The Marrying Kind

by Monique Miller

  “This section of people over here is a class that just graduated from training. They have been doing live calls for about a week now,” Kevin informed Travis.

  A few of the people on the phones and waiting for phone calls waved and smiled to Kevin when they saw that he was walking around on the call center floor. Kevin waved back to many of them.

  When Kevin finished the tour, they ended up back in the training room. “So that is about it. Everything else we will go over on Monday,” Kevin said. “Do you have any questions?”

  “Thanks for taking the time to show me around. I know you are probably busy, but is there any chance that you all might have training manuals? I’d really like to do some reading,” Travis said.

  “You are really raring and ready to go, aren’t you?” Kevin asked.

  “I sure am.” Travis was going to attack this position as if he were the CEO of the company. He wanted to eat, drink, and sleep as much information as he could about Escape Inns. If it was possible, he was aiming to be employee of the month in the first month. No matter what it took, Travis was going to make this job work, with no excuses. He wasn’t going to give them any reason whatsoever to let him go, either. As far as he was concerned, the only way they would get rid of him was if the company folded and went bankrupt.

  Kevin nodded his head. “I like your initiative. Normally we do most of our training on the computer, but we do have manuals just in case our computers malfunction for some reason, or there is a problem with the power, which has never happened since I’ve been here.”

  Kevin went to a cabinet and pulled out a black binder. He handed the binder to Travis. “You are welcome to read over it. You can have a seat at this desk over here. This is the desk I use when I am training.”

  “Thanks,” Travis said. He took the binder and sat in the chair that Kevin indicated.

  “I’ve got to go out on the sales floor and help with escalation calls,” Kevin said. “Make yourself at home. You know where the bathroom and break rooms are if you need them.”

  Travis took the lunch that he’d brought with him and put it in the large refrigerator in the break room. He pulled out his thermos of grape juice and took it back to the training room with him. Then for the next three hours he sat and read through the training manual, until his stomach started growling.

  He took a break, went to the break room, and ate his two sandwiches and chips. Once his thermos was empty, he filled it with water from the water fountain and drank it. Then he returned to the break room, and except for taking one bathroom break that afternoon, he stayed at the desk as if he were working a true eight-to-five job.

  At five o’clock Kevin came in to turn the lights off. “Oh wow, you’re still here?”

  Travis looked at his watch. “Yeah, I didn’t realize it was five already,” Travis answered.

  Kevin shook his head. “You are pretty dedicated. You must really want this job.”

  “I do, and I want to excel at what I do,” Travis said. “I have read through much of the manual, but I sure wish I could take it home to read the rest.”

  “Are you serious?” Kevin asked.

  “I sure am.”

  “Well, more power to you. Take it home. But please be sure to bring it back. Oh yeah, and please be sure not to share the company’s secrets with one of those other hotel chains.” Kevin laughed.

  “What other hotel chains? Do any others exist other than Escape Inns?” Travis smiled and then both men laughed.

  Travis rode the bus home that evening clutching the training binder in hand. He held it like it was the Holy Grail. The information in the binder could help him get to where he really wanted to be. If it took all weekend, he was going to read and reread, and digest all of its contents.

  Chapter 19

  That Monday morning, Travis again arrived early to work. He was the first one in his training class to arrive. Again he had packed his lunch and had eaten a hearty breakfast. He returned the training manual to Kevin and went through the motions with the class as they were learning about the call center firsthand.

  Even though Travis knew pretty much everything about the center’s operations, the layout, and even the system for which he would be training, he didn’t let on that he knew any more than anyone else. After the orientation portion was over that morning, Travis took his seat at his training computer and applied what he’d learned in the manuals to the actual computer software.

  He was glad he’d had a chance to take the entire weekend to review the materials. He had taken one break to go to church. The Lord had been too good to him over the months not to go to church and praise him. The rest of the day he’d put every bit of his mental acuity into learning about his new position. There had been small differences between the manual he’d studied for three days and the computer system. But the differences were not any that he couldn’t figure out. He took notes during class and was an integral part of the class, often raising his hand to answer questions posed by Kevin.

  Travis knew the answers to about 95 percent of the questions that Kevin asked. Even though he knew as much as he did, he didn’t try to show off, especially when he saw so many people struggling with trying to understand it all. Whenever possible he even helped his new classmates work out problems they had with their computers.

  He’d worked with people in the past who acted like they were know-it-alls and this gained those people no respect. Travis wanted the mutual respect of his peers and he wanted to be a team player. There was no way he could sit in class and act like he knew it all, trying to impress Kevin to make himself shine, at the expense of the others in the class. He sure was glad that he’d taken the time to do the amount of pre-studying he had done, because as far as he could see, by the end of the first day of training, it was already paying off.

  The first week of training flew by quickly for Travis. He was glad that he had a job to work from eight to five and didn’t have to work on the weekends. His work schedule allowed him to be able to take on a second job. It was during his second week of employment at Escape Inns that he also started a new night job working for a janitorial service cleaning office buildings.

  The first couple of days of working two jobs had been choppy. He’d found himself getting extremely tired during the day and sluggish at night as he cleaned. So he decided to set up a schedule for himself so that he could make the most of his time. He normally made it back into the house just before nine o’clock at night. So at first he devised a nightly routine that consisted of fixing something to eat, taking a shower, reviewing his notes for his next day at the call center, and reading a scripture just before praying and going to bed. He slept hard from 11:00 P.M. to 5:30 A.M.

  When he awoke each morning he took the time to exercise for thirty minutes in the home gym. He found that his body felt better when he exercised in the morning. After exercising he took a shower, dressed, ate breakfast, and packed a lunch and a couple of snacks to get him through the day.

  On the last day of training, Kevin pulled Travis to the side. “Travis, I’d like to speak to you at the end of the day. Please come see me then.”

  Travis got a bit of a sinking feeling in his stomach. He’d been on many a job where they waited until the end of the day to let a person go. And he wondered what reasons they would have to let him go. He had been one of the best people in his class by far when it came to retaining information and getting his test calls and quizzes right. Then he also wondered why Kevin would pull him to the side earlier on in the day to give him a heads-up on his termination. Travis put all negative thoughts out of his mind. He was going to continue to work hard and stop second-guessing himself to death.

  That evening after everyone else in his training class had left, Travis went to see Kevin. He thought about going ahead and grabbing his backpack and lunch bag first, but wanted to get the meeting over with as quickly as possible.

  When Travis approached Kevin, who was reviewing some paperwork, Kevin smiled. “Hey, Travis, grea
t.” He stood. “Could you follow me please? HR would like to speak with you.”

  Now Travis knew that if HR wanted to see him, then it couldn’t be good at all. He followed Kevin into Melanie Shumaker’s office.

  “Hi, Travis and Kevin. Gentlemen, come on in and have a seat,” Melanie said.

  Both Travis and Kevin took a seat in Melanie’s office. She shuffled through some papers until she found the one she was looking for.

  “Ah here it is. Travis, I am sure you are wondering why you have been called in to the office.”

  “Yeah, I am.” Travis started rubbing his hands together. They were starting to sweat.

  “Well, Travis,” Melanie said, “it has come to my attention, through Kevin here, that you have done a phenomenal job in his training class. He confided in me that you took the initiative to read over the entire training manual before you even started your first day of class, and then from there you also excelled in your training class, getting the highest scores out of everyone else in your class.”

  Travis smiled. It didn’t sound like one of the speeches someone would make to let someone go.

  “Here at Escape Inns we give recognition where recognition is due. And due to the recommendation of your trainer Kevin here, we would like to offer you a position as a trainer,” Melanie said. She smiled as she made this offer.

  Travis’s mouth literally dropped wide open as he dropped his head. “Are you serious?”

  “Yes, sir, I am.”

  “You think I could be a trainer?” He looked from Melanie to Kevin.

  “I’ve watched you throughout our class. You’ve retained more information in two weeks than some people do in a couple of months. And I’ve also watched you take the time to help your coworkers to work out problems they were having with the computer system as well as just understanding the concepts of the training,” Kevin said.

  Kevin continued by saying, “You are here early, ready, and prepared for each class, and even though I know you know way more than you let on to your peers, you keep it all in check. You don’t showboat to make yourself look better than the others. These are all wonderful qualities, and you are trainer material if I’ve ever seen it. And I’ve been a trainer for two years now,” Kevin said.

  “So how does the offer sound to you?” Melanie asked.

  “It sounds wonderful,” Travis said. “What do I need to do from here?”

  “All you need to do is accept and I’ll update your title with the job description. Also you’ll be pleased to know that your salary will increase as well. To two more dollars per hour,” Melanie said.

  “Are you serious?” Travis said.

  “Yes,” Melanie said.

  “Thank you.” He looked first to Kevin and then to Melanie.

  “You are welcome,” Kevin said as he gave Travis a hearty pat on his back.

  “Welcome to the training team,” Melanie said. “Kevin will help you become more familiar with what being a trainer entails next week. We have a new training class starting on Monday. I want you to assist Kevin during the class and during down times you can also take calls in the center to continue to better familiarize yourself with taking calls. It is always good to keep your skills up in that department,” Melanie said.

  “Okay,” Travis said, taking it all in.

  “Then when the next round of trainees comes in, you’ll teach your own class,” Melanie added.

  “That sounds absolutely great,” Travis said.

  “Wonderful. I’ll update everything on Monday.” Melanie looked at her watch. “For now, let’s say we all get out of here. It is the weekend, and I don’t know about you all but I am ready to enjoy these next two days off.”

  Travis shook both Melanie’s and Kevin’s hands and thanked them again. Then he retrieved his book bag from the training room and his lunch bag from the break room. That night he cleaned the offices with record speed as he had extra energy he knew was because of the great news he’d gotten from HR.

  He had to thank the Lord for giving him so much favor in his life. It looked as if things were finally starting to fall into place for him on the job front. Now he needed to work on the family front.

  Chapter 20

  Travis stuck true to the word he’d made to himself about his life checklist. When it came to his finances, he now knew where each and every cent he spent was going; from the money he spent the few times he allowed himself to splurge and get a soda from the drink machine, to the money he spent to send the clothing he’d borrowed of Brent’s to the dry cleaner.

  Ever since he had decided to let Jade go ahead on her merry way, Travis had stopped wearing his friend’s clothing. He had also ceased sleeping in the other man’s bed. It was bad enough he’d eaten most of the man’s food in the freezer, but he had to stop taking even more advantage of the guy.

  Monday through Friday, Travis worked hard and on Saturday and Sunday, he rested. But he still made sure to mow the grass every other week on Saturdays. On Sundays he made sure to make it to at least one of the church services. He had pretty much ceased doing double services after he and Marla stopped speaking anyway.

  He had seen Marla a couple of times, but he had only spoken to her once. At first he thought she had been avoiding him, but she dispelled that thought when she told him she’d been sick with a touch of the flu and had missed a couple of Sunday services. He took that small opportunity of speaking with her to tell her what had been weighing on his mind about the double services he’d been attending and how he wasn’t the man of God she thought he was.

  She surprised him by saying that she already knew about the game he had been playing. While she was at home sick with the flu Marla had viewed some of the older broadcasts of the services online. It was then that she realized that there were eight o’clock services during which Travis appeared in the congregation. When she looked at the dates she knew that on those same Sundays they had attended the second service together. And that was when she started putting two and two together.

  It was at that point that she bid him a good day. Travis had no choice but to do the same and he did so with the utmost sincerity. She was a good woman and he prayed she would find her Mr. Godly and Right, someday.

  One afternoon while eating his lunch on his lunch break at work, Travis got a phone call that seemed to come out of the blue. He’d almost choked on his sandwich when he saw Beryl’s name on the caller display.

  “Hello,” Travis said.

  “Hey, Travis. It’s Beryl.”

  “Don’t you think I know your voice by now?” Travis said.

  “I know, but I don’t talk to you that often so I just figured I’d state what would normally be obvious.”

  “So what’s going on?” Travis asked. “How have you been? How are the boys?”

  Beryl chuckled.

  “What’s so funny?” Travis asked.

  “You’re funny.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “You don’t call for weeks; then you finally call and when I call back you’re Mr. Twenty Questions. It’s just funny to me.”

  “What the heck are you talking about? I have been calling you. I’ve left messages and everything ever since I saw you all at the mall.”

  “Okay, Travis, whatever,” Beryl said.

  “Okay, whatever nothing,” Travis said. He knew the volume of his voice was escalating, so he got up and walked outside so that others would not hear his conversation.

  “You know how you like to exaggerate and embellish the truth,” Beryl said. “I got one message from you yesterday and I am calling you back. I mean it hasn’t been more than twenty-four hours.”

  Travis wondered why Beryl was lying straight through her teeth. He wondered if that new guy she was seeing was being a negative influence on her. He took a deep breath. “Look, I don’t want to argue. I just want to know how the boys are doing and set up some time when I can see them, plain and simple.”

  “You can see the boys, Travis. No one is
trying to keep you away from them. You made the decision to fall off of the face of the earth, remember,” Beryl said.

  For some reason he felt like Beryl was trying to bait him into an argument. He heard a click that sounded like maybe Beryl had a call on the other line.

  “Hold on a second, Travis,” Beryl said without waiting for him to respond. She clicked over to her other call. When she came back she said. “Okay, so when do you want to see the boys?”

  “I am off on Saturdays and Sundays. So would it be possible to get them on Saturday and then I can get them back to you on Sunday?”

  “Oh so you are working again now? I got the notice from the child support office that you were no longer working.”

  “Yes, I am working now. I have a good and steady job with good benefits,” Travis said.

  “How long are you going to keep this one?”

  “For a very long time.”

  “Humph, we’ll see,” Beryl said. The sound of her voice dripped with sarcasm.

  “Look, I am working on some things in my life right now, and that is all I am going to say about that. So what about me being able to get the boys?” Travis said. There was no use in trying to tell Beryl all the strides he’d made and was currently making. She didn’t want to hear his talk; she would want to see his walk. He’d have to show her what he was doing so that she would be able to see how far he’d come and how far he intended on continuing to go.

  “I don’t know about that, Travis. It’s been awhile since you’ve seen them. Jayden still gets a little clingy around other people,” Beryl said.

  “Other people?” Travis wondered if he had heard her right. “I am not other people, I am his father.” My son seemed to be clinging just fine to Urkel, Travis thought.

  “Yeah, a father who has not been actively in the boy’s life for well over a year now,” Beryl said.