Daniel Orozco's Orientation Analysis

Throughout life, we often hear reoccurring phrases that we feel like we hear time and time again, just as Daniel Orozco emphasizes in Orientation. The overly detailed dialogue displays his frustration with how routine orientations are. On the other hand, it is also a very comical piece. Throughout the short story, Orozco is telling the new employee frankly what he can and cannot do, with some of which being quite ridiculous. Towards the end, he explains to the new employee that he will be working with a serial killer and tells him “if in any case, when he gets caught, act surprised” (Page 54). After hearing this, I would be extremely nervous to say the least. I also do not think I could stay that calm and nonchalant if I was about to be associating myself with a serial killer every day. In my opinion, Orozco meant for this to be somewhat comical by taking Kevin Howard, the serial killer, a bit lightly. …show more content…
Hearing all that he can and cannot do on the first day can promote the fear of messing up to a whole new level. If I was this employee, I would be very nervous for several reasons. The first being that if I made the slightest mistake on some very silly things, I could be “let go”. Throughout the passage, the new employee was told that he would be let go if he did things such as: make an emergency phone call without asking, letting certain things interfere with his work, or “cooking” instead of “heating” food in the microwave (Page’s 50-54). I think by including these things in the story, Orozco is trying to represent some of the silly things that could get people into trouble within their workplace. I also think Orozco meant to incorporate some type of connection between the new employee and the reader. By the time I finished this passage, I could not help but feel some sort of sympathy for the new