Story Hub: [link]
>>>~~~~<<<
I can tell the last two weren’t to your liking. Then, how about the third layer: Greed? If you were to end up there, you’d find yourself in another endless environment, this time a humble high-rise office. Just don’t look out the window, because it’s a long way down.
I’m sure you’ve had more than your fair share of time in an office, slaving away to that eternal 9-5. Well, don’t worry, in Greed you’ll be working your new job round the clock. That makes you worry more? Don’t be dramatic. You get unlimited sick and vacation days, but actually getting to use them is another matter.
Sorry, I’m getting off topic. The layer of Greed isn’t just an endless office building, it’s an infinite workplace of every shape and size. And you would be the new lowliest peon. I see that struck a nerve, but I’m sorry, even a PhD only qualifies you for entry-level work in this place. How do you qualify for a higher position? You don’t.
I hope you don’t mind tedious busy work with no real value, and constantly getting other people’s work dumped on you, because that’s the name of the game in Greed. While your goal might be to just get your work done, all your coworkers’ and boss’s goals are to do as little work as possible, or better yet, make you do it, and if that fails, blame you for everything that goes wrong.
I know how unfair that sounds, and it is, but that’s just the nature of this layer. It’s Greed after all, everyone is out for themselves and their own benefit. It doesn’t matter how small or short-sighted each of their actions are. If even the tiniest act of pettiness will get them just a little ahead, your lovely peers will scratch and claw for it. So, try not to drop your change around the vending machine.
I know you might feel targeted at times, like the whole world is out to get you, but don’t fret, everyone here is trying to screw over everyone else. It’s not personal, it’s just how they are. Of course, if nobody is cooperating and everyone is undermining everyone else, I’m sure you can deduce how little actually gets done around here. I’m sure you’re thinking, “Oh, this is just an imaginary office in another plane of existence where everyone is playing pretend as part of a punishment. There are no actual consequences to nothing getting done.” Sorry, but this is no playtime. This office is very real, and there is real work to get done. If it fails to get done, there are punishments to be dealt out. Best case, you get sent to an even lower layer, and in the worst case, you get demoted from lowly peon to...Well, let’s hope that never happens.
It’s not all doom and gloom. If you’re a real mover and shaker, you can get promoted, and you’ll get sent to a different office where all the “wolves” go. Now, what do they say about wolves when there are no sheep to eat? If you’re not particularly savvy, you’ll still get promoted anyway. All those managers and supervisors you meet will eventually be promoted, demoted, or just disappear, and that’ll make you the de facto leader. It’s like a promotion, but your title and pay stay the same.
Oh yes, you do get paid, but all your money goes to taxes and other expenses. So basically, slavery with extra steps, even for upper management. Thus is your fate in the layer of Greed. No matter how badly you want it all, you’ll never truly have it, and if you do, someone will take it from you.
Still not a fan? Then how about the next layer, Sloth? I’ll keep it short and simple, that’s the way they like it. Sloth is just an endless series of apartments, condos, and frat houses. It might bring you back to your college days. And on that note, everyone there basically acts like they’re in college. They don’t bathe, they don’t clean up after themselves, and they just sit there and eat and drink all day. I’d say they’d watch TV or something, but most of them are too lazy to even do that.
So where would that put you? You’d be their new roommate, just bright-eyed enough to think you could actually make an afterlife for yourself here. I’m sure you’ll try to clean up what you can and carve a niche for yourself, but the trash produced here increases exponentially every day. Even if you spent every minute of your time cleaning up without rest, by the third day, you’d be net negative. By the end of the week, you’ll be drowning in trash.
And oh, is there trash. Uneaten food, beer cans, pizza boxes, wrappers, dirty clothes, human waste, bones, and dead everything. And the best part is, the more you try to clean it, the less you’ll desire to. It’s mostly the smell, but you might say the environment itself makes you just a little more slothful, sucks the will to do anything out of you. And once either that or the smell finally overtakes you, you’ll collapse to the floor and be consumed by the torrent of trash, until you’re just another part of it. Just like everyone else in this filthy little layer, you’ll languish in your filth without the ability, nor desire, to even move. How slothful…
No good? I figured as much. Nobody wants to be in Sloth, not even the slothful. That brings us to Wrath. It might be more your speed, much less sitting around and a much higher pace. The layer of Wrath is less of a place and more of an abstract environment. Imagine if you were trapped inside the internet – I know, I know, that’s its own kind of eternal torment – but only a part of it, a particular part. Imagine if you were a social media page and that was your entire existence, a small part of the global communication network. Now imagine, and I know this won’t be too hard, that everyone on this social media site is constantly screaming at each other and spreading nothing but hate for their fellow humans.
That’s Wrath in a nutshell, a screaming match between a hundred million people, and you’re caught in the middle whether you want to be there or not. That’s just reality for the people there. Be careful what you say and be even more careful of what you don’t, because someone will take umbrage with your choice of words and actions (or lack thereof), and they will let you know with all the politeness and grace you expect of someone whose whole entire life is literally online.
Don’t worry, if you get tired of social media, you can join an online lobby for your favorite online game. You don’t get to actually play the game, just hang out in the lobby as everyone continues to yell, shout, and blame each other for everything, from losing the last game to being the Antichrist. So, you know, business as usual, it just lasts forever.
People are just so aggressive online, I guess that’s what the shield of anonymity and a degree of separation from whoever you’re talking to does. Or maybe the online world is the perfect platform for needlessly aggressive people to vent every angry thought in their little heads to the world, and for once, actually find others who agree with them.
It’s just like that in Wrath, except even the people who agree with each other eventually start fighting. After all, once you’re angry enough, do you see other people as people or merely obstacles in your way? Now imagine if you had no self-control in the first place, and you’ve spent all day being yelled at for things you didn’t do. Wouldn’t you want to let it all out on someone, even if you knew they had nothing to do with it?
Don’t look at me like that, I’m not accusing you of anything, I’m just asking a question. I know it’s not a pleasant thing to think about, but none of this is. But if I’ve offended your delicate sensibilities, I can just move on to the next layer. Only two more to go, I’m sure one of them will be to your liking…
To be Continued…
>>>~~~~<<<
You can never have enough? You can't be bothered? You just can't stand it? Which applies to you?
Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy.
No comments:
Post a Comment