Roman can't help but wonder if that's the standard by which they hire - 'You have to look like you know what you're doing.' She's on the phone with what Roman takes to be five different guys at once, which produces extremely unfitting sexual images in his mind. In any case, there's a lot of buttons blinking and a lot of, 'You've reached the ORS, please hold,' going on. He knocks on the desk to catch her attention. She doesn't bat an eyelash. "Hello?" Roman asks, but his voice is drowned in the drone and the ring of another, distant phone. Eventually he decides to simply ostentatiously wave in the woman's face until she acknowledges his existence. This succeeds.
"Yes, how may I help you?" She says, in tones so frosty she might as well have told him to go get fucked. Roman ignores this. "Yes, hi. I have an appointment with a Mrs., uh..." He struggles to recall for a few seconds, each one of which causes the hate this woman obviously has for him to nestle in a touch deeper. "...Winters." He remembers, with a snap of his fingers.
"Third floor, second door to your left," She dismisses, as if saying, 'look at how quick and concise I am in comparison to you, you hapless, bumbling clod', and returns to her mantra. 'Please hold, please hold...'
Roman throws himself back into the stream and lets himself be carried to the elevator, which is depositing and taking up people at an alarming rate. He squeezes himself in, ready to press his button, only to notice that all of them are glowing. 'Fucking madhouse," He thinks, "Thank God I won't have anything to do with it."
Two smooth, efficient stops later, he pops out into a remarkably empty hallway with white walls and carpeted floors, the kind of carpet that swallows your footsteps entirely. This results in a disquieting silence, especially after the anarchy of the last rooms Roman has visited. He clears his throat noisily to relieve the pressure, but the sound is sucked into the void so quickly he momentarily doubts he ever made it. The term 'no-one will hear you scream' springs to mind, and a vaguely uneasy Roman makes his way to Mrs. Winter's office. Third floor, second door on his left. He remembers to knock and receives an apathetic 'Come in,' as a response. He obliges. It's a small room and as white as the hallway Roman's coming in from, with one exception: a large poster of a muscular, blond man that takes up half of a wall.
"Yes, how may I help you?" She says, in tones so frosty she might as well have told him to go get fucked. Roman ignores this. "Yes, hi. I have an appointment with a Mrs., uh..." He struggles to recall for a few seconds, each one of which causes the hate this woman obviously has for him to nestle in a touch deeper. "...Winters." He remembers, with a snap of his fingers.
"Third floor, second door to your left," She dismisses, as if saying, 'look at how quick and concise I am in comparison to you, you hapless, bumbling clod', and returns to her mantra. 'Please hold, please hold...'
Roman throws himself back into the stream and lets himself be carried to the elevator, which is depositing and taking up people at an alarming rate. He squeezes himself in, ready to press his button, only to notice that all of them are glowing. 'Fucking madhouse," He thinks, "Thank God I won't have anything to do with it."
Two smooth, efficient stops later, he pops out into a remarkably empty hallway with white walls and carpeted floors, the kind of carpet that swallows your footsteps entirely. This results in a disquieting silence, especially after the anarchy of the last rooms Roman has visited. He clears his throat noisily to relieve the pressure, but the sound is sucked into the void so quickly he momentarily doubts he ever made it. The term 'no-one will hear you scream' springs to mind, and a vaguely uneasy Roman makes his way to Mrs. Winter's office. Third floor, second door on his left. He remembers to knock and receives an apathetic 'Come in,' as a response. He obliges. It's a small room and as white as the hallway Roman's coming in from, with one exception: a large poster of a muscular, blond man that takes up half of a wall.
