Thane sat on his seat, complaining of the sudden meeting invite in his calendar. He furiously taps his mouse as he scrolls and looks at all the other messages and pending tasks. The power of delegation was pointless despite his supervisory role since most of his subordinates and colleagues were objectively useless.
DING!
A message alert appeared.
"Hey, bro. I might be unavailable for our bible study later on. Could you lead the bible study?"
Tears began to trickle down his face as he read the message.
They had already missed three meetings, and he knew he couldn't afford to say no. This would be the twenty-seventh day in a row that he would be unable to watch some TV.
TOOT TOOT TURUROOOOT!
The video call began and awoke Thane from his sombering thoughts.
"No rest for the wicked..." He sighs as he quotes the Bible and clicks on the join button.
He had been overworked with his job, his other job, and even spent time preparing for his Bible study, and just wanted to get through the off-schedule meeting request so he could finally sleep.
Well, actually no. This was not the plan. He hadn't watched television in the past two months and had vowed to himself that no matter what, he would finally watch TV and have his well-earned break.
Three familiar faces appeared. Thane put on his best smile, but that smile froze. He had heard the stories. He had seen the memes. But appearing at the same meeting was his direct supervisor, the HR manager of their branch, and another member who was notoriously known to be part of the 'sacking team' of the company. They called him the Boot. Not only was that his surname, it was also what he did.
"Mister Boot...?" A dreadful sensation gripped Thane's heart.
But no one replied. Everyone, except Boot, who gave him a cold glance, avoided eye contact.
The call began with a painful silence. No greetings. No awkward chuckles. Just the faint clicking of someone typing in the background and the soul-crushing emptiness of corporate death.
"Recording in progress." The voice prompt spoke as the meeting was recorded.
Thane had heard that Boot loved to record his calls.
"Thane," the manager finally said with a tone so solemn it could curdle milk. "We wanted to take a moment to… realign some expectations."
He felt his stomach twist. Realign. That word was never good. It meant budget cuts, downsizing, or being blamed for something Chad from sales did.
Curse you, Chad.
"We've noticed some inconsistencies in your recent reports," the HR manager added, peering into her webcam.
But to Thane, it looked like a predator sizing up its prey.
"There's been concern about your workload management, and after evaluating your department's productivity metrics, we're considering a structural reorganization. There's also... the email you sent to Chad a few weeks ago, something about you not being able to watch some TV?"
"Wait...? That email was sent?! I... I..." Thane had indeed written a very enraged email, but to his memory, the Holy Spirit stopped him from sending the email, and he deleted it.
Thane jolted and checked his computer. Sure enough, the email was sent!
"I... I'm sorry! But I never meant to send that! I was pissed... I... I... I must have pressed send instead of delete!"
Boot continued to size up Thane from a call.
"Chad has escalated this issue directly to me, and even tells me... of how distracted you are. While we give the privilege to work from home, watching and streaming while working is not allowed. And going by this email, you must have been watching a lot of shows during your work time. Tell me, what show was it?"
"No! You misunderstand! Chad made a mistake there! I never bothered to escalate it, but that thing doubled my workload! And it's the opposite! I don't watch TV! If you check the email, I wrote that I haven't watched anything for the past months because of that! I didn't have the time to watch any shows at all! Anyone can attest to my scenario! The entire team of Chad knows how sloppy he is, and I'm the one who usually cleans up after his mess!"
But Boot's stoic and uncaring face remained.
"Chad is a top performer." The HR frowned.
At that moment, he felt a sudden sharp palpitation in his chest.
Thane had always covered up for Chad and never reported him. Every time Thane wanted to finally take action, a sermon in church, the topic in their bible studies, or his own daily devotions stopped him.
But now, he knew where this was going, and his eyes began to tremble. His vision started to change. The pain in his heart increased as his palpitations increased greatly.
"Thane? Are you... Alright?"
"Ugh... It's this again. Look, he's pretending to die so that he won't get booted out. No pun intended." Boot spoke, although he looked very proud of his little pun.
But Thane could no longer see them, and all of a sudden, he slumped forward towards his desk.
"Faking death? What an idiot. Hey! Wake up!" Boot spoke in anger.
"I... I think we should call the ambulance!" The HR manager was alarmed.
"What? No! His faking it!"
"Thane?" The manager asked again.
But there was no response.
"This is getting ridiculous. Thane, you're fired. You've been abusing company time, harassing your co-worker Chad, and-"
"Hey, bro! Are you not yet done with the meeting? We'll be starting our Bible study!" A voice walked in.
"Thane?! Thane?!" The man rushed as he saw Thane slumping down.
"Oh, for crying out loud. What kind of drama is this?!" Boot was enraged.
Thane's eyes were forced open by his friend. But all Thane could see was the light.
"Boot! Shut up! I think you just killed Thane!" The HR manager shouted.
The people rushed in to try to resuscitate Thane, and an ambulance was called.
In all the commotion, the team forgot to stop the recording, and the death of an employee was recorded.
It wouldn't be another thirty minutes until the ambulance was called.
But it was too late.