New Job... (Part One)

Jean had her notebook open ready to add any notes to the training materials as Gloria took her on a tour through the catalog room.

"The Experiencer logs in to one of these terminals and makes their selection."

Gloria tapped the screen on one of the terminals bringing up a login menu.

"You as an Experience Expert are available to guide them if they need any help. You have a list of questions in your training materials that you might find helpful."

Jean looked at her notebook, there was indeed a list. "Do most people need help or do they come in looking for something in particular?"

"It's actually split. Some people have something really specific in mind and some are almost willing to hit a random spin and see what comes up. We used to have issues with 'readers' but once we changed our catalogs and billing structure that stopped."

"Readers?"

"Oh, that's what we called people who would come in and go through pages and pages of the catalog just reading descriptions and never actually choosing an experience. We changed the billing and shortened the descriptions and that helped. Now if you spend a half hour reading you are still going to pay the same as if you spent a half hour with an actual experience."

"Is that the standard billing then? By time?"

"We have three levels, it's in the next section of your notes. We'll go over that more tomorrow when we talk about sales, but basically you have the trial rate for those that aren't sure about the experience. It's a shortened experience from a limited catalog just to see if you like it. Then there is the hourly rate. Most people choose that one. You pay your initial membership fee and then only pay for the time you actually use. And there is also a monthly rate where you can have as many as one experience a day. That one isn't very popular, it's quite expensive and really more than a few experiences a month is a little hard on your own equilibrium."

"Your equilibrium?"

"Maybe that's not the right word. But, you know, if you were to come in every day and pick an experience you would feel a little off. Like out of balance?"

"Oh, I see. Got it." Jean didn't really get it but she figured she would after working here for a few weeks.

"And here are the private catalog rooms."

"Private?"

"Well, semi-private. Any Experiencer using one of these rooms will have a specially trained Experience Expert with them at all times, even while searching the catalogs. It keeps the weirdos out. Or at least the weirdos who aren't paying out. No offense, but I think anyone who chooses one of these experiences is a weirdo."

"These experiences?"

"Right, let me backup. The private catalog rooms contain computers that are hooked up to a different catalog base than the main catalog room out front. These are the..." Gloria trailed off for a moment, "...these are the more intense experiences."

"Like R rated?"

"Sort of. Some of them for sure. Just much more intense things. Here..." Gloria tapped the login screen and put in her admin code. Jean stepped forward and began to scan the entries.

"Oh."

"Yes, oh."

"Why would anyone choose these experiences?"

"I don't know. Dane, he works in the lab, you'll meet him tomorrow, Dane says it's like scary movies. Some people like romcoms and some people like scary movies."

"But this isn't really the same as a scary movie, right? I mean scary movies aren't..."

"Real?"

"Well yeah."

"Neither is this. You have to keep that in mind at all times as an Experience Expert. Nothing that the Experiencer goes through here is real. You need to be clear with them before the experience and make sure you are even more clear with them after they are finished with the experience that nothing about what they saw or did was real."

"But it is real, isn't that the selling point?"

"Okay it seems real, and yes we charge a premium because it's so close to real that you have a hard time distinguishing it, but, it's not real. Not to them. You have to make sure you get that signed off from the Experiencer every single time."

"Don't they sign a waiver when they buy their membership card?"

"Yes. But they have to resign every single time they choose an experience. You have to give them the lecture and have them sign the form. It's really important to make sure the company is protected. You don't want to be the Experience Expert in the middle of a hijacking case."

"Oh, like that company in California?"

"That was the most famous one for sure. That company was a mess. They let their clients have multiple experiences in a day! Can you imagine? And they had way too many experiences from the same source. They were just asking for trouble really. I mean it worked out for us because we were able to buy their whole catalog for a song. But, you know for them, it was a mess."

Gloria logged off of the catalog terminal and they walked back out to the main room.

"Okay, I'm going to leave you to study your notes while I do some paperwork. Feel free to browse any of the catalogs as well. In fact I think that's probably a good place for you to start. Get used to our systems. You can get a feel for the differences in our company catalogs by searching for experiences you've done in the past at other places."

Jean smiled a little, "I've never actually had an Experience."

Gloria looked shocked but only for a second. "Oh! Well we will make sure you get a chance to try one out before we ever put you on the floor. You really should know how the whole process works. I recommend something basic for your first time. I know it sounds boring but it's a little easier to process things like 'Sunset at the Beach' than it is 'First Child Birth' as you can imagine I'm sure!"

With that Gloria left Jean on her own to study and browse the catalog. Jean tapped the computer screen and entered her login.

"Welcome to Memory Lane! What would you like to do today?"

Jean started to scroll through the pages of experiences. There were so many of them. How did anyone ever decide? She turned to her notebook:

"As an Experience Expert you might be called upon to help guide an Experiencer toward an experience they would find enjoyable. With over 100,000 donated memories in our catalogs and more coming every day you can imagine it could be overwhelming to a new Experiencer. Start with questions like: 'Is there a certain age you would like to experience today?' or 'Are you interested in a specific feeling?' these questions can help narrow choices for your Experiencer. Please see the following list for more ideas."

Jean started to scan the question list she would be using to guide her Experiencers. It was a lot of information. She briefly wondered if there was an experience she could choose that would be from a fully trained Experience Expert. She smiled to herself and started to review her notebook.

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