Cowboy Ending - Overdrive: Book One Read Online Free Page B

up, Joseph?”

“My mother calls me, Joseph,” I muttered.
     
    “Hmm?”

I shook my head briefly, clenching my teeth on another yawn.
     
    More
silence.
     
    “Well
Joseph, here at Canada-Pharm we have very high standards that are expected from all of our
employees. Not just the ones who feel like meeting those
standards.”
     
    I contemplated
bashing my skull off the table in front of me as the too bright
halogen lights flickered overhead.
     
    “However
we are sensitive to the pressures you are going through off-site,
Joseph.” Troy laced his fingers together and leaned forward against
the table, classic manager school comforting and understanding
pose. Inviting employees to meet them halfway and open up about
their problems. “ Canada-Pharm is more than just an internet pharmacy, we try to be a family
to our staff. There are many different counseling options available
to you if you want to talk to someone. Also, financial advisors are
available if you need help with your bills.”
     
    I snorted.
     
    “Yes,
Joseph?”
     
    “If Canada-Pharm really
wanted to help with my bills the CEO would jump off his wallet and
share some of the millions in profit he makes every
quarter.”
     
    Troy blinked in
surprise and leaned back in his chair. “The wage provided to
Telephone Service Representatives meets industry standards.”

“Wouldn’t you like to make more than forty thousand a year,
Troy?”
     
    Troy
blinked.
     
    “Would be easy
to do, just have a more incentive based system in place for
employees. Give them a reason to work hard.”
     
    Troy cleared
his throat. “The reason we’re here is to discuss your attitude,
Joseph. Not to debate the compensation packages provided by the
company.”
     
    I sighed again
and rubbed at my weary eyes. “Just tell me what you want to hear,
man. I’m tired and have work to do.”
     
    Roughly
half an hour and a cajoled promise to “try and be a more positive
employee” later, I meandered my way like a mouse in its maze back
through the cubicle farm that was the main floor of Canada-Pharm HQ.
     
    While the
Internet Pharmacy boom had died off significantly after Obamacare
became viable in the United States, there was still a solid market
for Americans looking to save money on their medication. Thankfully
the Canadian healthcare system wasn’t quite as corrupt as the one
operated at arm’s length by the pharmaceutical companies bribing
their way to affluence south of the forty-ninth parallel. As such,
companies like Canada-Pharm were able to take prescriptions online to help save people a
few bucks on their road to better health and happiness.
     
    Not that
the altruistic nature of this enterprise meant a tinker’s damn to
the CEO of this fine institution. So long as there was a steady
stream of undereducated and foolish people willing to do monkey
work for two bucks over minimum wage, Canada-Pharm’s profit margin was gonna stay well
above the sixty-percent mark.
     
    I flopped into
my squeaky, undersized chair and booted up my piece of shit
workstation computer. It began its usual three to ten minute
warm-up process giving me ample time to flip through the patients
on my docket that I needed to follow up with.
     
    There was a
sticky note plastered to my desk phone. CALL YOUR MOM in big block
letters.
     
    Shit.
     
    I crumpled the
sticky note and stared at the flickering screen of the ten year old
monitor and the “loading personal settings” window for a few long
seconds.
     
    Voices on the
other side of my cubicle wall;
     
    “I
started watching Alias on
Netflix last night.”

“Good show. Jennifer Garner. So hot.”

“I know, right? Total ass kicker. Don’t know why I didn’t get into
that show before.”
     
    “That
show was fine, but its greater purpose served as a vehicle for J.J.
Abrams to move onto bigger projects like Lost and the new Star
Trek movies.” I raised an eyebrow at that voice. Fifty
year old career entry level job seeker and