[Fiction Practice] Why’d You Leave?

“You know, this can be hard work, but at the end of the day, it’s not too bad. We’re not diggin’ ditches or doin’ brain surgery.”
“Yeah, beats retail.”
Jane, and her driver buddy Jim, were headed to their first delivery on a cold morning.
“But you know somethin’? You’ve got more brains than all a’ us. You should be goin’ places.”
“Yeah, should.” She slouched in the seat and continued reading her technical book.

“Everyone else just looks busy. You actually pull your weight.”

“Thanks. The way I look at it is, I’d rather be doing more technical work, like this stuff I’m studying, but until I get something, I might as well work hard here. Besides, you’ve been a great help being a reference and letting me take phone calls like last week.”

“However I can help. You’re about the same age as my daughter…”

“You haven’t mentioned much-” Jane’s phone rang. She looked over to Jim, he nodded, so she answered. “This is Jane. Yes. Good, and you? Yes, this is a good time to talk. I’m working at Sneaker-Wiles-Scribe Transportation while looking for another technical role.”

Jane gave positive paralinguistic hums while the caller spoke.

“There was a budgetary layoff at the library. My manager is one of my references and she can answer any concerns you have about what happened. I enjoyed it there. I’d still be there if they hadn’t reduced headcount. No. Her department doesn’t have budget.”

The traffic noise began lingering into the truck.

“Yes. It was a 3-month internship. No. It was a school thing so they couldn’t extend it out. It was for school credit, so they couldn’t give me an offer. I liked working in the lab, yes. My teacher is a reference and can comment on my time there.”

Jim took their exit to go to the first delivery.

“Yes, I was a production technician at Tracking Industries during college. I worked mainly in the back to make sure all the retail inventory was staged in the right locations for everyone. No, I put in advance notice. It was to focus on my college internship.”

They drove through a tunnel for about 30 seconds.

“Sorry, I couldn’t hear you, could you repeat that? I put in proper notice to Tracking and that was so I could focus on my internship. No, I didn’t quit. I don’t have any references there, but I have their HR line listed in my references.” Jane sighed.

She was getting anxious from these questions.

“Let’s just address this directly. I’ve only left jobs because I’ve had to, so let’s focus on the role.” They spoke for a few more minutes until Jim parked the truck in the loading dock. “Sounds good, thanks for your time, too. Have a good day.”

“How’d it turn out? I wasn’t paying attention.”
“He primarily focused on why I left gigs.”
“Oh, nothing about the job itself?”
“Not until I asked about it.”
“Odd. Well, let’s unload these pallets.”

Sources: Drawing by Razor.

Quotes: None

Inspirations: A recent phone interview.

Related: Sequel to “Let’s Say No” and in the Sammohini Arc of “The Story.” Rough draft.

My big goal is writing. My most important goal is writing "The Story." All other goals should work toward that central goal. My proudest moment is the most recent time I overcame some fear, which should have been today. I'm a better zombie than I was yesterday. I'm not better than you and you're not better than me. Let's strive to be better every day.