Page 18 of The Reboot
Yikes! Would she?
‘But it’s not compulsory. There’s no pressure to join in if you’re not comfortable with it,’ Jake told her hastily, perhaps worried that she was getting ready to bolt again.
‘Well, come up and we’ll show you around and introduce you to everyone.’
Ella followed them upstairs to the main open-plan workspace, on the opposite side of the landing to the room where she’d been interviewed. It was a small team – a couple of designers, Sarah and Mark, huddled together on a bright-green sofa, engineers Catherine and Dan, hunched over a laptop on a coffee table, and the ‘back office’ guys Philip and Gordon, who took care of tech, marketing and everything else.
‘Where would I sit?’ Ella asked, looking around. There were a few unoccupied desks dotted around, but everyone seemed to be sitting on the sofas or bean bags. Maybe they were on a coffee break?
‘Wherever you like.’ Dylan waved an arm around to encompass the whole area.
‘We don’t have designated work spaces,’ Jake explained. ‘It’s very informal. You just work wherever you feel comfortable.’
‘Go with the flow.’
‘So … people move around?’
‘Yeah. Wherever the mood takes you on the day.’
Ella had been kind of looking forward to having a desk of her own – a place where she could head straight for every morning. She’d already visualised herself personalising it with some photos and stuff, filling the drawers with her own bits and pieces.
Maybe her disappointment showed, because Jake said ‘But you can sit in the same place every day, if you like.’
‘Okay. I might do that.’
‘We just want you to be happy here,’ Dylan said.
‘Happy staff, happy gaff.’
Ella smiled. They seemed so eager to please.
As well as the ubiquitous bean bags, there were a couple of pods – great for focusing if you wanted to work on your own, according to Jake – some low sofas grouped around coffee tables for informal meetings or getting together with colleagues to thrash out ideas, and a few regular desks dotted around the floor. Ella’s eyes were drawn to one tucked into a corner in front of a window. She decided she’d make for that on her first day. It would be nice to know where she was going. There were regular tea and coffee stations set up around the space – ‘Just help yourself whenever you want,’ Jake said – but there was also a dedicated break room.
It was clearly Jake and Dylan’s pride and joy, and they beamed with delight as they led her inside, like excited kids showing off their project.
‘Oh!’ Ella gasped as she stepped inside. She was aware of Jake and Dylan watching her reaction closely. ‘Wow, this is … really nice,’ she said, looking around, taking it all in. There were some gaming tables with consoles, shelves lined with books and comics, and some cosy-looking armchairs. But the main focus was a climbing wall that covered one side of the room.
There was a guy halfway up in a complicated-looking harness, wearing a helmet and kneepads. He turned and waved as they came in, and Ella recognised skater-boy. She wondered if he ever did any work. He’d only just come in – surely it was taking the piss to be on a break already?
‘Good job, Dara!’ Jake called to him. Dara gave him a thumbs-up in response. ‘This is Ella – she’s going to be joining us.’
‘Hi, Ella!’ Dara gave her a friendly wave, and she waved back.
‘Dara’s our intern,’ Dylan told her.
‘We don’t have any formal breaks,’ Jake said. ‘You can come in here any time you want and play a game, have a go on the wall or whatever, or just chill.’ Ella wandered over to have a closer look at the shelves, and was pleased to see that as well as video games there was a substantial collection of board games.
‘Have you ever done any climbing?’ Dylan asked her.
She gave him a sceptical look. ‘No. I mean, until recently I was barely even doing any walking.’
‘Right. Sorry.’
‘It’s fine.’
‘Well, if you’d like to have a go, feel free to use the wall any time. You’ll always find someone around to help you if you need it, show you the equipment and so on.’
‘I doubt that’ll be happening. I’ve never been the sporty type.’
