Jack didn't know what to think of his new job, initially. Working as a gofer on the set of a tv-show sounded like a mixed blessing at best. Getting coffee and curlers all day long for directors' assistants and wardrobe-people didn't sound exciting at all, and the minimum wage that came along with it didn't do anything to sweeten the deal. But if he wanted to be serious about getting a foot in the business, which had been a dream of his for a while, he had to start somewhere. Making friends and connections who worked with and around successful actors on an everyday basis would surely be a step in the right direction if he was ever to realize his dream of becoming an actor. His hope was that if he made himself noticed doing a good job and showing up on time every day, maybe someone would give him break at some point. And in the meantime, maybe it wasn't a complete loss spending his time in a place where celebrities work all day long. If he was lucky he might get to talk to a few of them from time to time.
Jack didn't even know exactly where or who he would be working with on his first day. His friend who had gotten him the job through a connection he had in the studios had just told him to show up at a certain address in Van Nuys at 9 o'clock monday and someone would put him to work. When he got to where he was told to go he arrived at a huge hangar building with a small entrance. Above the entrance it said "Beverly Hills 90210". He realized he would be working on the set of 90210, a show he watched regularly after it had recently become a big hit. The thought of doing whatever Jennie Garth and her other female cast members would order him to do all day long made the thought of all the other grunt work he would be doing melt away like ice in the sun. Fetching a glass of club soda for some director's assistant didn't sound fun at all. Fetching it for his dream girl Jennie Garth and being greeted with a smile when doing so, sounded like a great way to spend the day.
The first day on the job, however, didn't look to go as planned. His boss, a grumpy old woman who seemed like she had been working there for much longer than she wanted to, made it her apparent mission to make Jack's new job as miserable as possible. Barking orders at him to sweep the floors, move heavy furniture from one end of the building to the other. Running back and forth across the set to give messages to people who had no idea what she, through him, was trying to say to them, and getting little to no rest in between doing so, put a real damper on the enthusiasm the sign above the entrance had instilled in him just a few hours earlier. The job was turning out to be a real disapointment. The mindless chores were even more exausting and tedious than Jack had feared and he had still to catch even a glimpse of any celebrity. Still, he didn't want to give up just yet and was determined to give it some time before he decided he had had enough. The thought of possibly meeting the female cast of 90210, the biggest hit on TV at the time, was much too enticing to give up on so soon.
At 6 o'clock in the evening after a long day's work, most of the crew had left for the day. Jack had been told to stay and work late because "a lot of loose ends still needed to be tied up and we need to keep a few hands around in case some handywork is needed" his boss had told him. Since he was new he was the one picked for the dirty work. There had been no shooting that day which explained why he hadn't seen any of the cast members. They had been working in another building while the one Jack worked in was being prepared for tomorrow's shoot. Even though he was tired and wanted to go home for the day, he could at least comfort himself with the fact that he wouldn't necessarily have a lot of work to do. He just had to be around in case he was needed. So to tie him over until some real work was required, his boss told him to go to one of the dressing rooms to put out clothes for the next day. The actors needed to be able to easily find their clothes when it was needed and his boss gave Jack a list of what needed to be dug out of the closet and prepared for next day's shoot. Compared to some of the day's earlier chores this seemed like an easy task and Jack was happy to do what he was told.
His was thirsty, so on his way to the dressing room he stopped by a soda machine and got himself something to drink while digging through the closet trying to find the right clothes according to the list. Jack entered the dressing room which was a small room, and empty exept for the makeup-table with a mirror, a chair, a large tan couch, and the closet he was to go through. He opened the closet door and started rummaging through the huge collection of clothes they had managed to stuff into the closet and tried to find what was on the list his boss had given him.
After a while Jack had found most of the clothes on the list and decided to take a small break. He sat down on the chair, put his feet up on the table, opened the soda can he had gotten from the machine, and leaned his head back to take a big sip. His feet were tired after a long day and his mouth was dry after having had little to drink all day. The soda really hit the spot. Jack held the can in his hand and rested it on his thigh as he closed his eyes for a second, enjoying the quiet moment he had to himself after a busy day. While doing so he didn't notice how he inadvertantly tilted the soda can slighly to one side. He was abruptly brought out of his state of relaxation when he felt his right thigh become wet. He jumped out of the chair as he realized he had spilled his soda on his pants.
Jack took a piece of clothing from the closet and tried to rub it out, but realized that the stain was much too big to be blotted out so simply. He decided instead that he would have to take off his jeans and hopefully be able to find some place to dry them. He remembered seing a pair of sweatpants in the closet earlier, found them and took them out, judging them to be about his size and decided that they would have to do for the time being. He unzipped his jeans and pulled them down along with his boxers, that had also been wetted by the soda-spill, stepped out of them and reached for the sweat pants to put them on.