This story is a bit different since it is supposed to be excerpts from a diary. I have never actually written one myself although I have tried a few times (turned out I had nothing to say...). In other words it might not be how you would have done it.
Regarding realism: don't bother to complain about the stupidity of some details like camera placement. I know, but it is fiction after all and Big Brother might see you more often than you think...
My first try in this category (I usually end up in Romance).
Halin24
*****
March 10
th
, Monday
Started my new job today. Not a very exciting first day, a lot of info, trying out work clothes and the likes. The boss at HR almost made me fall asleep with her rambling, but what a body! Pity she is a bit too old, forty or so, but she dress like fifteen. Tight top and short skirt that showed quite a bit.
I got a name tag with my title: 'Surveillance Expert'. Bullshit, I'm a janitor with responsibility for the offices. Sure, the surveillance cameras are my responsibility too but they are automatic and saves everything to a hard-drive for two weeks. Doesn't have to be an 'Expert' to take care of that.
But damn, what a body she's got!
March 11
th
, Tuesday
My first real day at work, really working I mean. Ran around the main office fixing problems. I can't believe how stupid some people are. One of the girls complained that her computer didn't work and she had
so much to do
! The stupid bitch hadn't turned on the screen, so I did it for her and said it made things easier if the power was on.
'But I never turn it
off
, ever! Can't with these nails, you see.'. Her claws were inch-long and painted in five colours. Must take a while to do but how the hell can she use the keyboard with them?
Sat in my office after lunch. Yeah, I have an office... in the basement, all by myself. The controls for the surveillance is down there too, guess it is the only reason why I
have
an office at all. The system is cool, I have six screens and a computer, and can show pictures from six cameras at once or from one camera using all screens. Looks like HD cameras, I put one in the main office up on all screens at once and had no problem identifying the bitch with the nails. Could even zoom in on her face: she's not that good with make-up it seems, her eyebrows had three colours.
March 12
th
, Wednesday
Long-nails did it again. She couldn't
understand
why her screen was turned off, she was sure she hadn't done it. I got an explanation though. I heard a rumour that the night guard turned all the screens off on his first round. Asked the head of HR about that, after all I am the 'Surveillance Expert' so why not show her that I know what is happening?
Her name is Patricia by the way but demands that we call her Miss Shaw. Anyway, she told me it was a new thing to save energy and also reduce heating in the office. The temperature dropped two degrees she said, and the air conditioning didn't have to work so hard. I told 'nails' and she wanted to know how she would be able to work? Showed her how to use a pen to turn the damn thing on.
I can't say that I work all that hard. Most of the afternoon I sat in my office playing with the cameras. I wonder if people are aware how much they are watched all the time? I found out that there are cameras in the changing rooms too, how weird is that? Didn't see anyone there, but the screen said it was both the women's and men's lockers, one room each for the office and two each for the food plant. No cameras in the john's though, thank God.
March 13
th
, Thursday
Visited the food plant today for the first time. Not my area really, but surveillance is and my predecessor had reported a malfunction, so a repairman showed up out of nowhere.
Fortunately he knew the routine because I didn't. It isn't just to walk in there and do what you need to do. Oh no, that would be too easy. The guy - Matt was his name - showed me to one of the food plant's changing rooms where we had to strip and shower before entering another room where we got new clothes, hairnets, gloves and all. Then we could enter. His tools could, for some reason, go right over and be picked up, but he said it was restricted use only. It didn't take long in there: he replaced a camera, checked a circuit board and replaced that too, and then we left.
It was easier getting out, just undress by your locker, throw the clothes and stuff in a laundry bin, get dressed and leave. Matt told me about the first time he had been there. He had forgotten to bring his toolkit and had to go through the shower-and-change procedure again. Then he found out that he had the wrong type of replacements with him: one more time! All in all he had showered-and-changed six times before he had finished...
Matt was a nice guy. We had to go to my office to check that everything worked and he taught me a lot in the process. Each camera can be set in two modes: motion sensitive or timer. That means that they are either active when movement is detected or between certain hours, and that is to save storage space on the hard-drive, or actually hard-drives: each camera has its own in a nearby room.
He accessed the drive for the camera he had replaced and showed me how to find a certain day and time, how to copy the file to a portable drive or even a smartphone if anything happened that should be kept longer than the usual storage time. There was much more than that I could do if needed, and he gave me a short introduction, saying that as long as I didn't change anything in the 'setup file' nothing could go wrong.
He also told me news about why my predecessor had been sacked: he was stupid! When he had nothing special to do he got bored, and when he got bored he went to his office, locked the door and slept. For hours. Finally people started to wonder where he was, and when there was an accident one day and the pictures from the cameras were needed Patricia unlocked the door to get them herself and found him on a mattress on the floor.
I won't do that mistake, of that I am sure.
March 18
th
, Tuesday
Have spent the last few days moving desks, chairs, computers and file cabinets around. Patricia got the idea that it would be better if she had a PA, a personal assistant. I found out that it meant that instead of handing out assignments randomly herself, her PA would get everything to handle any way she wanted. Can't see much difference to be honest. The PA had to sit close to her in a separate room and so Patricia had to change room too because her old room lay isolated to one side of the office. That in turn meant that six others who shared two rooms had to move, and that meant... Women!!
Not only that, but my orders changed by the hour: 'Put my things over there', 'No, that looks to cramped, over there is better', 'No, I have to face the door to welcome any visitors'.
Three days, three whole days, but now it is finally done. That is, if they haven't changed their minds again tomorrow. Wouldn't be surprised.
March 19
th
, Wednesday
It seems as if they are happy with the move after all. A new girl started at the office today, Sally is her name, young, blonde, cute. 'Nails' got fired after protesting that she couldn't take a PM before her nail polish had dried. Kind of expected that to happen I must say.
I got the job showing Sally around, getting her computer adjusted, assign a locker and so on. She seems to be shy, didn't say a lot and never looked me in the eyes. Nice girl though, definitely an upgrade from 'Nails', and her nails are cut short and without polish.
March 20
th
, Thursday
Had time to play around with surveillance today. Took a tour around the office now and again to show that I was awake, but other than that I could do what I wanted.
Followed Patricia around on the monitors when she guided VIPs. Cool, and I can't get enough of her boobs, especially from above: what a cleavage! Wonder if I can apply for new cameras in a low position to look up her skirt too? Probably not...
Had a theft in the men's office-locker when I was about to leave. Patricia called me when I was on my way to my car and asked me to check it out. Of course I did, I want to stay on her good side even if it isn't on top of her in bed.
Found the pictures and copied them to a memory stick, checked the logs for the access control and printed it. Brought it to Patricia and gave her the name of the likely thief. I was her favourite janitor right then: her only janitor, but even so. Guess it means another employee will be sacked but that ain't my problem.
March 21
st
, Friday
I'm a fucking genius!! Maybe a bit slow at times but still a genius!
That thing with the thief yesterday came back to me when I was about to fall asleep last night. In the video you can see the thief enter, pick up the wallet from the open locker with clothes spread over a bench, then leave. The office staff usually doesn't shower, they sit at their desks most of the day and wear their private clothes. But, we have access to a gym if we want to exercise, and right now it is also the yearly health check-up, mandatory I might add, and not to take away time from work it is done after people have finished for the day. When people visit the doctor they shower in advance, right? And, if they have an hour or two to spend after work before the check-up they might visit the gym, right? The women too...
I checked it out today, going through the pictures from all the women's changing rooms, and the gym cams also (hotties sweating in gym clothes ain't bad either, right?) from the evening before. Jackpot! A free private strip show! Well, most of them are not much too cheer about, but a few are! Good Lord, some are! Think I'm gonna work some overtime and watch them in real time. I've stocked up on DVD's and flash drives after work today.