I curled up, pretending to not hear the alarm blaring for the third time. Whoever picked banging pots and pans should be fired. Twice. When there was tugging on my blanket in time with a growling stomach I sighed.
I opened one eye as Chibi Gluttony looked pitifully at me. His eyes already watering.
"If… if you don't get up now… breakfast… breakfast Max! The most important meal of the day!" Gluttony whined tugging on the blanket. Despite being only six inches tall, his growling stomach sounded like a diesel engine.
"The… bed… is… so… warm…" Chibi Sloth murmured, I see he had once again taken over half my pillow.
"Maxxxxxx… breakfast… coffee! The elixir of life!" Chibi Gluttony whined pushing my phone out of reach as I aimlessly attempted to silence the god awful alarm.
"Max, you keep missing breakfast, and eventually it's going to affect your work." Chibi Pride reminded. I sighed, no way I was getting those extra fifteen minutes now. I pushed myself up, stretching as I glanced around for the blaring siren.
"I'm up, I'm up. Ugh… don't think this is it guys." I groaned shoving my brown hair out of my eyes. Finally, the cursed banging stopped.
"Almost… worse… than waking… up late." Sloth agreed curling into my pillow. With one last longing glance, I slid out of bed. Six of the seven deadly sins following after. Gluttony darted to the fridge.
I drank my glass of water before getting ready for the morning. The sun wasn't even up yet… another day in paradise. I really couldn't afford to miss breakfast, the vending machine snacks were hella expensive. That… and the vending machine coffee tasted like tar without helping him stay awake.
"Max, we need more laundry soap. The clothes pins could stand to be replaced soon too." Chibi Greed announced with his ever present notebook. I nodded as I continued to brush my teeth. Privacy was apparently not a thing anymore. At least they left while he showered or was actually using the bathroom.
"Max! You're running late! Might have to skip breakfast if you want to catch the 6:20 bus." Chibi Envy reminded as she glanced longingly at the uncooked eggs. I finished up, darting to cook four scrambled eggs, two slices of toast, and peeled an orange.
Gluttony had already set the makeshift table up. It was basically just a large box with a towel over it. They had a smaller box set up for them to sit around. Funny they could interact with their items, but not mine. If I didn't know better… I'd think they were trying to trick me into being a full time nanny. I slid half the food onto my plate. The rest was split among the Seven Deadly Sins.
It was always funny how they were basically using doll sized utensils to eat. Chattering away about all our grand plans. My grandest plan right now… get through probation at work. I was only two weeks in at the new job, new apartment, new city. It was crazy how fast life changed.
A month ago, I found out my girlfriend of three years, fiancé of two weeks, was cheating on me. That had been rough, but finding out because they were both hospitalized after crashing my car had added the sucker to the punch.
I sat on the information for a full day. Then I sent a text that we were officially over, canceled my part of the lease, packed up what I could carry… and left. I had less than a thousand dollars after all was said and down. Not to mention, before I could cancel our shared card Arianna maxed the five thousand dollar limit.
I quickly cleaned up as I stuffed the last bits of orange into my mouth. If I was early enough, I'd be able to make a cup of coffee at work before my shift started.
"It would be cheaper if we bought our own coffee maker, but we have other priorities." Greed sighed as he glanced at the still mostly empty apartment.
Dillon, the previous owner, had "donated" some really nice, very practical stuff. The bed, set of sheets, washer, countertop dishwasher, a full set of dishware. One set for me, one for each of the sins. A practically brand-new laptop… Honestly… I didn't know what I'd be doing if I hadn't met Dillon, and his two friends.
I glanced at the time, "We can hit the store on the way home," I sighed as I slid into my shoes. Checking that I had everything, we were out the door.
Pride stood on my shoulder as the rest were tucked into my backpack hiding from the chilly March morning. Thankfully, the bus was on time.
Work at the call center was… well I was busy. Twenty years ago the building was a small hospital. Today, it was a walk in clinic, with the extra space housing the call center. Since I hadn't gotten all my credentials yet, I was mostly calling for the sister clinics, confirmation calls to patients who had appoints for the next day. When those were done, I worked on voice mails. The facility was open twenty four hours a day, but with only nineteen call center employees managing calls for fifteen different clinics… lots of voicemails.
I happily started making my elixir of life as the triage nurses clocked in. In a perfect world no less than five nurses showed up in rotation to triage calls. Unfortunately the world wasn't perfect, there were only four nurses this week, each working over sixty hour weeks.
"Hey, Max right? Mind making extra? I have creamer in the fridge I'll share." One of the nurses asked, he was holding three large bags.
"Uh, sure! Um, want me to… bring it to you?" I asked as I added more water for the pot.
"No worries, I'll come back in a few. I left my mug, blue with a dog picture. Thanks." He called already shuffling out of the break room.
"How much creamer?" I called after him.
"I'll add, please fill the cup three fourths! Use as much creamer as you like!" I heard as the door closed. I made his cup, setting it by the paper towel as I clocked in. I sat down behind my trainer.
"Morning Max." Donna greeted quietly. Donna was mid-thirties, in her customary sweat pants and a hoodie as she sipped on her coffee. Her dark brown hair was only held back by a struggling ponytail, large blue glasses, very pink socks. She was a little overweight, but otherwise she was average looking.
"Hey Donna, what's today's mission impossible?" I asked turning my computer on.
"Oh you know, making confirmation calls, asking everyone to do their pre-registration, also, Athena was down last night for an update, so if ya see something, say something. Already over twenty tickets in." Donna sighed as she sent off a phone note.
I inwardly groaned. Athena was great… when she worked! But everyone was hoping the expanse update next year would make patient provider communication smoother. For now, if a patient had a question, they had to call and ask. With expanse there would be a portal to leave messages on both sides.
I glanced at the voicemail icon… over fourteen hundred… yay… another busy day.
Well, these calls wouldn't make themselves.
"Max, remember, enunciate. Most of the patients are older, they can't understand you." Pride said. He was sitting on the second computer monitor, watching me.
"Oh, no, nothing wrong with your appointment! This is just a uh, a confirmation call ma'am." I tried to explain.
"What?"
Envy sighed, "Slow down Max. She's not going to eat you."
I took a deep breath, "I'm calling from your provider's office, this is a confirmation call, I see you haven't completed your pre-registration." I managed to find my place back in the script. When I finally hung up I sighed. That could have gone better.
"Don't worry Max, someone has to throw you for a loop, if not, something worse will happen." Donna called over her shoulder. Because she was training me, we were pretty far from everyone else. There were five different rooms for the call center, one for nurses, four for the rest of us. Depending on what centers we were making calls for, determined which rooms we were in. ER, Hospital, and walk in calls were directed to the only room with a window. This was for two reasons, one so the walk in patients could see we were in fact working, second because those calls were more likely to have symptoms from a trigger list so the employees may have to go to a triage nurse or the walk in nurse.
I was in one of the back rooms, so I could wear sweats and hoodies, but since I was on probation I was in professional work attire. Donna promised she'd break me of the habit before my probation was up.
"Max let's try something new. If you need a moment, hold your breath. Don't count silently, or reed the part of your script." Pride offered still watching from his perch. His dangling legs were a bit distracting, but that was probably only because I was fumbling another call.
I held my breath as I listened to the patient rant about getting so many reminder notifications, calls, emails. He was claiming this was boarding on harassment.
"Close your eyes, don't focus on your script, just highlight the next section so you don't lose your place." Pride added as the rant continued.
I closed my eyes, it took a few seconds, but the patient finally calmed down. "We are so sorry the notifications are bothering you, when you come in, if you haven't changed your preferences on the pre-registration, we can help you adjust them as you check in." I stated calmly. Well, my voice was a bit breathy since I'd been holding it.
Thankfully, he was my last confirmation call. Since Donna was on the phone I sent a teams message asking if I should start on voice mails. One thumbs up later I started tackling the never ending task. In the three hours to make those calls… the voice mails had jumped over fifteen hundred.