fandomhigh | Working With Jerks. Still, Thursday, July 7, 2016 [1st period]

Entry tags:

jerks

Working With Jerks. Still, Thursday, July 7, 2016 [1st period]

There was only one teacher in front of the class today. And no, it wasn't the Dorito shaped one. Sorry, kids.

"Welcome Working with Jerks," Tony said. "Or welcome back if you took it last time as well. Captain Rogers will be here next week to introduce himself, but for now you'll have to deal with just me. My name is Tony and I'll be teaching you for the next few weeks."

He clapped his hands together like he needed to get their attention. "We'll be using Steve's absence as a lesson in how to handle being left to complete a task meant fo. It's not specifically a jerk thing, but if you're busy, I can make your day a whole lot more hectic."

The room changed from looking like a classroom into looking like the lobby of a fancy office building, complete with way too much glass and modern art. Yes, it was possibly the Stark Building in NYC. What of it?

"We'll do quick introductions before starting a little scenario, okay? Let me know your name and what you'd like to learn."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well, it looks like two different phones are ringing and you're expected to answer them both.

Ah, the fun of being a receptionist.

Peridot looked at one phone. And then looked at the other phone. And then squinted at them both before finally picking up both receivers at the same time and saying (into the earpieces), "Stop wasting my time, I have important work to do."

And then hanging both up.

You hired this, Tony. This was what you hired.

THIS WAS WHY HE HAD JARVIS, OKAY? THIS RIGHT HERE.

Tony sighed, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. "The job is to answer the phones," he called over. Helpfully.

"I did that!"

They had both been answered! She'd picked them up! That was answering!

"Politely?" That was also a factor in employment.

"... What's the difference?"

You were getting something of a side-eye from a confused rock, Tony.

"Well, one method leaves you without a job," Tony offered. "Well. Normal jobs. Jobs that involve helping people."

And he was terrible about firing people unless they broke the law.

There was a long pause, and then Peridot ventured, "Does my job involve helping people?"

Because when people came in with a box of electronics covered in maple syrup, the way she saw it, she was fairly obligated to tell them that they were complete clods.

Tony was seriously considering hitting his head on a wall.

"It does, but JARVIS is there to help you." He hoped. JARVIS might just have sighed and let things happen as he planned his robot uprising.

The traitor.

Maybe JARVIS understood that as a fellow non-organic being, they had to stick together!

"Oh." Peridot considered that for a moment. "Then how is this exercise relevant to my current employment?"

"It's relevant to future employment and how you handle yourself in stressful situations."

Maybe. Look, he didn't know how her world worked.

Peridot looked skeptically at Tony, and then at the phones.

"But I'm a technician."

"And right now you're a receptionist."

"But I'm a Peridot. This is a Pearl's work."

Apparently there was not much room for career path adjustments on Homeworld.

Didn't seem like it!

"Well, can you pretend to be a Pearl?"

WHY WAS THIS HIS LIFE NOW?

Peridot was just looking in horror at you now, Tony. Horrified, scandalized, and utterly insulted.

"What?"

"A Pearl!" Peridot threw her hands up into the air as if that on its own ought to be explanation enough. "A common Pearl? They're... they're accessories. Made-to-order gems who mostly exist to stand around and look nice."

Welcome to the wonderful world of the caste system of the Gems, Tony.

And now Tony was looking a little horrified for all different reasons!

"What?"

Wait, was there something the matter with that?

... Peridot honestly didn't know. She squinted at Tony for a moment, and then crossed her arms over her chest, still looking indignant.

"I might as well ask you to pretend to be a... a..." She wrinkled her nose. "What's a job most commonly held by humans who are incapable of contributing anything useful to society?"

Peridot, no, honey, stop.

Tony went from looking horrified to mad, and right on into a sort of blank calm. "Peridot, someone's worth doesn't depend on their ability to contribute."

Said the guy still desperately trying to fund Barton's Avengers team because issues. But shh.

Well, Peridot's rant died out, right about there. She wasn't so great at a lot of basic emotions, but she did recognize anger. The calm in the wake of that was... unsettling.

She was left sitting there and looking more than a little confused. And maybe just a touch nervous, too.

"... Doesn't it?"

Tony sighed and shook his head, trying to exude calm and relaxed with his body language.

"Not here it doesn't," he said, keeping his tone gentle. "What you're capable of doing, I'm not. And what I'm capable of doing you're not either. That doesn't mean one of us has more value than the other. It just means we're different."

Peridot sat there, looking kind of helplessly at Tony.

"I don't understand," she hedged. "I'm worth exactly as much as a Peridot is worth. Which isn't as much as a Quartz or a Sapphire, and nobody is worth as much as a Diamond. And that has everything to do with what we're capable of. Why even make more of any one type of Gem if it isn't for what function we serve?"

She hesitated, and then ventured, "We are what we're made to be. Any Gem who can't be... well, they get shattered."

Well, now Tony just looked a little stricken before to got that under control. "Not here. Here you can choose what you want to be or do."

Working With Jerks. Still, Thursday, July 7, 2016 [1st period]

Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

RE: Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario

Re: Scenario