Oh well
A Day in the Life
The day had start
off so well.
I’d managed to
climb out of bed the first time my alarm went off, there was the
perfect amount of hot water for my shower and I got a free cookie
from the barista I like when I went to pick up my morning coffee. For
a Monday that’s practically perfect.
Of course it all
went down hill the moment I got to work.
There had been a
massive system malfunction over the weekend and the staff were still
struggling to keep up. Hundreds of completed quests hadn’t been
processed properly and a good dozen or so had simply disappeared off
the system. Wonderful. I told my boss I’d do an extra hour to help
sort things out and then settled into my booth.
The first
adventurer dropped off the items from their completed quest and went
of their merry way after accepting the reward. Another happy customer
and, more importantly one that hadn’t shouted at me. If only the
rest of my customers had been like that first one.
By lunchtime the
queue outside my booth was twenty or so people deep and I was
starting to get a headache from all the people who had shouted at me
for things that weren’t my fault. It was a relief to slip out of my
booth for lunch.
Or it would have
been if someone hadn’t nicked my sandwiches. I had to run out to
the shop to grab something and by the time I got back to the quest
submission centre I was well and truly late.
Over the course
of the afternoon I had people drop the following items on my desk:
four dead rats, three kilograms of mud, fifteen pairs of underwear
(and I wasn’t convinced they were all clean) and a small pile of
assorted bones. By the time six o’clock rolled around I was hip
deep in an argument with an adventurer over whether he had actually
fulfilled the requirements of the quest.
“The quest
clearly states that you need ten old dollars in pennies and you only
have nine dollars ninety-nine.”
“Yes I can see
you’ve checked the quest as complete on your HUD but that doesn’t
change the fact the quest is, in fact, incomplete.”
“If you have
another penny on you I can process this quest now, otherwise you will
have to come back tomorrow.”
“I am aware
that’s an inconvenience but there’s nothing I can do.”
“Sir if you
don’t lower your voice I will have to call security.”
“Sir? Sir!
Security!”
By the time I’d
managed to drag my carcass home it was cold, dark and raining, and I
had lost all faith in humanity. Not a day went by at the processing
centre when I didn’t wish I was on the other side of the counter.
Sure the people I dealt with day in day out had to collect some weird
shit in exchange for their rewards, but at least they weren’t stuck
in a booth getting shouted at all day. Maybe one day I’d be able to
quit my job, buy a HUD and start adventuring.
It was nice to
have dreams.
In the meantime I
shoved a ready meal in he microwave and ate my tub of boiling hot
cheese in front of some crap TV. I climbed into bed long before my
usual time, exhausted. I hoped everything would seem better after a
good night’s sleep. Tomorrow was another day.
I hoped the
douchebag with the pennies didn’t come back.
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