"WHAT WAS THAT?!!?"

"..."

"DO YOU EXPECT OUR COMPANY TO BE ABLE TO PROSPER WITH THIS LEVEL OF MEDIOCRACY?!??!!?"

" ....."

" AS EMPLOYEES OF THIS ESTABLISHMENT, IT IS OUR DUTY TO TOIL FOR THE PROSPERITY OF THE COMPANY!!!!"

"..."

" PEOPLE LIKE YOU ARE THE REASON THAT WE ARE FACING CRISIS AFTER CRISIS, RELYING ON YOUR BETTERS TO FIX YOUR MISTAKES, TAKING THEIR VALUABLE TIME THAT COULD BE SPENT TO IMPROVE THE COMPANY!!!!"

".....m..f..kin...cred...."

"WHAT WAS THAT?"

"....."

"DO YOU ALL SEE? THIS SLACKER DARES NOT SPEAK AND ACKNOWLEDGE HIS MISTAKES!!"

"...."

"IT IS MY BURDEN TO ENSURE THIS COMPANY RISES, AND YOU ALL WORK AGAINST THAT, TAINTING THE CORE OF OUR WORK!! SO WITH NO SMALL AMOUNT OF SHAME DO I NOW DECLARE YOU ALL. FIRED!!!! MAY YOU FIND WORK THAT IS AS IRRITATING AND DISGRACEFUL AS YOUR CONDUCT WAS!!!!"

"...."

Nobody talked, none of the employees in the line bothered to speak. The obese office manager with his fingers studded in gold and silver continued to spout out obscene remark after remarks, getting more derogatory as the clock ticked past 7:47. No sunlight shined through the windows, only the light coming from overhead bulbs lighted this scene.

The clock kept ticking as the loud and scratchy voice of the office manager grew more hoarse. The clock was 15 minutes shy of 10 before a pleasant sounding voice sounded from the overhead speakers.

"It is 9:45, please finish your work, or pack it up to be continued tomorrow. Thank you for your hard work, and may we all prosper under the company's eye"

No words were said as everyone broke out of the line. Some of their faces were gaunt and pale, unsure of what to do now that they lost their jobs. Most of them though, were resigned to their fates. They knew it was coming, and it was finally here.

All of them moved through the sparsely populated office, to their own cubicles where they could gather up all of their belongings. Laptops were unplug. Boxes were placed on tables or chairs, and objects of value were put in. Folders, documents, photos, stationary. One particular man didn't stand out. With a height of 1.73 m. Not particularly thin or fat. Not very meaty, bordering on spindly. A face carved from the rigors of work and past studies.

Currently, he was packing his things like the rest of his coworkers, while grumbling through his head. '... we weren't supposed to be the ones at fault..... I already checked, our department had already struck the quota weeks ago..... if anything, the marketing department is the last, most unproductive department. Fracking rich bastards. Earning more than us. Did one of them have something against us?" His hand absently went to tidy his white collar t-shirt, smudging his clothes with dust from documents with dusty covers.

Finally done with his things, he carried the heavy box out of the workplace, taking one last look at the large space and the number of sullen faces approaching the exit as well. He took the stairs as many of the former office employees piled into the elevators. So lost in his thought, was he that he slipped in the stairs. His box was flung up as his back impacted on the steps. The man named Jem grunted and opened his eyes to find many of his thing flying high and falling. The most prominent was his open pencil case, that slowly spit out the scissors and razors he kept inside. Pencils and pens were released. Finally, even his arrow shaped paper weight was also flying down. The strangest thing he thought was how they all seemed to be aiming for his head, closing his eyes and failing to lift his arm to his face, seemingly paralyzed.

A moment later, there was the sound of thumps as things finally hit the ground, and his face was hit by stings coming from all the objects striking his face unhindered. He gasped and tried to breathe as a razor somehow hit his neck, and something heavy fell on top of it, pushing it further into his neck. Something still kept him down, unable to move. And so Jem died there, unable to breathe, unable to move.

The next day, Investigations were carried out, and the accident was dismissed, with no clear suspect. Throughout it all, the company was facing the biggest success it had in years. The death of one of their workers reached far and wide, bringing renown to this company. Fame and fortune followed the company. In time, reporters would question the company's policies, but until then, it stood a new bastion of work and chance of fortune.