(Author’s note: I get my couple days off in a few weeks. Hopefully gonna be able to rest. In the meantime, enjoy today’s fictioneers…)
© Claire Shelton
Couple Days Off
by Miles H. Rost
Brad had more holes in his fingers than a sieve.
He was on staple number 1590, he knew because every time he took one out, it pricked him. This was his punishment, this was his purgatory.
“I really just want to get out of here…”
5PM couldn’t come fast enough, and as soon as he saw the hand hit 12, he quickly stood up and ran for the door.
“Hold it there, bucko,” a familiar, nasal voice piped up from behind him. He knew that Mr. Gibbons was behind him.
“It’s 5, Mr. Gibbons. I’m outta here.”
“Where are your TPS reports?”
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Music and Fiction 
Love that song, sympathise with his plight.
At least his name isn’t Michael Bolton…
Ha… maybe he should have prioritized the report instead of counting staples.
Bjorn! I rhink you’ve just nailed the story of my life in one line!
Back in the 1970s, a guy named Johnny Paycheck recorded a song called “You Can Take This Job And Shove It.” Seems a fitting theme.
Yep. Just “Take This Job and Shove It”. Great reminder, and thanks!
Hang the reports…they can wait. 🙂 Love it. I can just hear his agonizing scream.
Oh the life of a worker. It is a scream!
Ouch! Munch’s “The Scream” comes to mind here. I feel his pain and it reminds me of the job I had when I encountered the paperclip maniac at work. There are boys where you really should be allowed to fast-forward the clock.
xx Rowena
Oh, I fully understand that. I want to fast forward the clock on THIS job…and it’s teaching.
Make that “jobs”, not “boys”. I swear a poltergeist got in here.
BTW I referred to the paperclip maniac in my take.
xx Rowena
Great story and I do hope you get your time off and enjoy it!
1 full week at the end of July, then I wait until October for my second full week (as instituted by the Korean Government)
That NOOOOOoooooooo echoes down the canyons of every office in the world 🙂
Yep! I can hear the loud chorus of them now!
Damn Mr.Gibbons. he should run away.
http://ideasolsi65.blogspot.in/2017/07/thank-you-claire-sheldon-for.html?m=1
Heh.
Can I tell you how happy I am that I have left the “office” world? Was stuck in there for 30+ years… don’t miss a day.
Teaching can be that way, especially if you’re doing ESL. Thankfully, next year will certainly be my last.
Talk about working on the Chain gang. What a life! What a neat slice of it you’ve given us. 🙄
Well, part of it was based upon Office Space, so… XD
The “joys” of office life. Poor Brad!
If they take his stapler again, he’ll burn the office down.
One of my favorite movies!
I could almost imagine this as a scene from Office Space with the obsession with the staples (instead of stapler, of course). Good read!
Well, I did tag it “office space”, and Mr. Gibbons is a throwback to the character of Peter Gibbons…so, yeah! 😀
Sorry, didn’t look at the tags and as far as remembering characters’ last names from old movies? Ain’t gonna happen.
🙂