It’s Friday morning. December and cold. The kind of cold that chews at your bones and scrapes the skin from your face with the precision of a rusty chainsaw. I’m getting coffee from the station near Barry’s office. Barry is… Continue Reading
“David Jones, Software Engineer,” read the placard outside his cubical. He’d only been away for five minutes: a bathroom break and a quick trip by the vending machines. Sipping his Diet StimRev, Dave realized immediately that something was wrong. His… Continue Reading
“MATT!” Sam Sworen’s bellow thundered over the intercom. Under the purplish fluorescent lighting in his cube, Matt cringed. He’d transferred to this office a month ago, but already he regretted it. With a heavy sigh, Matt smoothed his hair, straightened… Continue Reading
The extra-large jar of honey in the staff kitchen was Toru’s first hint of the coming of the bears. The next day, three of his co-workers were replaced by bears. The bears didn’t join the morning calisthenics program, nor did… Continue Reading
Niles Dansforth got the notice at lunch. As of tomorrow he was to join the millions of dedicated Americans on the Dole. He was being laid off. Permanently. His career at Dynamicolor Broadcasting Corporation was prematurely ejected. Two and a… Continue Reading
April hated her name with a vengeance, and the reason was simple. On the first day of her namesake month — the month of her birth as it so happened — she was inevitably the target of every wannabe prankster’s… Continue Reading
Here’s how shit-canning works at our shop. Near the end of the day one is summoned to a conference room to sign papers and abide ritual expressions of sympathy. Then, one must leave the building immediately. Shortly after close of… Continue Reading
Twenty minutes into the role-playing exercise, Marco flipped, tearing off the mask, hurling it onto the floor, and grinding it under his heel in one fluid movement. “I don’t want to be a mouse,” he said to Delaney. “You always… Continue Reading
The office is a labyrinth of pre-fab cubicles, grouped in communities of six to eight, taking up every inch of carpeted floor space. There is an uneasy awareness of how physically close everyone is to each other — without the… Continue Reading