The day started with the smell of perfume wafting through Petra’s bedroom window from Forever 21. She took a sniff of her newly purchased (tags still intact) pajama set, inhaling the perfect combination of lavender and honey. She grinned just at the thought of it.
Petra glided to her window, pulling it open with a couple of shoves. Finally, the window gave in and a gust of wind and rain blew the receipts off her side table. She peered out of her window, cautiously glimpsing over the edge at Heaven that lied below.
It was barely 7 and the streets were almost entirely silent. A few trucks passed by, carrying trash, coming to slow, squeaky stops every so often. Petra liked her view. It was urban, yet serene. She didn’t mind the daily trash-trucks, because in fact, they comforted Petra. Just like the canary yellow shopping bags scattered around her house from her various shopping excursions to Heaven with her employee discount.
Petra is the manager at Forever 21 and had be downstairs at promptly 8 0'clock. She likes to get to work before the other employees because she enjoys running her fingers across the endless racks of clothes, thinking about which ones she will purchase at the end of the day.
In order for Petra’s day to run smoothly she must check her clothing collection that is stored in her spare bedroom, which she specifically uses as a closet. It is average size, not too small, but not too large. All of the clothes are on the same white, plastic hangers. Petra doesn’t use the wire ones, because they can damage the clothes in some shape or form. She hangs the clothes on metal racks, which are color-coded by category. Blouses go on rack one, along with the t-shirts, and pants and skirts go on rack two. The shoes are neatly stacked in boxes along the trim of the walls. The items are neatly organized so Petra can see all of them in an easy, visually appealing manner.
It takes Petra approximately 10 minutes to pick out her outfit each day. She times it. Three minutes for a top, three minutes for a bottom, two minutes for shoes, and two minutes for accessories. Petra uses her time wisely and never exceeds her limit. Once her outfit has been chosen she shuffles across her hard-wood floors into her kitchen.
Her kitchen consists of a small wooden table with two chairs from Jack’s Jems. It’s not the best, but it does the trick. Petra opened her mini-fridge to see what was left of her grocery run last Tuesday. It does not look promising. Only a few drips of orange juice and one cup of plain yogurt left. It will have to do.
Just as Petra begins to sit down in her chair, she hears two quick and sudden knocks at her front door, jolting Petra from her seat. She was not expecting guests and she does not have any neighbors. This is quite a perplexing day for Petra Jagodzinska.
Petra glided to her window, pulling it open with a couple of shoves. Finally, the window gave in and a gust of wind and rain blew the receipts off her side table. She peered out of her window, cautiously glimpsing over the edge at Heaven that lied below.
It was barely 7 and the streets were almost entirely silent. A few trucks passed by, carrying trash, coming to slow, squeaky stops every so often. Petra liked her view. It was urban, yet serene. She didn’t mind the daily trash-trucks, because in fact, they comforted Petra. Just like the canary yellow shopping bags scattered around her house from her various shopping excursions to Heaven with her employee discount.
Petra is the manager at Forever 21 and had be downstairs at promptly 8 0'clock. She likes to get to work before the other employees because she enjoys running her fingers across the endless racks of clothes, thinking about which ones she will purchase at the end of the day.
In order for Petra’s day to run smoothly she must check her clothing collection that is stored in her spare bedroom, which she specifically uses as a closet. It is average size, not too small, but not too large. All of the clothes are on the same white, plastic hangers. Petra doesn’t use the wire ones, because they can damage the clothes in some shape or form. She hangs the clothes on metal racks, which are color-coded by category. Blouses go on rack one, along with the t-shirts, and pants and skirts go on rack two. The shoes are neatly stacked in boxes along the trim of the walls. The items are neatly organized so Petra can see all of them in an easy, visually appealing manner.
It takes Petra approximately 10 minutes to pick out her outfit each day. She times it. Three minutes for a top, three minutes for a bottom, two minutes for shoes, and two minutes for accessories. Petra uses her time wisely and never exceeds her limit. Once her outfit has been chosen she shuffles across her hard-wood floors into her kitchen.
Her kitchen consists of a small wooden table with two chairs from Jack’s Jems. It’s not the best, but it does the trick. Petra opened her mini-fridge to see what was left of her grocery run last Tuesday. It does not look promising. Only a few drips of orange juice and one cup of plain yogurt left. It will have to do.
Just as Petra begins to sit down in her chair, she hears two quick and sudden knocks at her front door, jolting Petra from her seat. She was not expecting guests and she does not have any neighbors. This is quite a perplexing day for Petra Jagodzinska.
"Suddenly, she remembered that she had to meet the manager of the store at around 8:15ish to introduce herself before the other employees came in."
ReplyDelete"Remembering in the email that her boss had said that the manager lived on the top part of the building, Eli climbed the stairs located near the back of the store until she reached a metal door. Seeing how it was only 10 or so minutes until the manager would have to come down anyway, she figured he or she wouldn't mind her slight intrusion. Hoping that her boss had in fact informed this stranger of her coming, she composed her self and wiped off any remaining sweat from her face from the running excursion. Eli quickly knocked on the door and switched gears to her professional career mode."
I like how well this captures who Petra is-- her little quirks, such as her exact timing of picking out an outfit, really gives a good idea of her personality. The cliffhanger is also a nice touch. I feel like I'd like to know more about her interactions with people (although you may touch on that in the future). Is she in a bad financial situation, despite being the manager? The simple furniture and sparse food would imply so.
ReplyDeleteEli Rosenthal
ReplyDeleteThere was a quiet, eerie silence after the loud knock for a few seconds. Then she heard feet shuffling as the door creaked opened. Eli looked up to see a substantially taller and leaner woman staring down at her with curious eyes.
"Who are you?"
"Uhh... ahem, Hello, my name is Eliana Rosenthal, Assistant Apparel Designer at Forever 21. I came here to start our new project... have you not heard about this?"
The Lady just stared at her with shocked eyes. Oh no, this was not looking good.
The next few minutes were torture as the manager and Eli tried to figure out what was going on. There had been no communication between the manager and the main shop. This left Eli cursing her boss and anyone else who had told her it would be such a great innovation to come here. NOT. Not only was this town rundown and shabby, the store here didn't even know she was coming! But she decided it wasn't fair to take her anger out on this frazzled woman.
" Hey, how about I explore this town a little and go rest, and I'll get back to you tomorrow. You can try to figure out why you didn't receive any notice from XXI. Don't stress too much about it, it's not like we're on a time frame."
The manager sighed from relief after Eli let her go down to the store to start working. As Eli saw her walk down, Eli felt bad that this situation, crazy enough, had just jumped on the poor girl.