03.14.2021 “a vague way”
Seven devious machines humming at a feverish pace. Sound echoes through and through. A tinny sound like that of a pebble in a hubcap. 'Reach for the stars!' is reads on an old poster plastered to the wall above one machine. What morons they must take us for. The managers of managers of machines. We really aren't needed. They developed machines to take the job of the machine watchers ages ago. The only thing that kept us there was this one significant day about ten years ago. They had announced in a very wordy press release on a website no one reads that they had innovated our jobs away. They had written this in such a vague way as if they didn't know what the people doing these jobs that had been innovated away would think of this announcement. Really everyone should have been happy that this had happened. This job was always quite pointless. Some oil here, some button pressed there, nothing that challenged the mind. We should never have fought for this life. But there is was. It was a Tuesday. The website loaded slowly on that day due to the fog. We all read it, even though I don't think anyone read it as thoroughly as me. The gist was that we would get our pay checks regardless. That the machines watching the machines would be content to do our jobs, or we could come keep doing our jobs, but we would get paid regardless. The idea that we were no longer needed but that anyone would keep doing it anyway was revolting to me.