FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Jack was glad to be taking me back to the gym. I had not yet talked to Geoffrey directly about keeping the job, though Jack had told him what I was thinking. So taking me in today meant that I was going to be doing exactly that. We chatted amiably on the way in, and by time we reached the front door, he was as ebullient as if his team had just won the Superbowl. If Geoff had been at the front desk, I think he would have run in and shouted "Touchdown!" as I walked through the door. Instead, he went to clock in, and Geoffrey came from the other direction to greet me himself.

"Hey, Craig," he called, "glad to see you! Does this mean you have good news for me?"

"I think so, Geoffrey," I nodded. "I would indeed like to continue with the plan to work here. You guys have done too much for me already to not want to, really. Besides, if living well is the best revenge, then taking the job vacated by the guy who tried to hurt me has gotta be the second best."

"You certainly will be living well with us," the Giraffe laughed, offering his hoof to shake. "Welcome to the team!"

Just then, Jack came around the corner and found us together. "Alright! Does that mean it's officially official," he asked.

"Yep," Geoffrey answered. "Craig just told me he's keeping the job."

"Well, there is one condition," I said.

"What's that? There weren't any conditions earlier. What condition?" Geoffrey looked both amused, and cautious.

"Nothing too horrible, I don't think!" He crossed his arms and did his best to look stern, as I continued. "See, I went to one of Toby's classes today, and the professor said he'd like me to come regularly as an... what did he call it? Auditor?"

Jack nodded.

"So I was hoping," I continued, "That I could adjust my availability around the class."

Geoffrey visibly relaxed. "I think we can manage that! When is it, and let's take a look at the times I need covered."

We went over to the schedule and I got out the slip with the times Toby had written down. Ninety minute session on Friday and Monday at ten thirty, and an hour block on Wednesday morning at eleven, made for a four hour lecture class. Geoffrey examined the work availability chart. Things were still in flux since a lot of his workers were students, and the semester was just starting. He had a couple other students who had mostly afternoon classes and wanted to work part time, in the morning, that would cover that shift. If I could work evenings on all three class days, I could have a daytime shift on Thursday and Saturday, and that would give me full time hours, and a couple evenings off to spend with my tiger. This would also coincide three of my shifts with Jake's schedule, which meant I could get a ride with him to work, and I would only have to use city transport for the other two days. I agreed, and he penciled in the schedule, explaining that things were, of course, still to be considered flexible until everyone got their homework patterns in place, and figured how many hours they really wanted. Plus, there were still a couple gaps in the payroll, especially since a certain member of the management was on unpaid leave, pending a full dismissal, and he couldn't officially be replaced until that was completed. The schedule would be written in ink the week after next.

I said that sounded perfectly reasonable, and Geoffrey changed the subject, pulling out the usual new hire paperwork that every job required. He was pleased to learn that I was one of the millions of furs who carried around my tax ID card even though they had strict instructions to never do so printed all over them. After about half an hour of paperwork, he began to go through the employee manual with me, beginning my training early, as long as I was essentially a captive audience. And as he was doing desk duty, we were interrupted frequently by customers, so he also trained me on front desk activities. He remarked more than once that it was a good thing I was a quick learner, because I was picking things up rapidly despite the constant interruptions.

After a while, a female coyote came in, and after she checked on the ladies' room, Geoffrey showed me some of the duties around the gym, including cleaning the men's locker room. It turned out they made sure there was never more than two hours where a male and female worker were not both on duty, so that there could always be someone available to clean the locker rooms as needed. In the gaps between, if something came up, we were to close the locker room as briefly as possible to do any emergency cleanup. If a restock was needed while a female worker was not available, I was to hand the needed supply to the member asking for it, and she would leave it on top of the empty case until a female employee came in and could put it away properly. Geoffrey acknowledged that even though things like the notorious "Bathroom Bill" were on the horizon even for conservative states like Nebraska, Blue Planet would always insist on gender appropriate staff cleaning the bathrooms whenever possible, in order to protect the privacy and general comfort of our guests.

After a while, Geoffrey said he had some other things to do, and left me in the care of Nadine, the other attendant. She alternated letting me watch her do things on the computer and having me do them while she watched, so that I could get comfortable enough to run the system on my own. And we lucked out, because two people came in who wanted to do new memberships, so she talked them through it, then showed me how to enter them into the system. She showed me from one register and I followed her example on the other. By the time Geoffrey came out, we had just finished, and he was elated to see what she had done. I had a feeling Joni was going to get Michael's vacated manager spot. She definitely had the qualities of a good leader, from the way she was working with me.

Eventually, Jake came over for his lunch break, which came past the middle of his shift. He offered to take me home, as we weren't too far and he could easily do it in the half hour allotted. But Geoffrey said that he wanted to keep me here and would simply close my training shift at the same time Jake's ended, and sent us both to the break room.

"So how are you liking it," Jake inquired, breaking out his sandwich and cutting me off half, since I had not planned for lunch.

"It's pretty cool. It seems like a pretty laid back place to work. There's a lot to remember, but I think practice will overcome that. And the clients seem-"

"Members," Jake corrected.

"Right, the members seem really cool."

"Yeah," Jake agreed. "We cultivate a pretty great community here. It helps people work out better, when they realize they're in a safe environment. And it keeps them wanting to come back."

"I can see that."

"That's why we take things like what Michael did so seriously. People like that threaten the overall health of the community. But everyone also gets a chance to correct themselves. What he did the first time was nowhere near as bad... he simply got flirty with a client, who fled immediately. Geoffrey gave him a warning that time. Usually, it's three strikes and you're out, but given how serious his offense was, Geoff didn't want to take any chances. Plus, I think he really wants to keep you around. He's not usually that excited over a new hire."

"I seem to make a really great first impression," I pondered. "This morning, Tiff and Toby's professor asked me to join their group on a daily basis, just because I answered a few questions in discussion."

"You certainly do," Jack admitted. "I liked you the moment I saw you, the first day you came over to our place last week. As for Geoffrey, well, I've been talking you up big time, too. So that's helped some, but he was already pretty convinced from your first meeting."

"Ha! So I'm hired based on nepotism," I laughed.

"No, no, no!" Jack defended, laughing himself. "You're hired because you're a gorgeous fox that the members were all drooling over from the moment you walked in!"

"Oh!" I preened. "Well, if that's what it is, then I'm clearly overdressed for the job."

At that moment, Geoffrey walked in. "Well, you are, wearing those slacks and sweater, but that's just because we're pretty casual here. Which is why I was coming in to give you these Blue Planet staff shirts." He handed me a variety of different shirts, and I selected the one I liked best and put it on right away, swapping it for the sweater and button down I had been wearing. Geoffrey watched with polite interest, presumably to see that they fit right, but Jack didn't seem to notice that I was bare-chested at all. Too bad.

Our break finished, I went back out and continued to work with Joni, and then with a couple other desk jockeys who came in when Geoffrey went home for the evening. They were going to be the primaries for the evening shift. The last thing Geoffrey did was to get me in the employee computer system, so that I could clock in for my next shift, and told me to cut out earlier than planned tonight, and enjoy a massage while Jake finished up his last class. Tonight's student therapist had had a client cancel at the last minute, and Geoffrey put me in the opening. I said I couldn't really object to that.

After Geoffrey left, Nadine explained how the massages worked: the Gym had a contract with the Myotherapy Institute and brought in students who needed clock hours, and in exchange, we split the fares forty-sixty. Each student worked four half-hour slots per visit, and the masseuse's part of the fee (the larger part) was applied to his or her tuition. We had three students come in each day, covering six hours of massages. The gym had an allowance for employees for occasions just like this. If a cancellation came up and an employee was about to clock off, she or he could take one "free" massage a month, and the gym would cover the fee to the school. However, most of the time, no employees would be getting off in time, in which case we were to try our best to re-sell the slot to the members already in the gym. I told Nadine that I thought that was a pretty awesome perk.

"Well, cancellation at the right time are pretty rare," she explained, "and the board is usually full every day. So a few of us just go ahead and sign up on our own. In that case, we only pay the students' fare, but we have to pay it ourselves. You can sign for it to come out of your check at the end of the week, though. And you obviously can't sign up for a slot that's going to be during your shift."

"Are there any other cool perks that I should know about?" I asked.

"You can have one free sports drink each day. Speaking of, go ahead and pick your favorite, and I'll show you how to put it in the machine. I advise staying away from the caffeinated ones." I did so, picking a gatorade, and she ran through the right screens to check it in the computer. She seemed to approve of the choice.

"Of course," I said. "Gatorade uses real sugar."

"Don't like the artificial sweeteners neither, eh?" Nadine's accent was coming out more. She must be feeling more comfortable with me. I wondered where she had moved here from, and cataloged it away to ask later.

"No, thank you," I made a face. "That stuff makes me feel weird, and it's no good for electrolyte replacement."

The rest of the shift flew by, and before I knew it I was in the massage booth, melting on the table as Jack came in to find me and let me know he was ready to go.

"Ah, here you are," he teased. "Sleeping on the job."

"If had known I'd get this kind of harassment, I wouldn't have given you permission to come in here," I murmured. "Cindy is almost done... or rather, my time is almost up. And then I'll be ready to go."

"Be sure to drink plenty of clear liquid," my masseuse encouraged. "Since I'm breaking up a lot of the knots in your muscles, you'll want the liquid to flush the debris it creates out of your system."

"Yes'm" I said.

"Heh. Methinks Toby's going to have to go to massage school when he's done with his degree. You're in seventh heaven, right now, aren't you?" asked Jake.

"Mmmhmm. That's not a bad idea," I grinned.

"Just keep coming back here, and you won't need him to re-design his career," said Cindy. "And you'll be helping us, too."

"Hmm. I can deal with that," I agreed.

Cindy finished up and stepped back to wash the lotions off her paws. "There you go, Craig. I'll step out so you can dress. Thanks for coming in, and enjoy your evening. Don't forget the water!" With that she left and went on to the next booth, and I got dressed, again noting that Jake was totally uninterested in my state of undress, and we went home.