"Everything about work is terrible. Everything leads up to nothing."
These words could have been hanging up on the drooping banner instead of Happy Tenth Anniversary To The Company, but were certainly spelled out clearly enough on the faces of dejected, be-collared, party-hat-wearing workers who were confined slump-shouldered to folding chairs. Across from Alex sat two of his coworkers. One smiled vacantly, this being the one who always took the attitude of a stern parent correcting the mistakes of a stupid child. The other stared somewhere just above his head, perhaps imagining happier places, better times.
The manager had called them all there to discuss an important merger within the company that would affect all of their furthered careers. Nearly half of their human resources were being downsized, outsourced, and replaced with Mud People, courtesy of MudFuture Industries. They had all watched projected multimedia presentations with poor analogies of how bricks were made from mud and the company was like a house. Everyone feared for their jobs, and the supervisors rejoiced because mud was such a cheap market commodity.
The party took an even more sour turn when a mud person began slopping its feet into the room and gurgling and ruining all of the trail mix in the giant metal bowl.
Alex grew so mad his synethsesia kicked in.
