Chapter 7 Chad
1497 Words
I was at my workstation checking out the headlines on
Cagesideseats.com when Luis, my boss, approached me.
“Chad,” he called my attention.
“‘Sup, bro,” I greeted him without even bothering to hide my browser
window.
“What’s that?”
“Dude, the Undertaker might be facing Sting soon,” I excitedly told him
about the news item I was reading. “That’s big, man! It’s like twenty-five
years in the making, and now, it’s almost a reality!”
“I’m sorry. Who?” Luis asked, confused.
“The Undertaker! Sting! They’re like cultural icons, man! The cream of
the crop! The best of the best! And soon, they’ll be fighting each other!”
“Oh. Professional wrestling?”
I gave him a bewildered look. “What else can it be, boss? Of course it’s
professional wrestling.”
“I see,” he morosely commented. “Chad, aren’t you supposed to be
conceptualizing new scenarios for the first patch of the expansion?”
I groaned. “Oh man! Give me a break, will you? The expansion’s just
gonna be released next, next week. The patch is, what? Two or three months
away? I’ll have enough time for that.”
“Uhm, I really doubt that, Chad,” he told me.
“Huh? Boss. You can’t rush genius. I’m just waiting for inspiration to fly
by, and when it comes, I’ll grab it and I’ll get you a new quest line that will
have the players begging for more. When have I ever failed you, eh?”
“Actually, you haven’t been performing up to par for the last year, Chad...
to be honest,” he stated quite unexpectedly.
“What?! What do you mean? I’ve been giving you quality work!”
“QC said that your scenarios are among the worst rated aspects of the
game.” “Really now,” I barked challengingly. “And where did QC get their
data?”
“From Customer Support.”
“And where did Customer Support get their data?”
Luis sighed. “Chad, our players contact Customer Support when they’re
displeased with something about the game... and the quests you made are the
ones that’ve garnered the most complaints.”
“Hmmm. Someone at CS must be sabotaging me. Come to think of it, I
did date a girl from there a few months ago. It didn’t end well. Maybe she’s
doing this to spite me.”
“Chad... I saw the numbers. I saw the logs. I saw the reports. The data is
real. Your scenarios... they just aren’t working anymore. They’re not
engaging. They’re not even connecting with a great majority of our player
base.”
“Luis, I gave you a scenario two weeks ago, right? You studied it, and
you thanked me for it, correct?”
“I thanked you for it, yes, but that doesn’t mean that it was good. Chad...
I’ll be honest with you here... that quest line? It was bad. It was very, very
bad. It was hackneyed. It wasn’t consistent with pre-established lore. The
mechanics were onerous and not in a fun way. And it was just downright
boring.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I was sure my boss was pranking
me.
The stern look on his face, however, was enough to tell me that he was
serious.
“Luis, I have to defend my work,” I said. “There are a lot of good s**t in
the last scenario. Exciting s**t! Inspired s**t! Original s**t!”
“Original? Like a message from a princess in distress?” he asked with a
sardonic tone.
“That’s the quest starter, yes, but it’s all great stuff after that.”
“Like collecting dung from a green dragon’s lair?”
“I was actually going to make the player steal an egg from that green
dragon... but how many times has that been done before, right?”
Luis shook his head in apparent dismay. “Chad... that scenario’s full of
crap. Not good s**t. Not exciting s**t. Not inspired s**t. And definitely not
original s**t. Just plain shit.”
“Ouch, Luis... you’re hurting my feelings,” I forced myself to laugh.
“You did use it though, right? It’s gonna be part of the expansion at launch,
right?”
“Chad... I’m sorry,” he answered. “We decided not to include it in the
game.”
“You what?!” I yelled in disbelief.
“ It’s pure garbage, Chad. It’s just gonna get us some bad reviews and
that’s never good for first month sales.”
“Luis... that scenario was a gem and you know it!”
“It’s not, Chad. It really isn’t,” he insisted.
I slammed my fist on my table. The loud thud caught the attention of
everyone in the main work area. They all peeked out of their cubicles to take
a look at what was happening. I didn’t give a flying f**k if we were making a
scene. I was mad.
“I poured my heart into that quest line!” I informed my boss.
“Did you, Chad? I mean... did you really pour your heart in creating that
quest line?”
“Of course!”
“And you’ve been pouring your heart into every scenario you’ve made
the past twelve months?”
“I love my job, Luis, okay? I love my job because I’m good at it and I
only produce fantastic work.”
Luis fell silent for a few seconds before delivering an order I didn’t see
coming. “Chad... go home. Take a break. Clear your mind. Think about
things.”
“You’re firing me, Luis?” I asked angrily, ready for an argument.
“No. I’m asking you to take the afternoon off. You’ve been with us for
three years, Chad. Three years. We hired you because of your passion, your
vision, your creativity, and most importantly, your drive. You had this
burning desire to succeed, to be the best at what you do, when you first got
here. But you lost that. You’re just going through the motions now. It seems
like you’ve taken things for granted and you’re merely waiting for the next
pay check. We don’t need you like that. We need the old Chad. I challenge
you to take this afternoon away from work to find him.”
I just remained silent, trying my best to restrain myself from punching his
ugly face.
“Go home, Chad,” he repeated his f*****g order. “Come back
tomorrow... hopefully with the old you who we miss very much.”
Again, I didn’t reply with words.
I just got up and violently pushed my chair to the side. I walked straight
to the exit, bumping Luis’ shoulder as I passed by him. I didn’t apologize. I
didn’t give a f**k. I just wanted to get out of there.
That hellhole was a ten minute subway ride from my place, bu tI decided
to walk back home. I needed time to process what happened, to clear my
head, to control my anger.
How dare him criticize my work like that?
I was one of their best scenario planners, for f**k’s sake! Their stupid
game wouldn’t be as successful as it was if it wasn’t for my quest lines! And
he’s saying that I’ve lost my passion... that I’ve lost my creativity... that I’ve
lost my drive? f**k him!
I didn’t lose my drive! I was still motivated to be the best that I could
ever be!
But maybe, not in that place. I didn’t lose my f*****g drive…I just
probably lost my enthusiasm to work for them. Yeah, that’s it.
They suck. That’s why I was no longer eager to work there.
Ha! Maybe it would be better if I didn’t come back. Maybe it would be
better if I’d just go find another job. I was sure that, with my experience and
my current portfolio, other game development studios would hire me in a
flash. They’d give me a better position, better working conditions and better
pay. Then I could come back to Luis and his pals and laugh at all their jealous
faces.
Yeah, that’s it.
That’s what I should do.
It took close to six hours to get back to my place, a good portion of which
was spent just tramping in circles around the neighborhood, all the while
plotting the revenge that I came up with. Shaping the details in my head gave
me much needed satisfaction.
But somehow, I couldn’t shake off a nagging feeling in my soul, one that
kept on pricking my gut like a tiny needle that was meant to annoy.
It took me some time to recognize what it was.
A vexing need for warranted persecution.
Of a wrong that demanded admission.
Of prodding shame that refused to cease.
Guilt.
I was feeling guilty.
Fuck this f*****g feeling!
- Writer
