"Someone call Nathan into my office for me, please.
"Don't worry about him being busy with a customer or a menial task. Direct him here no matter what he is doing," Said a middle-aged man who was balding and developing quite the beer belly.
"Hey Nathan, the boss is looking for you, not sure what he wants, but it seemed urgent," said a young man with long blond hair and a smile almost always plastered on his face.
"I'll go find him once I have finished helping this customer with what he needs," responded a brown-skinned young man with light brown eyes and long curly hair.
"I almost forgot, the boss said to go to his office regardless of what you were doing," Henry said quickly in response to Nathan.
"Okay, I'll go to see the boss now then. You said it was urgent but, I did not realize it was that urgent," Nathan said while walking towards the room in the back of the store labeled employees only.
After walking through the door, Nathan walked through two corridors and made a beeline towards the last door on the right of the long corridor leading to the warehouse portion of the facility.
Before he could even get through the door, he could tell this wasn't going to be a pleasant meeting.
"Hey there, Nathan, thanks for taking the time to come see me on such short notice," said Jeffrey while gesturing for Nathan to take a seat.
'Yeah, this is going to go phenomenally, he says that implying I had a choice in the matter, to begin with,' Nathan inwardly thought.
"Of course, It was no trouble at all sir, how could I be of assistance?" Nathan responded while taking a seat.
"I'm glad that you asked. I have a position that I intend to fill as soon as possible, and I know you are the perfect candidate for it," Jeffrey said while making a serious face.
'Maybe I'll finally get that promotion. My last few jobs have either ended with my firing for freak accidents, unlucky circumstances happening, or the companies going bankrupt. Hopefully, this is the start of my luck turning around,' Nathan inwardly thought.
"Whatever the position is, I will do it to the best of my ability, sir!" Nathan said, brimming with enthusiasm.
"I'm glad that you're so eager to fill the necessary position. Henceforth, you are now a full-time customer." Jeffrey said while trying his best not to laugh, although he wasn't doing a great job at it.
"Sir is this a joke. You made it seem as if I was going to get a promotion, or at the very least a new position. From your words instead, it seems like you're firing me." Nathan said with the confusion on his face being present to anyone who saw him.
"Of course, I knew I could count on Mr. Bachelors to read between the lines. It's not that it seems like I am firing you. I am terminating you as an employee at this establishment." Jeffrey said, now with a smile on his face.
"I don't understand why though, I've gone above and beyond in any and every way I could. Overtime, training new employees, even taking shifts whenever anyone couldn't make it! What more could I possibly have done to keep this shitty job!" Nathan yelled.
"See, it's that right there, Nathan, what you call a shitty job is my and my colleague's livelihood. Even though you may not show it, I can feel it. You think you are better than all of us because of your fancy degree. No worries though, as soon as I realized we needed to clear some positions due to budget cuts, you were truly my perfect candidate. I didn't lie about that," Jeffrey said, seemingly enjoying delivering the news more and more as the seconds continue to tick by.
"That's absolute bullshit! The only reason I even called it a shitty job was because of how hard you work us for barely enough money to support one person, let alone any more than that. Yet, you try to place the blame on something as intangible as your feelings towards me to justify firing me when I've done nothing to warrant it." Nathan said, struggling to believe this was happening.
"That's the beauty of it, isn't it, all that education, and even still, I'm your god. I don't have to provide you a valid reason, and as far as productivity goes, I'll find two teenagers who don't know their worth, and voila, problem solved."
"However, I do encourage you to work out the remainder of your shift. I know how much you pride yourself on excellence. You wouldn't be thinking of leaving without finishing up the day, would you?" Jeffrey said, with a smug grin plastered on his face.
"Go fuck yourself!" Nathan said while getting up and storming out of Jeffrey's office.
'What utter nonsense, I get rewarded for doing a stellar job for six months by getting fired by that fat piece of shit because of his ''feelings". He was right about one thing though I should have just focused on writing. That way, I'd be in control of my fate. Hell, I probably would have left that job eons ago if it weren't for Ashley nagging that writing isn't a real job.' Nathan inwardly thought while walking towards the parking garage.
While heading to the parking garage, Nathan ran into quite a few of his colleagues, seemingly hearing their remarks but not paying attention to them.
"I wonder why Nathan is heading towards the parking garage in the middle of his shift. Maybe he left something in his car. That's not like him though, he usually pretty attentive." Katherine, a young woman, said.
"Didn't you hear? Nathan got called into Jeffrey's office earlier. If he's heading to the parking garage in the middle of his shift, it's because he got fired, of course. Why else would he be leaving in the middle of his shift with that obvious scowl?" Karen, a middle-aged woman, said in response.
"She's right. I was the one who sent Nathan to see the boss. I didn't think he would be firing him. I figured it was a promotion or something. Nathan is always doing such a good job." Henry said with an expression of shock.
"The youth can be so naive about the ways of the world, haha. Jeffrey has never liked Nathan. With his position, that alone is enough to justify his firing. In the world of adults, so long as everything looks good on the books, corporate is unlikely to miss one such employee. Before they have the chance to realize he's gone, Jeffrey will have him replaced and concoct some lie to justify it." Karen said while shaking her head at the youths.
"That's so cruel," Katherine said in disbelief.
"Unfortunately, the real world doesn't care about cruelty nor fairness. The only times those matter is when you're already in a position to ignore both anyway. Do what I do, just enough to get by. Overachieving gets you nowhere when your superior is as vindictive as ours." Karen said.
Finally reaching his destination, Nathan was just ready to go home, hoping the day wouldn't get any worse. Getting into his car and heading out of the facility, he nearly ran a stop sign zoning out. He began to wonder how he'd fallen so far in such a short period of time. It felt like just yesterday that he was on track to becoming incredibly successful.
Nathan had lost many jobs in the last few years, with companies going bankrupt, to warehouse fires shortly after he locked up, even once getting into an accident involving the company president's child at bring your daughter to work day. In short, he was no stranger to being fired for being unlucky. However, this was a first getting fired simply for existing.
If Murphy's law was a person, Nathan felt like it couldn't be anyone but himself. Actually, quite a few of his friends began to call him Murphy jokingly. Making light of a sequence of unfortunate events provided a very cathartic feeling.
Nathan had started to believe some deity or cosmic being had cursed him. About six years ago, shortly after graduating from college, his life had taken a turn for the worse out of seemingly nowhere. His accidents with work were one thing. However, on a family trip to celebrate his college graduation, his parents boarded a plane but never returned from the flight.
Nathan was quite perturbed after hearing the news, but he was fortunate to have his rock Ashley support him through the break-up. They'd been together since his freshman year of college, and she was incredibly integral in him finding a way to keep going after his parent's deaths.
The only relief he received afterward was from the life insurance money he got from his parents. It allowed him to have a roof over his and his now fiance Ashley's head. And to add insult to injury, right after he was finally settling back to a sense of normalcy, his IT startup was going bankrupt. He and his friends had started it in college. it'dhadn't gotten off to a great start but, they were going to have their IPO within the next two years.
It was supposed to shed some light on his life that had become mostly darkness within his life. Compared to the turmoil he experienced with his parent's death, he felt that he'd be able to deal with losing his company easier. It even allowed him to chase some of his dreams now. With the money left from his parents, he could finance everything for quite a few years, as long as he lived a minimalist lifestyle.
As a result, Nathan was now unemployed, although he wasn't entirely without direction. He would finally pursue his dream of being a novelist. Ashley was worried at first and urged him to do something a bit more secure instead. However, he insisted that there was no better time than now, considering the circumstances.
Nathan believed that with his money from his insurance and immediate savings. He'd have enough capital to sustain himself for a year or two while writing. He knew even if he didn't make a lot, he'd be able to cover the bare necessities.
Ashley still insisted that he at least worked a part-time job while writing. Nathan adamantly declined, stating that he'd rather give it his all for a year or two with no distractions, as opposed to doing it half-heartedly.
Initially, Nathan realized he'd been out of practice in regards to writing, leading to many readers dropping his works for lack of readability or poor grammar. Causing him to use this as fuel for improvement, steadily getting better and better with each chapter, until eventually, his big chance came.
Nathan had been entering many writing prompt contests. He didn't hesitate to enter writing contests whenever he could. Initially, Nathan wasn't placing that high in any of them, but in his last two competitions, placing second in both. Entering into this most recent one, he was incredibly confident.
Not only was this contest about a topic he was interested in, but he also had a storyline prepared for it. Pouring every ounce of his ability into this story, he wrote ceaselessly, and eventually, the deadline for the contest had arrived. Nathan was ecstatic because right before the competition had ended, he was comfortably in first place. Although the reviewers had the final say on who won, he hoped the popular vote also influenced the decision.
If Nathan won, he'd get a contract and a cover design. Hopefully, that and a consistent update schedule would be enough to garner a dedicated fanbase. Unfortunately, that day never arrived. He waited for weeks and weeks, and his contest rewards never came. Accepting his proverbial bad luck, he moved on. Continuing to write but without the same motivation.
Ashley noticed this and decided to confront him, " Nathan, this is why I told you to at least get another job while writing. You were the one who decided against it because you didn't want to half-ass it. But low and behold, what are you doing now."
"I'm not half-assing it!" Nathan exclaimed.
"I've told you whenever anything starts to go well for me. It immediately goes to shit. So forgive me if I don't have the motivation to give it my all when seemingly it's all for naught anyway."
"That's an unhealthy mindset to have. You can't honestly believe that the universe is out to get you or something." Ashley said.
"As unhealthy as it may be, it doesn't negate the fact that it's my current reality. Phrasing it in such a ludicrous and condescending fashion doesn't absolve the legitimacy of the claim. Label it whatever you want. That's been my experience nonetheless over the last few years." Nathan said in response.
"Whatever, as usual, you seem to get off on hearing yourself talk. I'm sure eventually you will come to see the common denominator in every situation is you." Ashley said, walking out right after finishing her sentence.
Finally arriving home, Nathan prepared himself for the inevitable verbal dispute that would follow, mentioning his firing. After locking the door behind him after entering their home, he began to climb the stairs. Each step was heavier than the last, hoping that he could take a nap and sleep off this horrible day.