{"id":10024,"date":"2016-06-30T08:00:22","date_gmt":"2016-06-30T13:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/?p=10024"},"modified":"2016-06-30T08:00:22","modified_gmt":"2016-06-30T13:00:22","slug":"working-for-a-living","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/?p=10024","title":{"rendered":"Working For A Living"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ethan glanced over to one of the master inbox piles, but it was still empty.\u00a0 \u201cI can\u2019t believe business is so slow right now,\u201d he said, tapping his pen against his desk in frustration.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, but isn\u2019t that a good thing?\u201d Benny asked.\u00a0 \u201cI mean, if we\u2019re not processing any new clients, it means no one is dying\u2026 so\u2026 if we\u2019re slow, it means people are still alive.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Morris rolled his eyes.\u00a0 \u201cNo, Benny, it\u2019s not a good thing.\u00a0 It means we\u2019re just going to get swamped later.\u00a0 All people die.\u00a0 It\u2019s inevitable.\u00a0 You should know,\u201d he added, as he pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his desk drawer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHey, low blow!\u201d Ethan said, stepping between his two cubicle mates.\u00a0 \u201cC\u2019mon, Morris, the guy\u2019s only been here for, like, a week.\u00a0 Surely it took you some time to adjust to being dead?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Morris simply grunted.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m going on a smoke break while we\u2019re still slow.\u00a0 You wanna come?\u201d he asked, shaking the battered cigarette box in hand.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, alright,\u201d Ethan said, with a casual shrug of his shoulders.\u00a0 \u201cWhy not?\u00a0 Benny, what about you?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2026 don\u2019t smoke,\u201d he said, shaking his head.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd why not?\u201d Morris asked, stepping in front of Benny\u2019s chair.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s not bad for you anymore.\u00a0 You\u2019re already dead, remember?\u00a0 There\u2019s only one way out of this place, so you might as well enjoy it.\u00a0 Not like performance affects your karma, anyway.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ethan placed a firm arm on Morris\u2019s arm.\u00a0 \u201cHe doesn\u2019t have to smoke if he doesn\u2019t want to.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Morris wrenched his arm out of Ethan\u2019s grip.\u00a0 Without saying another word, he walked away, his dress shoes clacking against the thin carpet squares.\u00a0 Ethan gave Benny a quick apologetic smile before following out the side door.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cD\u2019you hear that Trevor\u2019s already back?\u201d\u00a0 Morris took a long, hard draw from his cigarette.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo kidding?\u00a0 He was only gone for, what, seven years?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSix, actually.\u00a0 Lethal animal bite, or so I heard.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ethan let out a low whistle.\u00a0 \u201cMan, what are the odds?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, he went to Australia, so\u2026 pretty good, actually.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026Oh.\u201d\u00a0 Ethan had no further response, and the two of them stood in an awkward silence for several minutes.\u00a0 \u201cWonder how much of his karma he\u2019ll get back for leaving so soon?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Morris shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cNot much. \u00a0The quality of life rating is too high for him to get anything more than a third, I\u2019d guess.\u00a0 Australia\u2019s not cheap, either.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, last I looked, it was 30k just to get anything on the coast.\u00a0 And that\u2019s without modifiers for health or family.\u00a0 You\u2019d be looking at 75k for a guaranteed 80 year, middle class living.\u00a0 Ridiculous.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo, what\u2019s ridiculous is that they still issue us karma in the tens, when nothing costs less than ten thousand.\u00a0 They may as well cut off three zeros, and pay us in decimals.\u00a0 Makes the math simpler.\u00a0 None of this ridiculous thousands bull.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ethan shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cI like it.\u00a0 It makes buying your next life feel\u2026 more meaningful, I guess.\u00a0 Good things should have big price tags, you know?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRidiculous,\u201d Morris said.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s all just a mind game to keep us in line.\u00a0 The inflation just keeps getting worse, and no one complains.\u00a0 What do you care, anyway?\u00a0 You always buy cheap.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t start.\u201d\u00a0 Ethan dropped his cigarette to the cement, and ground it with his foot.\u00a0 \u201cLife is meant to be lived.\u00a0 The less time I have to spend in the office, the better.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou say that, and then you\u2019re back here every 20 or 30 years like clockwork.\u00a0 If you\u2019d stop buying lives in war zones, you might actually enjoy your time out there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHey, at least I get to spend time out there.\u00a0 You\u2019re still wasting your time saving up for a high class European life.\u00a0 I\u2019m leaving in two weeks.\u00a0 How many more months will you need to work before you can afford to leave?\u00a0 All so you can afford your ridiculous frills.\u00a0 Is it really worth it?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d\u00a0 Morris smashed his cigarette butt into the nearby ashtray for emphasis.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou say that, but I hardly believe that 350,000 is a reasonable price for life.\u00a0 You don\u2019t need all of those fancy things, you know.\u00a0 You spend all of this time in the office earning karma, and life is literally passing you by.\u00a0 I think you\u2019d be surprised how enjoyable life can be, even without all of the perks and privileges you hold so dear.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Morris waved a dismissive hand as he turned to leave.\u00a0 \u201cRemember that the next time you\u2019re half-starved and dying from a perfectly curable disease.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCharming.\u00a0 Have fun slaving away in a cubical for an easy life that you\u2019ll never find the time to enjoy!\u201d Ethan said, yelling after him.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t help but shake his head.\u00a0 Finding the right balance between work and life was always a complicated issue.\u00a0 That was true in any existence.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ethan glanced over to one of the master inbox piles, but it was still empty.\u00a0 \u201cI can\u2019t believe business is so slow right now,\u201d he said, tapping his pen against his desk in frustration. \u201cWell, but isn\u2019t that a good thing?\u201d Benny asked.\u00a0 \u201cI mean, if we\u2019re not processing any new clients, it means no […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10024\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}