Page 21 of Neighbors' Omega
He sighed. “I’m thinking about quitting my job.”
“Again? Didn’t you just leave the law office a couple months ago? What’s wrong with this one?”
He blew out a long breath.
“Asshole bosses?” I guessed.
“No.”
“Pay too low?”
“No,” a pause. “I mean I’d like more, but I’m not being underpaid.”
“Too much work?”
“Nothing I can’t handle. It matches the job description and there hasn’t been any real creep.”
“So what’s the problem?” I grabbed my pot of drained noodles and dumped them into the sauce, then started stirring it all together.
He sighed. “I just feel like my time there is limited. Eventually I’m going to fuck something up, and I’ll be fired for somebody who can do the job better.”
“Have you already fucked up and been given warnings?”
“No…”
I set my spoon down, turned, and walked over. I set my hands on his shoulders. “If your job is what you expected, the bosses are ok, and you’ve not been in trouble so far, why do you think that you’re going to fuck up so epically as to get you canned on the spot?”
He glanced down at the kitchen island. “Just a feeling.”
I sighed and returned to the stove, then grabbed the pot of macaroni and started pouring it into a casserole dish. “Sounds like a classic case of imposter syndrome to me.”
“I’m just realistic…”
“Well, you make a mean pecan pie,” I joked. “Maybe go next door and ask Roland if he needs somebody to work with him.”
Ryan snorted. “I’ll stick to office jobs, thanks.”
“Are you sure that’s what you want? You never seem happy in them. Maybe it’s time to try something else.”
“Like what?”
“That’s for you to decide.”
“Well, restaurant work isn’t it.”
I laughed. “Face painting for parties?”
“Fuck no!”
“Bounty hunter?”
“Now you’re being ridiculous.”
“No more ridiculous than your constant insistence that you’re going to get fired for incompetence, no matter which office job you’re doing.”
“So you’re going to give absurd suggestions?”
“Just making the point that if you’re really unhappy, there are tons of jobs out there. You don’t have to be stuck in an office unless that’s what you want to do. Now get those pies in the oven so they’ll be cool enough to put away before I go to bed.”
