The Employee 42

This is a story of a man named Bruce. Bruce worked for a company in a big building where he was Employee 42. His company had a very strict dress policy. It consisted of a gray jacket and pants, white collared shirt, white socks, black dress shoes, a shoulder patch with the number 42, his Employee number, stitched in, and most importantly the tie with the symbol of the company. The symbol was a sky blue gear with a white border. Employee 42’s job was simple: all he had to do was sit at his comfy desk in his room 42 and follow some simple instructions. These instructions were given through a computer monitor on his desk. They told him which buttons of the keyboard to type, how long to hold them down, and in what order to press. This is what employee 42 did every day of every month of every year. Although most of the other employees considered it be banal, Bruce cherished every single moment that the orders came in because he was proud to excel in something in life since he wasn’t good at anything else. During a pedestrian day, something very peculiar happened. This was something that would forever change Bruce; something he would never quite forget. He had been at his desk for about an hour before he realized that not one single order had arrived on the monitor for him to follow. No one had shown up to give him details about his new project, called for the daily meeting at noon, or even stopped by to say hello. Never in all his years at the company had this happened; this complete isolation of sitting all alone in a single room without any sort of interaction with anyone. It can drive people insane. He knew that something was drastically wrong. Bruce, full of shock, just sat there in his chair pondering on the situation. But as he c...

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...e knew that much; everyone knows crazy people look just like this man. In that moment she thought to herself how lucky she was to be normal. She had a new job, a loving husband, and two wonderful children. I am sane; I am in control of my mind, she said to herself. I know what is real, and what isn’t. It was comforting to be real and normal, and this man made her feel better because she knew she was nothing like him or ever will be like him in the future; however, she realized she has a meeting scheduled later on in the day. The very important people whose impressions of her would affect her career and the rest of her life are waiting for her appearance. She stared at the body for a little longer for assurance and walks away. She puts on her gray jacket, wipes off some dirt off on her shoulder patch with the number 43 on it, and walks towards her company’s building.