It felt like the middle snip was something like AD 2100 and the doctors were preparing a new recruit for some kind of bio-project, and the whole "playbook" of the work experience at all was like a blue-noise feed to keep the brain actively processing pseudo-data to prevent it from decaying.
But wouldn't that be the plot of The Matrix, minus the silly people-as-wet-cell-batteries thing? (Substitute Evil Scientists for The Machines, and "Truman Show" controlled environments for virtual reality ...)
I prefer to think of it as Evil Corporations keeping their workers contented and productive without regard to their personal needs or desires. (Hey, that would actually be better than the real world, where corporations don't CARE if their workers are contented or not...)
RM
You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.
This one brought back memories of a seminar or 'brain washing' tactic used by our company once.
About fifteen years ago when 'down sizing' and ‘re-inventing America' was so popular, we had to attend this thing called T&L ( Team Work and Leadership ).
I like this story for its take on some of these seminars that are so popular. James must have been to one! He nailed down every detail that goes in company sponsored seminars and left one’s imagination to fill in the rest.
One point in particular I like: Chuck got all his work finish on time. Yet, Charlie, his boss, tried to twist it around to mean something else. A typical management trick to throw you off guard: Bring up something very trivial ----when you’re really after something else!
The writing good, clear and easy to follow. And the descriptions well thought out, and the dialogue also good. I think the story is well within the ball-park of good writing and I can’t see anything major to nit-pick about!!
Every story that I read, I think of better ways to write it. For the most part, the better ways I come up with are just personnel changes that taper themselves to my way of thinking, or my likes and dislikes.
In this story I would have liked Chuck to go back to Charlie and say: “I’m not afraid of you anymore, I hate your F---ing company and here's something to remember be by!” Chuck lays a good upper-cut on Charlie. And as Chuck is walking out the door, he turns around and says, “Thanks for sending me!! I really learned who I am!!!”
That would not have improved the story!! To some it might, but then again that is only a personnel wish relating me to the goofy ---I really can’t think of another appropriate adjective to describe my T&L encounter---supervisor who sent me to T&L.
