2016-02-17 (PostU) Planning in Rayne's Office

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Planning in Rayne's Office

Summary: The Welcome Center crew makes plans for the future.



Who: Rayne, Serenity, Sunset
When: February 17th, 2016
Where: TASK Headquarters: Rayne's Office


Rayne-icon.gifSerenity-icon.gifSunset-icon.gif

The information contained within this log is to be considered information gained Out of Character (OOC).
This information may not be used as In Character (IC) knowledge or in roleplay unless it has been learned in-game or permission has been granted by the parties involved.

Questions should be directed to staff.


Unlike certain... other offices within the building, the Rayne's office is fairly traditional looking. A large, wooden, L-shaped desk with a traditionally comfy office chair behind it. It looks to be a very nice chair, well stuffed, on rollers... much more pleasant to sit on than, say, a throne of skulls. Still, there does seem to actually be a trophy on the wall behind the chair, a large, two-handed greataxe. The desk itself has a computer monitor on it, though it's off to the side portion of the desk, leaving a welcoming, open space in front for others to sit across from TASK's current Second. While the walls are warmly painted with wood paneling on the lower half, the room has few decorations, what with Rayne being fairly light on material possessions, but there is still a single potted plant, lone white flower whose petals are closed. Rayne is currently seated in her chair... and doesn't appear at first glance to actually be awake.

"Nice plant, but I think the room could use a picture or two still," is Sunset's off-hand comment as she strolls in. "Just some generic scenic imagery to help the cozy feel. Hello Rayne..." The yellow-and-redhead pauses, tilting a little to one side as if trying to look. "Rayne?" Is she even awake? Who arranges a meeting then dozes off while waiting?

The psychedelic-spotted sea slug arrives in response to the summons, sliding serenely into the office with a slow undulation of the fins. After taking note of Rayne's closed eyes, Ren silently waves a portion of the 'wing' to Sunset and pauses just inside the entrance in a 'standing' posture. With rhinophores perked, Ren peers curiously at the decor.

"Huh wha?" asks Rayne with a bit of a start as Sunset announces her presence. "Oh, gods, sorry. Maybe I should... sleep more at home," she excuses with a yawn. "Good afternoon, you two.... I figured we might want to have a bit of a... touching base and whatnot. Figure out where we are, what we need, et cetera." She looks down at her own set of note cards... and frowns at their relative emptiness. Rayne has never claimed to be good at planning things.

Sunset looks more amused than anything else. "You know, in Japan they consider it a sign of hard dedicated work if you need to take a nap in middle of a shift," she replies with a little random and mostly pointless trivia as she claims a chair and plops down in it. "Making sure we've still got all our points in order is a good idea, though."

"Hello," Ren rasps, taking an empty spot next to Sunset and sinking to a matching height. "Other people might interpret that as an indication of an overbearing superior or too many late-night movies," Ren cheerily remarks to Sunset. Ren nods to Rayne. "I'm sure that I will be able to deal flexibly with the decisions, though I hope to learn enough today to ask some questions." Ren motions a fin edge toward Rayne, "If I may ask, can you begin with the scope of this organization? About how many employees are we speaking of?"

Rayne laughs a bit nervously. "I must admit I've been fired for sleeping on the job before, myself." She then ponders Ren's line of questioning. "Well, let's see... we'd want I think at least two counselors on duty at any given time, so, uh, for forty hour work weeks..." She ponders the math in her head for a moment. "Ten? Eleven? Or have we seen enough to know one shift or another could be understaffed? That'd drop the requirements by... two I think. We'd need a clerical or two... Management I think we have handled... and really, I don't see why management wouldn't also work as counselors? It's kinda the way TASK operates, I don't see why I can't operate with this as well." She ponders for a moment. "It's not like there's a constant influx, right? I'm thinking basically everyone is kind of on call as a counselor when they're here? So if we have a graphic designer or something for making pamphlets, they'd kind of be that second counselor on the shift..." It seems like she's coming up with this on the spot.

Sunset draeps one arm over the back of her chair as she leans in it. "That's a good question to cover. Though I don't think we need so much a hard set number, per say. We need to be sure we've got variety in skills and the situations to be dealt with. Because we're never going to know for sure what kind of world an arrival is going to come from. But once we do if we can match them with a counselor with some familiarity with a similar setting, it would in theory make the adjustment easier. There's not going to be 100 percent matches, but even a vague familiarity can be comforting."

Serenity doesn't seem to notice the improvisation, or at least doesn't remark upon it. "I agree that counselors can double as management or other staff. I don't think that we have so many people available or so many needed that we can afford to specialize too much." Ren looks to Sunset with her contribution. "Regardless of who does the greeting, we can set up an appointment within a day or so with the appropriate person." Ren adds, "We should ask Minu to consider what she has learned about our backgrounds and classify us accordingly."

Rayne says, "Good point. So perhaps just always have one person around and have other people on call or something. That's still at least three people a day, so... five or six, and I'd like to have overlap in times." She taps her chin with a finger, continuing to ponder. "Hrm. Unlike TASK, it'd probably be best to not hire on new arrivals. Probably we should put 'also currently hiring' on posters we put out at first, fill out our ranks?" She then nods to Serenity. "Yeah, we might want to talk to Minu to categorize what we have for familiarity and what we kinda need to fill. I still say we need some basic pamphlets along the lines of 'electricity and you' or something. 'Mr Fork is not Mrs Outlet's friend' and whatnot. The roaring beasts with windows are only dangerous if you get in their way. That kind of stuff."

"The general things isn't a bad thing to cover like that. Means we can focus more on the specifics." Sunset shrugs a little. "Not right out of the gate. We need to be a little more careful about making sure people can deal with other people than TASK does. But since we'll be doing a lot of the first contact matters we've got an early spot on potentials, too." She sits up, putting one hand to her chest, indicating herself with the gesture. "I know from experience that having familiarity with the matter makes it easier to help others deal with the same problem."

"Indeed informative pamphlets could be helpful for those who can read," Ren agrees. "And TASK has been rather quick to hire the newly-arrived. It has turned out quite well so far, but I suppose that it's not necessarily the most cautious practice." Ren looks from Sunset to Rayne. "Perhaps an 'odd jobs' message board would be a practical alternative while ensuring that the newly-arrived have an opportunity to feel useful?"

Rayne says, "Hrm. Good idea on that one. 'Hey, here's some stuff you can do if you want to get started on contributing to society'. A temp jobs posting. I'd rather not be associated with general job placement, though... people that have been around might start using it just for that purpose. So we'd need to be a little cautious on it." She opens up a drawer in her desk and pulls out a package of pocky. She opens up the inner wrapper and sets it out on the desk for others to partake in... okay, she doesn't actually think Ren will go for it, but maybe Sunset. She takes a stick herself, at any rate, and nibbles at the end of it as she continues to ponder. "But my larger concern on new arrivals being hired on is more... they don't know Twisted. This is a place that would need people that have been around here for a while... at least a month or so, I think? Roughly speaking."

"That's a good idea, Ren. Maybe not directly through the organization because we don't want to look like a temp agency like Rayne said. But we can help provide the access to it." She leans forward to take a pocky stick for herself. "And yeah. Like I said, we can see potentials early on since we'll be working with them, but they need time to get accommodated before they can help accommodate others."

Serenity nods. "A fair point. Creating an actual employment agency would be worthwhile, but that is a task for someone who doesn't already have several other roles to play." Ren regards the candy curiously but doesn't reach to try some. "Provided that the person is socializing regularly and not hiding from the world, I think that a month sounds like a reasonable accommodation period."

Rayne says, "Er... sorry, Ren, but it's got bread... like product in it. You have issues digesting that, if I recall?" She then nods to them both. "Of course an interview would be needed to make sure, like any other job... But I think we should step back to how many people we think would be needed to fully run it? We probably need to know that so we can set up an office that's appropriately sized... Which I think we should try to do sooner rather than later."

Sunset nods her head a bit, takes a bite out of the pocky and chews thoughtfully for a few moments. "I think you're about right with the eight to ten range, since most of us can fill more than role as needed. That's a good even number to start with, and we can pick up more later if we need or they become available."

Serenity acknowledges the remark on the candy with a nod. "I think that's a reasonable number to begin with," Ren agrees. "Speaking of an appropriate office, perhaps it should be a bit spare, with plants or realistic art to prevent it from being dull. Less color, decoration, and technology than expected might be also be less intimidating."

Rayne says, "Okay, let's plan on ten people working to be on the safer side... better too much room than not enough. I'd say a classroom... because we might come up with some orientation classes for higher or lower techs than people are used to. A few offices, a waiting and reception room. Ugh, it's starting to sound like a doctor's office in my mind..." She then ponder's Ren's decorations suggestion. "Or perhaps artwork intended to evoke the many different kinds of worlds that people come from? Like... a high tech city, a castle, a forest, a farming villiage? Dragons and people working together? I dunno."

Sunset bites off another piece of pocky. Though the comment about Ren and bread not getting along is kept for future reference too. Partially in practice, because that's the sort of things they're going to have to learn and remember about new people. "Nothing too bright and distracted, but a few different genres wouldn't hurt. Could also be a subtle but useful tool to us, because of how people might react to seeing familiar or unfamiliar scenery in an image."

"A classroom?" Ren repeats thoughtfully. "I do like that idea. While a class in the restaurant might create a more casual mood, there would also be the chance of a 'helpful' bystander creating additional complications." Ren motions to Rayne, "The idea of educational art is an interesting one. I like the idea, but perhaps we should try something more subtle at first, then try the educational on an experimental basis with a few people to see if it has the desired effect or the opposite effect."

Rayne says, "Well, yeah, make it subtle... I'm not saying have paintings covering the walls or something... Hrm. While comforting is good, we need to still make it clear this is a different place, with different things. A television in the main room would be needed, both as something for people used to it and as an introduction to the new for those not, for instance. But the classroom idea is more me thinking of something we might grow in to. I guess I think a bit too methodically, structurally... I've got a lot of experience as a mechanic, and you always RTFM when you're a mechanic. Even when I danced, it was a set routine I was supposed to follow. I'm not as... open and free to adaptation and caring like you guys." She sighs, putting a hand on her forehead and munching down half a stick of pocky. "This is, of course, why I wanted you guys on this."

Sunset snorts softly at Rayne's remark. "I was -nothing- like this with the first time I hopped dimensions... But that's the sort of mistake I'm trying to help others not make... Well, the Usual wouldn't be such a good place, because of how big and often populated it is. But surely there's a smaller cafe or such in a town this big that would provide a smaller setting for a more cultural setting."

Serenity nods in reply to Sunset's latter idea. "There's nothing unreasonable about planning the potential future uses to which a building might be put," Ren assures Rayne. "But in any case, our differences in personality and experiences will only help us serve the public better.



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