Gophers In Trainng (Josh)

[Deleted]

Connections connections. It was all about connections.

But in order to get these connections, Anthony had to go out into the community and make these...connections.

That meant shaking a lot of hands. If this were a presidential campaign and he were actually running for it, then he'd be kissing babies as well. Success was all about who you knew and how many of them you knew. So the more hands he shook at these community gatherings and volunteer events, the more connections he got to utilize in his future.

Internships and part-time jobs were also a great way to gain connections. The expectation was that you never really did anything important other than run errands and make coffee, but you got to look over the shoulders of bureaucrats and lawyers and politicians, and got to overhear their conversations, and then shake their hands if the coffee you made was good enough which yielded in...connections!

Anthony had lucked out in this job/internship, though it made sense considering it was helping out a campaign candidate and his run for office. Anthony wasn't sure what would be appropriate for his first day ever on this job, but he decided to play it safe and go with a blue button up and grey tie. Nothing outlandish, he didn't want to give the wrong first impression. Because wrong first impressions could completely ruin your chance for....connections!

Anthony straightened his tie(which was chaffing his neck honestly, though he'd worn worse), and pretty much stood at attention while he waited for somebody to tell him what to do.

[Joshua Bernstein]

This year he was going to win. He could feel it.

Last year he had lost. But last year he had begun his campaign very, very late. This time he had begun almost as soon as he had heard the results of last Election Day, calling up people to help him with websites and fliers and posters.

And this year he had campaign volunteers.

Yue was one such volunteer, cheerful and adorable. He was sure that he would get a few votes simply because she was so charming. Anthony was another, more recent addition to his team.

As soon as the attorney spotted the youth he waved him over with difficulty, his arms full of spiral notebooks and one hand clutching a styrofoam cup of coffee. "Mr. Freudenberger!" He greeted his helper with a smile. "Are you ready for your first day on the job?"

[Deleted]

Pretty much how it worked in the military(and pretty much at home with his father) is that when you were told to do something, you damn well did it! Exactly the way they told you to, nothing more nothing less. When you had nothing to do, you waited for orders so you weren't off messing up somebody else's important doings.

Always make sure you knew what you were doing first before going off on your own, making assumptions and thus, making a fool of yourself.

Then again…that was what was so frustrating about some things. Anthony saw opportunities to change for efficiency and nobody wanted to because change…the horror!

Whether or not this job proved to be similar to those inflexible micro-managers still remained to be seen. But for the moment Anthony would treat it as such until he determined just what he could expect from these gentlemen and women. So when he saw the man Mr. Bernstein wave him over, Anthony scuttled over like the gopher he was. "Absolutely! Never been more ready in my life!" He flashed Mr. Bernstein his own prize-winning smile, hoping it didn't seem too enthusiastic nor to fake. "What have you got for me, sir?" he asked, the formalities just rolling right of his tongue. It was a force of habit from working with his dad so much.

[Joshua Bernstein]

"Today we're calling voters to inform them that I have a speaking engagement at the Progressive Party breakfast next Saturday."

Josh handed Anthony one of the spiral bound notebooks. Inside was contained the numbers of people on his call list. There weren't as many as he would like, but he had confidence that this would change as he spoke more, and handed out more fliers, and maybe had a few radio or even television advertisements. Advertisements were a bit expensive, though; he needed more financial backing so he could afford more of those.

Some politicians had automated calling for these sorts of things. Some had mailing lists. Some had emailing lists. But although Josh enjoyed using technology, he wasn't exactly savvy enough to set that up on his own, and he hadn't yet gotten around to asking Cee for help. But he would.

Eventually.

"We'll take a break at noon for lunch." He added. He wasn't going to work his intern into the ground for this.

[Deleted]

Oh. Calling people. Well that was…..worthwhile, he guessed. Anthony was hoping to do something a little more active, but going through a list of people and calling them up personally did show the amount of commitment and dedication that Mr. Bernstein had and how much he cared about the people.

"Righty-O!" he said enthusiastically. Maybe he was overdoing it on the enthusiasm? "So, you just want me to let them know about the breakfast, right?" Seemed simple enough.

Anthony took the notebook from the counselor and flipped through it to get an estimate of how many he could get done before lunchtime. "I really admire you for this, Mr. Bernstein," he said, taking a seat at one of the desks with a phone. "Most people would just program it into one of those automated systems and leave a mechanized message for people, but not you. I think it's a lot more personable to speak to a real person myself." He looked over the phone, trying to get a feel for how this particular one worked. "Do I need to like, press 9 or something to dial out or anything?"

[Joshua Bernstein]

Josh was pleased with Anthony's reasoning, although this thought hadn't occurred to him at all. It made sense, though, that people would prefer a reminder from a real person rather than a machine, and wasn't that the sort of persona he wished to present to the world? Someone friendly? He could be hard on himself, but he thought that was one of his good points.

Of course, phone calls of this nature weren't the most compelling of duties, but they had to get done. People couldn't vote for him if they didn't know he was a candidate, or if they weren't aware of his platform. And so he had to remind people, and hope that they thought to inform their friends and coworkers.

The clock ticked by as the two men made call after call, and eventually Josh's watch informed him that it was noon.

He placed a pen inside the notebook to hold their place, then pushed his chair away from the table. "It's time for our lunch break. You're welcome to join me, if you don't have other plans."

He didn't want to pressure his intern into spending free time with him, but he also didn't want to leave him alone either.

[Deleted]

If there was one thing that Anthony was good at, it was BSing a person’s worth, usually his own, to other people. But the great thing about Mr. Bernstein was that there wasn’t a whole lot that he had to BS about, so that made it easier. Just take the good qualities already there and shine them up a notch. Presto-chango, you got yourself a shiny candidate shaking hands and kissing babies. Anthony probably didn’t have to do much to talk him up, though, through this exercise. It was just phone calls. But as long as he sounded like he was enjoying what he was doing, then that would get across even over the phone, right? Hopefully.

He’d gotten a bottle of water sometime during the morning, and by the time Mr. Bernstein had called them to break for lunch, it was already mostly empty, with just a few mouthfuls resting at the bottom, of which Anthony quickly finished off once the bell had sounded. Anthony’s eyes brightened. “Actually, that sounds great. I’d be honored to join you!” After all, it was probably better to get to know his employer outside of work as well. There was no benefit in being anti-social in this environment. “What were you planning on, sir?”

[Joshua Bernstein]

Had Josh shared his partner's telepathic abilities he would have been flattered, albeit puzzled. He was painfully aware of his own flaws, perhaps even tended to magnify them in his anxiety. However, he was not a telepath, and Anthony hadn't voiced any of his opinions. He had simply dutifully complied with his orders, in a pleasant and mature manner.

What a difference a mature intern made! If only anyone at all at his firm would take his opinion on interns seriously after the fiasco that was Vincent, he might float Anthony as an option.

"I was thinking about heading down to Ari's. He has an excellent selection, have you been?"

Although Pilot Ridge was a small town, that didn't mean that everyone had patronized everywhere. He was sure that there were establishments even he had yet to try, simply because it was so easy to get stuck in a rhythm.

[Deleted]

Anthony would love to know how appreciative that Mr. Bernstein was of his professionalism, but in all honesty Anthony was only doing what he knew was expected of him. After all, Anthony didn’t want to disappoint and potentially lose a credible opinion that could assist in his future. Someone like Mr. Bernstein was definitely letter of recommendation material, and a valuable one in his opinion. Anthony could probably get into any college he wanted with the right contacts, and this internship was the first step. Well, in actuality, Anthony had already made a various amount of connections with his volunteer work, and then with his teachers at school, but this was the first one he’d gotten from someone of political importance.

“Ari’s? I don’t think so sir.” Anthony had only been in Pilot Ridge for a few years, having manifested in his 15th year. Three years later, there were still so many places that he hadn’t been to, though there were still many places that he had been to. Numerous times. Though it was probably a good thing to get out and explore new places and try out new restaurants. “What do they have there?” he asked.

[Joshua Bernstein]

"You don't have to call me sir," Josh laughed as he began packing up his notebooks and pens. Nobody at the office called him sir; the title had an air of formality usually reserved for people who didn't know him very well. As Anthony was his intern he thought they ought to have a less formal relationship than one that would require use of a title.

"Oh! I should call it by its real name. The Velvet-tone Coffee house. It's run by Ari Jasinski. He makes an excellent hummus. Do you like hummus?"

[Deleted]

“Oh, uh…sorry, it’s force of habit,” Anthony said with a blush and a nervous habit. “My dad’s a Captain in the air force…and my grandpa was a Colonel…That’s kind of how my brother and I were expected to address them.” And his mother thought that was ridiculous in impersonal and was always getting into fights with their dad. No wonder Anthony didn’t want to go home after graduation. “So it’s just…whenever I’m in front of authority figures, it’s always “yes, sir!” and “no, sir!”.” He chuckled. “Kind of ridiculous, right?” Anthony was starting to relax a bit now that he and Mr. Bernstein were engaged in a more casual conversation.

“Oh! Yeah, I know that place! A lot of us at Hammel use that as a regular hang out spot.” Anthony liked to go there a lot, or at least enough. “Yeah, I do!” he gleed with a broad smile. "Wow...I guess I never bothered to find out who the owner was, but it's pretty cool that you know him. You've been in PR for a while right? I'd bed there's not a lot of folks who don't know you."

[Joshua Bernstein]

"I've only been in Pilot Ridge for four years," Josh corrected his intern with a laugh. "Hardly longer than many of the students at the Institute, and probably not even as long as some of them."

He had come up to Vermont at times to visit Sean, but that wasn't really the same as being a local, and rarely allowed for getting to know many new people anyway.

"Do you mind walking, or should I see if I can call a cab?"

[Deleted]

“Oh…really? Only four?” That was surprising. And quite frankly, make Anthony feel a little sheepish for assuming otherwise. “Oh, well, uh…whoops? Sorry, didn’t mean to assume that you were, uh…” Well, now Anthony had no idea what he was trying to say, so decided it was best to just drop it.

“Oh, I don’t mind walking,” he said with a smile. “I’m a perfectly healthy young man! I can handle a little walk.” Anthony propped up his bicep to illustrate.

[Joshua Bernstein]

"Very well, walking it is."

Josh pushed open the door, holding it open for his intern. Perhaps a reversal of the typical roles Anthony was comfortable with, but Josh felt that if he arrived at the door first he should be the one to hold it open...unless his hands were too full. However, his briefcase with notebook and pens was hardly an obstacle to opening a door.

"After you."

[Deleted]

Anthony nodded at the final decision and followed his boss to the door, offering another nod of appreciating when Mr. Bernstein held it open for him. It was true that Anthony would have gladly held it open for the older man, but he wasn’t going to sweat it, it was over and done with. At least he’d make sure to get there first once they got to the restaurant.

Anthony wasn’t one for walking in silence so as soon as they started walking, Anthony re-engaged into the conversation. “So, if you’ve only been in Pilot Ridge for four years, that means you came from somewhere else, right?” Obviously. “Whereabout are you from and what made you come out here?”