“Orientation” by Daniel Orozco

Hi, this is Lucy Liang.

The story is written in a very interesting voice. The narrator speaks directly to “you”, which we have encountered before in many other stories, especially in “Girl”, but the situation of “you” in “Orientation” is more relatable for most people. I felt like I really am the new worker being introduced to this work place. After reading through the story, I was overwhelmed by the amount of information thrown at “you”. There are a total of fifteen different people and their positions mentioned throughout this “tour”, and the narrator goes into very specific details about writing forms, health plan, vacation and sick leave policy, and even the personal lives of each of the workers. I find myself constantly forgetting names and having to flip back to check if a character has been mentioned before. This feels very realistic since orientations are usually a required routine during which you can only remember a few things. The speaker is more serious in the beginning and mentions “you may be let go” often. It comes up twice on the first page (484), once on the second page, but as the story goes on, it isn’t mentioned again until the last page, and even then, it is phrased as “if she […], she might have to be let go” instead of saying “you”. The information about who to ask for help in the first paragraph is brought up again in the last paragraph. I think that is the most important piece of information, and the only information “you” are expected to remember. The way the narrator describes everyone else seems to be saying “these people are weird, but I am normal and I am your friend.”