Story Notes- Temporary · 8:40pm Jan 21st, 2020
So... where do I start with this?
Well, since the start of last February, I've been working as an temporary office assistant for a Document Processing Center. I liked working there, even though it was hard to balance both school and writing for some time. So, when I originally heard Admiral Biscuit's challenge back in September, I wanted to come up with something related to it. However, it was hard for me to figure out what to include since there's a lot of things I can't really 'say' since it had to do with handling a lot of personal information. What I did there was important and any mistakes could effect someone's chances at getting much needed benefits.
Unfortunately, since my position is temporary, it means that if you want to keep on working, you either have to have your contract extended or be brought on as your permanent employee. Last Friday, I was informed by my supervisor that my contract will not be extended and that my last day will be on January 30th.
With the news though, it... strangely enough, gave me some inspiration for this as well as change course. Instead of trying to do something like other similar stories, I wanted to have this be a story about what happens if someone is let go and how it would impact the Equestrians that they helped and get them to where they're at.
To better understand it though, it would be best to explain one of the first characters that you meet. Ryan. He's a character that I based off myself, including how he handles conversations since he (like myself) is on the Autism Spectrum. Conversations are hard around people that he doesn't know and it takes time for him to get adjusted to working with new people. When it comes to emotions and dealing with unforeseen events, like when he got the bad news of his contract expiring, he suppress those emotions and try to act as if he's okay, but doesn't tell anyone about what he's feeling. Which, is a problem because the only way that you can actually handle problems like these is that if he shares this kind of information with people that he knows.
I took a lot of personal experiences from my own life when it came to writing him and I really like how it turned out. But he's not the only character that's important. For Gael, I came up with her as a character that is trying to learn about the world around her while trying to fit in among everyone else. She came to Earth in hopes for a second chance at life and to escape the slums of Griffonstone. She was scared of how people would treat her because of her species, but those fears were diminished once she began working with Ryan and learning more about the world around her.
Next up is Coral Reef and Honeycomb. Originally, I was on the fence on whether or not I wanted to add these two, but I felt that Gael should have some friends/colleagues that were also Equestrian. The organization that they work for hires all people (and creatures) of different backgrounds, so it felt right to include them. Coral is a rather optimistic hippogriff that has a positive outlook on life and wants to see and do everything that looks fun to her, while also a creature who wants to help those in need. As for Honeycomb, he's a creature who wants to help others and try new things, but it's hard for him to have that kind of fun because Honeycomb is constantly having to reel in Coral's worst impulses. If Coral wanted to try and dive into an aquarium to play with the fishes inside, Honeycomb is the one holding her down with magic and trying to prevent her from doing so.
Lastly, there's Alex. He... may be a minor character, but I still think I should mention him a bit. I did him based on my brother, who's known in my family for being as socially awkward as I am. His humor is also rather selective, where it only seems to come off as funny to certain people, yet others wouldn't quite find it as humorous or just be confused by what he's talking about. Though, when it matters, he's gives rather helpful advice.
Now that I explained that, I want to thank you for taking the time in order to read this story. Even if I only did this to try and get my mind off the inevitable, I put a lot of effort into this and I am really proud of it. Gael, Coral Reef and Honeycomb were characters that I came up with myself and even though I don't really have anything like artwork that shows their appearance, I tried to add just as much description about them as possible. I tried to have the events of my story be based on my own personal experiences and how I am having to handle everything right now.
Thank you for your time. I hope you like the story and enjoy something that is much different from what I regularly do. Hope you have a nice day!
-Frost
Fun Fact- When Coral mentions Belmont Park, it's actually the name of a famous boardwalk tourist attraction that's in San Diego along Mission Bay.
Oof. On the one hand, it’s nice that they give you notice rather than just the ‘don’t bother coming back’; on the other, losing a job sucks. I’ve worked two for over a decade just to have the security of knowing that I’m unlikely to get fired from both on the same day.
I hope that things work out for you on that front.
I feel ya there . . . my part-time job involves working with developmentally disabled adults, and due to HIPAA rules and such, there’s a lot I can’t talk about specifically, and it does make it a bit of a challenge when I want to put certain elements in a story of mine. I have considered a story where an Equestrian character is doing the kind of direct-care service that I provide, but thus far I haven’t because of various considerations, not the least of which is what I can and can’t say.
I’ll also go out on a limb and guess that you’ve surely heard or seen some of your friends outside work (or perhaps inside work, although I hope not) discussing whether anybody you help ‘deserves’ such a benefit . . . coincidentally, just today my idiot manager was griping about a guy who doesn’t deserve whatever benefits he gets because “I’ve seen him walk without his cane.”
I mentioned it in the signal boost, but I’ll say it here again for good measure--while I specified ‘pony’ in the challenge blog post, that was an oversight on my part, and I’m glad some of the authors who have thrown their hat into the ring thought outside the box. There are a lot of sapient species in Equestria, and each of them brings something new to the table, and I made a mistake in not posting a broader challenge.
--admiral biscuit
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While that part would definitely anger me... how things work at a DPC is kind of different. There's no face-to-face interaction with a person, you're getting their information to you by mail and you're making sure it's processed. It's more of the... behind the scenes work as to how someone's application gets filed away. Of course, different documents and programs are treated with higher priority than others because of how important they are or how immediate their needs are. There's a difference between whether someone can wait a bit for something like food stamps or if they need that now to help put food on the table for their family.
Of course, part of me also wanted me to make sure that I did not have the story end up sounding like more of a user manual than a SoL fic xP
Good luck to you!