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I gulped and told myself to get it together. “All right, so the last intern is here, let’s all sit down and go over your contracts, marketing, and how you’ll help Emory Hotels once again get a five diamond award.”
I cleared my throat and reached for my coffee when the monitor turned on and the lights turned off. Son of a bitch, he was back.
Max Emory, owner of Emory Hotels, popped up on the screen like a bat out of actual Hell.
He was both the worst and best boss ever.
The worst, because he would quite literally just randomly appear and look over your shoulder and had a weird thing with goats and geckos, don’t ask.
The best, he paid extremely well, and I had dental plus a 401K and three weeks vacation plus ten mental health days—that I found were absolutely one hundred percent needed to survive in his company.
He was one of those CEOs that was almost too brilliant to handle, but you’d walk away after a meeting with him and thank him despite your trauma and a sudden twitch in your eye.
Oh, and he wrote a book on relationships.
He actively put it in every hotel across the world.
It hit the New York Times bestseller list.
Basically, some people get all the glory for saying things like “Bro, and when you talk to your significant other…” Don’t get me started, oh and the interns that came years before me were put through what I can only explain as a real-life Hunger Games meets Survivor sort of reality show with challenges, all in an effort to get a job.
“Fellow EMH Employees!” Max shouted via the video, spreading his arms wide in nothing but a white button down, ripped jeans, combat boots and a Rolex that cost more than emergency heart surgery.
God, not this again, last time the interns saw a video from him they had to sign very specific paperwork about hostile work environments.
I sat at the head of the table and purposefully looked away from Bri while she tugged at her jacket and stared straight ahead as if she was interested in what our CEO was about to say.
I swear if he started talking about the positive company environment and potential to be the best you can possibly be, I was going to throw my laptop and a stapler at the screen.
“…and here at EMH, we try really hard to truly dive into a positive company culture.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose.
“After all!” He clapped his hands like a seal. “We find it so important to take care of the humans working here, as interns for this year, we actually do have a very incredible program where, if you can make it to the end of what we now, four years running have called The Emory Games, you’ll get a signing bonus and immediately get brought up to corporate, past the thirteenth floor.”
Was it my imagination, or did Dustin’s face suddenly freeze in real time? He adjusted his bow tie and wiped his cheek, then folded his arms while Max continued to talk. “The best part about the Emory Games with interns is that you’re paired up with someone else on equal footing, but we thought this year, why not spice it up and pair up interns with their superiors? Not only do they learn while competing, but the superiors also have something to gain in remembering what it’s like to be on the bottom floor.” Max, no joke, licked his lips and said, “Right, Dustin?”
He was clearly out for blood this year. I imagined Dustin wouldn’t survive one more year if Max continued to torture him this way, but part of me felt like maybe keeping Dustin below the forty-seventh floor made him try so hard that no amount of money in the world would compete? Work ethic, one hundred percent.
Nervous breakdown—too soon to tell.
“So…” Max popped back, actually popped back on his heels and rubbed his hands together like he went to school and majored in villainy. “Let me announce the teams.”
I took another deep breath and tapped my pen against the table while he paired off every intern around us, bored out of my mind and knowing that any minute one of the interns was either going to pass out or just walk away from the opportunity.
“And Ace, as a special bonus for you, I’m pairing you up with Bri, she was the only intern that didn’t mark down her zodiac sign so I had to just go for what would be the best pairing.”
The hell? Zodiac signs?
Did I pass out for two seconds?
Interns had to put down their Zodiac signs now?
“A Taurus and a Virgo! The perfect pairing. Congrats, and now I’ll explain the rules.”
I should not have blacked out from boredom.
Max continued, “For the next week interns will compete as partners with their superiors in…” Please no drum roll, please no drum roll. Bri looked down at her lap, I could see the deep swallow, the terror in her eyes, the way she fidgeted like she wasn’t sure if she should walk out, bite her nails or actually finally make eye contact. “The Emory Games Maze Runner Challenge!”
