Who: Marsh and Roxy When: midday, Monday, June 25 Where: the vet’s office Status: complete
Seeing as how Roxy hadn’t actually applied for a job in years, she was kind of nervous as she pulled up to the new veterinarian’s office and parked. Aaron had told her about running into an old buddy of his who had become a vet and recently moved back to town to open a practice. He was looking for help, and while Roxy didn’t know shit about vet care, she could file paperwork and book appointments and do all the front desk stuff, she was pretty sure. She hoped that was what this guy would end up needing, anyway. She was so tired of being a server, she needed some new occupation to go with the new life she was building.
She had dressed up a little, in some nice pants and a flowy blouse and some makeup, hoping to look professional, and Roxy straightened everything a bit when she climbed out of the car. Clearing her throat and lifting her chin, she reminded herself she could do anything she set her mind to, and she walked in through the front door.
Today was thankfully the last day without an assistant and Marsh had made sure not to schedule as many appointments as he technically could have. The last thing he needed was a pandemonium in the waiting room while he was busy in the back. He used the time between sessions to finish setting up dog food on the shelves, singing along to a cheery tune on the radio. He wasn't expecting anyone for another thirty minutes so the door caught him by surprise in the middle of a dapper dance move. He turned, smiled sheepishly and clutched his hands together. Not that he was ashamed, dancing and singing were healthy, but he was aware it probably looked a little silly and the woman in the doorway looked a little serious. "Hi! Can I help you?" he asked, noting she did not have a critter with her, but who knew, maybe she had a giant dog in the car.
Roxy had to smile a little when she realized she’d caught him having his own little dance party. He was cute, and looked vaguely familiar in that way so many people in this town did, but Roxy didn’t think she’d ever actually known him, not even back in high school. “Hi, um ... are you Marshall Nolan?” she asked, adjusting her purse on her shoulder a bit. “My name’s Roxy, I know Aaron Lucas ... he said you were hiring?” She almost called Aaron her brother in law, which was how she still sort of thought of him, but that wasn’t really true anymore. Roxy felt insecure and ridiculous all of the sudden, why hadn’t she just called first? Maybe he was fully staffed now, or he wasn’t looking for someone with zero qualifications, or any other number of things.
Marsh had thought she or Aaron would call to set an appointment but her timing was fine - dance party aside - so that didn't really bother him. "Yeah Aaron said I'd be hearing from you," he said chipperly and tried to remember where he knew her from. Probably just the hallways of Chamberlain High or even from around town. He knew an uncomfortable amount about her personal life though, thanks to Aaron telling him about her breakup with Caden Lucas, and they were probably on very uneven ground there - unless rumors had already started about him. "Aaron said good stuff about you, how do you like animals?" He barely felt like doing the whole 'interview' thing, he still wasn't too eager about the top candidate for the position he wanted to fill so if he liked Roxy, she might just fly in. Nepotism at work probably, but vibes had a lot to say and she had customer service experience. "I think you might have some experience with doped up or aggressive clients already. Working at a bar and all."
That made her laugh a bit and she nodded as she moved closer to the front desk to set her purse down. She had a resume tucked in there, though it was meager and probably not formatted perfectly, but she didn’t have the best programs and whatnot on her laptop. “I love animals -- the four-legged variety, not so much the human kind. But I do have plenty of experience with those,” Roxy agreed with a wry little smirk. She pulled her piece of paper out and unfolded it to offer to him. “I’ve never really done reception work before, but I answered the phone all the time at the bar and took messages ... the boys didn’t like to do it much. And I really just ... I’m looking for a big change, you know? Something new to do. And I learn fast.” She wasn’t sure how else to sell herself, but Roxy hoped this guy also just starting out on a new venture would give her a chance.
"Can you work a computer?" Marsh asked as he accepted her resume, glancing at it and almost instantly realizing it probably wouldn't tell him much. It'd be better to just chat. "I'm using a really simple program for the appointments and while it's just me here it's not hard to keep track of it. I could probably just use a spreadsheet but this one does all sorts of things like text people to remind them of their appointment. It's handy. So yeah, if you can work a computer and you learn fast, that program shouldn't be a hassle. That's the main part of this job, appointments, some cleaning and occasionally helping with the patients."
Roxy nodded to the first question -- were there people their age these days who couldn’t work a computer? -- then smiled at the rest of it. “I can definitely do all of that,” she said. “I’m not like, an expert at computers or anything, but I can use one pretty well. I’m good with money too, if you need somebody to handle the payments and all ...” Roxy didn’t know much about what went into running a vet’s office, but she guessed that was normal for someone who’d never worked in one. She offered Marsh a smile. “Like I said, I learn fast and I’ll work hard for you. I don’t mind cleaning up messes, I’ve cleaned some truly rancid stuff up at the bar. I just really want to get away from being a server, and there aren’t many opportunities around this place, you know?”
All of those things sounded good and at this point Marsh was starting to think more about how he'd get along with his staff and if there would be any issues there. Besides Ty Solomon, most of the applicants had been high school students or people who loved animals but weren't super realistic about what working for a vet might entail. Roxy seemed prepared for the messy parts of it too and that was a good thing. He gave a sympathetic wince at the clean-up part and he'd always prefer cleaning up animal messes to those he'd seen at clubs and bars. People could be so disgusting. "This all sounds good, tell me something about yourself? Outside of work, I mean. Do you have any plans or dreams for the future?" It wasn't an important question and the way he asked it made that clear. He didn't expect his staff to be striving toward greatness or anything, but it might tell him something about her, knowing where her priorities lay.
Roxy’s brows lifted briefly, and she immediately thought about moving in with Spence and helping renovate the house. Getting married and having at least a couple of kids, maybe a dog. The tiny fantasy always made her smile, and this time was no exception. “No like, big career aspirations,” she told Marsh honestly. “I just want a comfortable little life where my bills are paid and I get to settle down with someone I love who treats me well, and build a family.” Roxy lifted one shoulder, she knew that wasn’t some lofty life plan, but she’d never been a terribly ambitious person when it came to work. She just wanted to do an honest job and have enough to comfortably live on. “Nothing glamorous, but that’s all I really want at this point in my life.” Roxy paused, then offered him a little smile. “And I love dogs. As a, uh ... not so random fact.” She chuckled.
There was something there that made her happy, Marsh could taste it faintly on his tongue and that made him smile too so it was probably good that Roxy hadn't kept her own smile in check. A comfortable little life was a lofty goal of its own these days, Marsh was privileged in so many ways but he wasn't oblivious to the struggle most people his age were facing. He tittered at her love for dogs, nodding slowly and smirking. "Okay, but do you like snakes? Birds? Rats?" She was not going to have a happy time at a vet's office if the small crawlies creeped her out. "And you don't have to like fleas but it helps if they don't freak you out."
“Snakes aren’t my favorite to snuggle with, but I’m not afraid of them,” Roxy answered. “Not scared of fleas either. The only animals I’m scared of are like ... bears and cougars, and I doubt anybody’s gonna be walking one of those in on a leash.” Maybe in some other sort of place where keeping exotic animals was allowed, but Roxy was pretty sure nobody around here had anything like that, or she would’ve heard about it already. “Do you do vet care for livestock too? I know there’s some farms around the outskirts with cows and horses and stuff.” Roxy wasn’t eager to go tromping through a muddy cow field, but she doubted Marsh would expect that of her, it sounded like he wanted someone to man the front desk and do the scheduling. She was more than capable of that.
"Oh yeah, it's not my speciality but the vets in the area take turns being on emergency call and in a place like this, it kinda comes with the territory to not get too specialized. Don't worry though, I've got a guy for that now if I think I need help. I'll be hiring more staff as the practice gets bigger too, I'm going to need a groomer so if you know someone, let me know." From what he'd gathered after arriving in town, there were a lot of services people currently had to get from other towns and it'd be a relief to have someone locally. "I don't think we'll be getting cougars and bears in here on a leash but if we do, I'll deal with it and you can go hide in the bathroom." He shot her a little grin but he still genuinely meant it. Everyone had their limits.
Roxy gave him a smile back. “I want that part in my contract,” she agreed lightly, obviously joking. She probably would hide in the bathroom if something like that actually happened, but she doubted it would. Cougars and bears required housecalls. “I’ll keep it in mind, the groomer thing ... don’t think I know anybody off the top of my head, but I’ll think about it.” Roxy paused, then raised a brow at Marsh. “Who’s the other guy, if you don’t mind me asking? I know a lot of people in this town, and just ... want to check.” If said guy was some friend of Caden’s or whatever, Roxy might have to re-think working here. She didn’t need to worry about someone looking over her shoulder to report back to her ex or any drama or anything like that. Caden didn’t have a ton of friends, but he had enough assholes he knew through the bar to make her wonder.
"Oh hey, that's fair," Marsh replied and with a clinic starting out this small it was pretty important that the staff get along. "His name's Ty Solomon, he used to be a cop around here." There was a hint of question in the statement as he watched Roxy for her reaction. If he remembered the Lucas family right it wasn't unlikely that she'd had a run-in with Ty when he was working thanks to her ex, but Marsh hoped not - or he hoped it was at least not an issue, now that she was no longer with Caden. Maybe they could even bond over it.
She immediately recognized the name and couldn’t help but look relieved. Any cop -- even a former one -- was the complete opposite of a friend of Caden’s. “I’ve met him, yeah,” Roxy said to Marsh with a little smile. She’d never had a direct issue with the PPPD, but she’d been connected to the Lucas family for years, and everyone knew they weren’t the most law-abiding. “That’s actually kind of perfect actually,” she added as it sank in more. Roxy didn’t really know Ty personally yet, but the idea of having a former cop on staff made her feel safer, just in case Caden someday decided to show up and give her a hard time. He’d said it was all over as far as he was concerned, but part of Roxy was still wary of fully believing that. “I dunno if Aaron told you, but I, uh ... just had sort of a rough breakup -- not that I think he’ll show up here to be an asshole, he won’t, but ...” Roxy trailed off, shrugged, then looked pained. “Sorry, that’s probably like, a mark against me.”
"That's not a mark against you," Marsh reassured her. "As long as your personal life doesn't affect your work, it's really none of my business. Unless you wanna gossip, I'm fine with that if we're not crazy busy." He knew that the line between being someone's boss and someone's buddy was going to be a tricky one for him and it was another reason he kind of wished there had been a working vet office in town he could just join instead of starting up his own business. "Ty's coming by tomorrow to get everything set up, you can come in and meet him or you can come in on Wednesday if it's better. I finally got this employee handbook from the printers so you can look that over first... Uhm, you'll need scrubs but we're kinda playing fast and loose with the rules for the first week, as you can see, everything is kind of not fully ready." He gestured around at the mess around him, though thankfully it was slowly clearing up.
Roxy knew she could stay professional while she was at work, she just hoped that her personal life didn’t come barrelling in one day to make a scene. Though Caden was probably more likely to just wait outside by her car for her to get off. Or he would actually be true to his word and leave her alone, she hoped that would be the case. Roxy’s brows lifted slowly at Marsh as he spoke, and then she smiled brightly. “So does that mean I’m hired?” she asked, surprised and slightly amused. They hadn’t talked about hours or pay yet, he hadn’t even checked her references -- though she supposed Aaron already got ahead of that for her. And Roxy wasn’t too concerned about the pay scale, as long as it was decent, it seemed that she would be moving in with Spence soon anyway. “I can come in tomorrow to help if you want me to.” It would be interesting to see Ty and get a better feel for the place.
"Yeah if you want the job," Marsh said and her smile was contagious so that was a good sign. "We can sit down and discuss all the details if you wanna hang around a little longer. I've got a cat coming in soon for an annual checkup but I've got some free time after that. You could get a feel for the place and what to expect." She was already ahead of the candidate who'd been on the top of his list for a few reasons so it made perfect sense to Marsh to hire her on the spot. If it didn't work out she could quit or he could fire her, there really was no way to see how someone was going to fit until they actually tried it, no matter how long he interviewed her for.
The hiring process at The Porch hadn’t been complicated or anything, so Roxy wasn’t sure why she’d been expecting more hurdles to jump over, but she wasn’t going to complain. “Yeah, that sounds good,” she said, moving to set her purse down on the inside of the front desk. “Until they arrive, want to show me the scheduling program you’re using and everything?” If Marsh was comfortable hiring her on the spot, she thought she could jump right in to get the lay of the land, maybe even greet the cat and its owner when they arrived. Fast or no, it already felt like another piece of the brand new start Roxy had been needing in her life. She was getting to a better place, one step at a time.