“Uh-huh. That’s great. Yeah, pose like that. Gorgeous,” Claire called out in a bored voice. She snapped about three frames of the tall blonde Scandanavian-esque model in rapid succession, and sighed. “Cara, try angling your elbow a little less. It’s too harsh.” The model nodded, looking annoyed, but complied. Claire rolled her eyes slightly and shot off several more frames.
“OK, that’s a wrap, everybody!” the director of the shoot called, clipboard in hand as he walked over to the set. “Cara, you’re beautiful, as always. Good work, everyone!” As production team members started to pack up, Claire grabbed her bag and beelined for the door, hoping desperately that-
“Oh, wait, Claire. I need to talk to you.”
Claire closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, and then slowly rotated on her heel. “Yes, Artie?” she said patiently, cursing him to the deepest depths of hell in her mind.
“What is wrong with you today?” Artie spat, stomping over to her. The pleased director façade was fading fast, now that the crew was dispersing and the model had already left with her entourage of hair and makeup artists and stylists.
“What do you mean?” Claire opened her eyes, hoping for the innocent look that she had mastered to play on her face. Unfortunately, no one over the age of two can successfully pull off the pouting lip.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about. What was that in there today? Your pessimistic little attitude is bringing everyone else on the set down. I mean, it was all Cara could do to smile! This is an ad for a happy thing, Claire. I need happy people working on a happy campaign. Capiche?” Artie’s very round face was turning red, and sweat was starting to appear on his brow.
“I understand,” Claire mumbled, shuffling her expensive designer heels impatiently. That was one of the only reasons Claire stayed at her job- it paid well. That, and she wasn’t exactly good at anything else.
“No, I don’t think you do.” Artie paused for a minute, sticking his sausage-like hands in the pocket of his tent-like slacks. “Claire, you’re fired,” he said after a moment. Then, just like that, he turned around and walked away, leaving Claire staring after him, dumbfounded.
