nice, honey." he said. He ate several more bites before what she had said registered on him "What!? Why?"
"Because my boss is a bastard and I can't stand him any longer."
"Can we afford this? Are you going to quit without giving them due notice? "
"Yes. I've already got a new job. I'll start on Saturday. And the new job even pays better."
"That's nice. What's the new job?"
"I'll be working for a local film studio. Managing their web site, designing covers for the videos, that kind of thing."
"Good." George wolfed down the last of his food and looked at his watch "Gotta run, honey. Max, Jim and Anthony are waiting for me at the Sports bar. The playoff game starts in just a few minutes. Bye!" He was up and out before she could say anything.
Sarah looked with unseeing eyes at the place where her husband had been sitting. After a minute she shook herself, wiped her eyes and looked at her food. She was not hungry any more. Her body working on automatic, she threw away the rest of her food and cleaned the dishes. After a hot shower she went to bed early.
# # # # #
Sarah woke up an hour earlier than normal. She got up quietly, had a quick breakfast and was out of her apartment before her husband woke up.
Anthony the security guard looked at the clock on the wall and remarked "You are a bit early today, Miss Sarah."
Sarah gave a quiet sigh and told the setter "I had to leave early yesterday and I still have a lot to do before my boss comes in." "But you don't have to know what I will be doing."
He smiled at her "No problem." He waved her in "I hope he realizes what a good assistant he has in you."
Sarah barely managed not to laugh out loud "So do I." "When he finds out I'm gone."
Sarah went up to her cubicle. There she went through the drawers in her desk, the file folders in her cupboard and the mail box looking for things her boss should not find. (Mostly personal items, not important company documents.) These she either shredded or put in her personal locker. When she was finished with this, she called the FR department. When the phone was not answered, she left a message asking to be called back.
A quarter of an hour later the fur from FR called her back. "There is something we have to talk about. But not on the phone. Mind if I come up?" "Fine, I'll be there in a minute." Just as she hung up the phone, her boss walked in.
"Good morning. Where are the copies I asked you to make yesterday?"
"I'm nearly finished. Just a few more minutes." She smiled at him "And I'm not talking about the stupid copies."
He did not look very happy "But don't take too long." He went into his office.
The fur in FR shook her paw "Hello Sarah, I'm Mark. What can I do for you?". They sat down and Sarah looked at him for several seconds before she spoke "I'm quitting, effective today."
He looked at her "Sorry. Say again."
"I'm quitting." she repeated.
"You sure about that? You know you have to give us two weeks notice, you can't just walk out."
"Well, I can. I finally decided I can't take it any more. My boss is driving me absolutely crazy. And I found a new job, where I can start immediately. Whatever happens, today is the last day I walk into this building."
"I'm sorry to have to do this, but if this is the way you want to play this, then we'll fire you and put a black mark on your reference." He opened a drawer and handed her several pieces of paper "Here. You have to fill in these forms. You did not take a job with any company that is in competition with us? If you work for a competing company in the next we'll sue your fur off. And please tell me why you are leaving us."
"I know about the non-competition clause." She smiled " I'm doing something completely different and they are definitely not competition." Then Sarah filled in the forms and told him about her boss, how he treated her and that she decided she could not take it any more.
When she was finished they got up and shook paws.
"I'm sorry to see you go, Sarah, but after what you told me, I can understand. Take the rest of the day to finish your personal things. Tomorrow your account will be closed and your key card will be disabled. Leave it at the front desk when you leave. I should have your documents and the check with your outstanding salary ready sometime after lunch. I'll give you a call."
On her way back from the FR department Sarah picked up a small stack of blank paper from the copier room. When she came back, the door to her bosses office was open. Her "most favorite" ferret saw her and called out angrily "What do you think you are doing! You've been gone for more than half an hour! I needed the copies yesterday!"
Sarah walked up to his desk, dropped the stack of blank paper on his desk, looked him straight in the face and said "Here, I'm finished."
He picked up the papers, paged through them and looked at her "What is that supposed to be? Are you out of your little mind? Where are the copies I requested?"
She grinned "I'm not talking about your stupid copies, I'm talking about this job." She paused for a few seconds to let that sink in "I quit!" Then she turned around and walked out of his office, leaving her former boss staring at her back with an open muzzle.
# # # # #
Saturday morning at ten Sarah pulled into the parking lot at ZZ Studios. She hurried to the door as it was quite cold. When front door did not open, she rang the bell and after a minute Marvin let her in. They went to say hello to Zig Zag, who told them "Sabrina called a little while ago, she should be here at two o'clock or so."
Marvin led Sarah to his office. After they had sat down, he handed her a pen and a stack of papers and grinned "You have to fill in these, have fun." She filled in the forms, and signed them. When she was finished, he asked her "You don't want to act, do you?"
"No, I don't think I want to do that."
"Right. In case you should ever change your mind, there will be several more forms to fill." When she groaned, he grinned and told her "The government keeps us tied up in enough red tape to justify nearly any bondage fantasy one could have." She laughed at the mental image. "Everybody is also subject to random drug testing and we have to go to regular health and STD checks. We usually go the Life Clinic not far from here. The doctors there are competent and courteous." She gave him an questioning look and he told her "There are quite a few doctors who look down their snot at furs working here, even if they own half of our video collection."
He gave her a folder "This has all the details of our insurance plan. Zig Zag wants to make sure that the furs who work for her are taken care of. We have a first-rate health coverage and also a pretty decent disability insurance as well." He paused "I think that covers all the major points. Any questions?"
Sarah thought about it "Not at the moment."
"If any questions pop up, don't hesitate to ask me or Zig." He looked at his watch "Nearly lunchtime. Let's see is she is ready for lunch." They went to Zig Zag's office and found her reading something from a stack of papers. She looked at them, at the clock and at the papers she was holding "I want to finish this, just two more pages, give me five minutes, then we can go." They went back to Marvin's office.
A little before twelve, Zig Zag picked them up and they went to have lunch at a nearby restaurant.
When they came back, Marvin led Sarah to a tiny room. "This is Sabrina's and your office." He turned on the computer and showed her where the graphics files were stored and how they were organized. "Sabrina set up the file organization. You can play around a bit until she shows up, but don't destroy anything." After he had left her, Sarah started Photomall to give the graphic tablet a test run.
She was nearly finished with the sketch of her husband's face when a knock on the door frame broke her concentration. She quickly saved the picture and turned around. Zig Zag and another skunk femme stood in the door. When she saw her, she could not stop herself and exclaimed "Oh, my. You are huge!" Embarrassed she covered her mouth. But the skunkette just smiled at her. "Oops, sorry." She got up, extended her paw and said "Hello! I'm Sarah."
"Hi, I'm Sabrina. I'm not offended by that, I've been hearing it a lot lately." She smiled and put a paw on her belly "There's two of the critters inside and I've got less than a month to go."
Zig Zag looked at them and said "Let's go to my office. I want to look at the proofs you brought me."
In the office they all sat down on the couch, so they could look at the proofs for the cover and advertisement of the latest video together. They spent half an hour discussing the pictures, Zig liked most of them and only asked for a few small modifications. Then they talked for some time to get to know each other. At last Sabrina looked at her watch and said "I've got one hour left before Chris comes to pick me up. That should be enough time to make the changes and print the proofs." Sarah quickly stood and helped Sabrina get up, then they went to their office.
Sabrina smiled and pointed at the computer on the desk "Well kid, let's see what you got." Sarah pulled up the spare chair and sat down, leaving the more comfortable chair for Sabrina. Sarah opened the first picture and with a little help from Sabrina made the changes Zig Zag had wanted.
Sarah asked "So, anything you can tell me about working here that I should know?"
Sabrina thought about this and said "First, nearly all the furs working here are nice people once you get to know them. They'll tease you quite a lot, though." She grinned "Some should probably be classified as "Squirrel Food" however."
Sarah made a face at that.
She paused "Then there is Zig Zag. She is one of the nicest furs I know, but you have to be careful. If she likes you, she will be your best friend, somefur who you can really count on. But if you get on her bad side, she will be your worst enemy. I won't tell you any details, but she had very bad experiences in her youth. She was badly hurt by furs close to her. Once she trusts you, be careful not to betray that trust." She looked at Sarah for some time "I'm pretty sure that she will ask you to act in the movies. If that's not your piece of cake, just tell her no. And don't be angry if she asks you again and again."
When she had finished, she sent the pictures to the printer. Then they went back to Zig Zag's office to get her approval. Sabrina sat down, looked at her watch and said "Chris should be pick me up anytime now." They chatted for some minutes until they heard the door bell ring.
The fox who walked in gave Sabrina a careful hug and kissed her noisily. She turned around and said "Sarah, this is my husband Chris. Chris, meet Sarah."
Chris shook her paw and said "So you are the fur who is supposed to save my wife from having to work in this den of iniquity."
Sarah looked a bit shocked at that, but Sabrina gave him a playful punch in the shoulder and said "But I like it here!" They shared a laugh. They talked a little more and then Sabrina and Chris left.
Zig Zag led Sarah back to her office "So, what do you think?"
"I really like Sabrina, I think we'll get along nicely."
"And the job?"
"I'm not quite sure yet, but it's definitely, umm, interesting." She laughed "Ask me again after I get the first paycheck." She got up "See you on Monday, Zig!"
"Bye, till Monday."
End of Chapter 1