| |
The paper headlines read “Today Will Be Forever Known As The Day The Sun Went Down”. The bold letters spread widely across the front page of the Meteor Herald, seemed to be ridiculous enough to be a farce, but unfortunately, the headlines were true.
It was April 1, 2050, and the headline heralded the beginning of a new era, which few people saw coming. Members of the public were convinced that the headlines were just a simple matter of an overzealous newspaperman wanting to take April fool’s day to an all-new height. If only that were the case, thought Shelby, she knew the truth that would soon become a reality to every man, woman and child throughout the world. April fools jokes had often been carried out successfully and so it would take some convincing to make people understand the dire nature of the newspaper story.
Shelby worked within an Ecology Department, housed within the large Corporate Headquarters of Sun Smith Enterprises. She had always loved her job and looked forward to sitting down in front of her computer every morning to start the daily calculations. You would think after 10 years of number crunching that she would be looking for a new challenge, but that was not the case. Shelby found the calculations kept her mind sharp and provided her with a continuous challenge of which she was sure to be able to defeat as she would any challenger that was unprepared.
Computers had changed the way most of the business world operated. The need for people to actually go outside of their homes to work was almost non-existent. Most people had jobs that could be performed from the comfort of their own home, which helped reduce the levels of traffic and the costs of renting space in an already crowded downtown core.
Even though Shelby could stay home to perform her role, she preferred to travel into the office and work within the classic settings that reminded her of the days when she first started to work in the corporate world. A new and different environment made life more exciting and she welcomed the break from boredom that seemed to plague her when she worked from her home fulltime.
The trip from the office to her house took over an hour, even though most people chose to work from home, there was still a massive amount of traffic. It seemed that the number of cars far outnumbered people. You almost never saw anyone walking or riding a bike. The decline in these methods of transportation was attributed to the fact that people wanted to get where they were going more quickly. Also, there was something to be said for not wanting to inhale the thick smog air present in the city’s core.
Shelby had an opportunity to think on these long drives home and she cherished the time that she could spend without looking at the computer screen or answering a telephone. True she did have a cellular phone, but she always turned it off when she got into her car. This is my time, she thought to herself. Nobody will be able to ask me to do things for at least an hour.
Once she got home she would again be at the beck and call of the computer, the voicenet and her telephones. Sometimes she wondered why all this technology was necessary. It was getting to the point that you had no chance for privacy anymore. The days of coming home and taking the phone off the hook, or turning the ringer off had long since passed. There was always a way that someone from the office could disturb you when they felt it was necessary.
Shelby would never have thought it would turn out this way when she entered the workforce. At that time people worked hard and played hard. There was a movement to have people lead a balanced lifestyle, which meant that overtime hours would be rare and that it was mandated by companies that people would not be allowed to work more than 40 hours a week. While this caused some difficulty and confusion at the outset, the results were increased productivity, decreased rate of illness among workers and an overall feeling of contentment within the workplace.
Companies were even making more money from their employees’ efforts and so it came as a total surprise when it was announced that the new work-friendly environment was to change back to the way it was in the 1990s. One giant leap forward and one huge fall backwards. Now it was normal for individuals to work 12 hours a day seven days a week.
It was difficult to get used to working such long hours again, Shelby had long since forgotten what the word “relax” meant. In her mind she knew the dictionary definition, but she had no idea how that would be applied in real life. She wasn’t even 40 yet and she was beginning to feel like she was ready to retire. In truth, by the time she turned 40 she would have logged more hours than those who had retired at age 65 only years earlier.
What happened to "work smart not work hard," she thought to herself. She missed the days that she could go and sit outside and watch the birds as they flew from tree to tree and watched the ground hogs as they played their silly little games. It always made her feel blessed to sit out side and watch as god’s creatures enjoyed the surroundings in which they lived.
Join us for the next installment of The Day the Sun Went Down...
|
Help Us Stop Plagiarism -
Nearly all works at PnP are original. However a few people choose to plagiarize.
To check, choose a phrase from the work, then either drag and drop to the search box or copy and paste.
click on search and works at Google will be shown which match. Just to be sure, please do this before
you recommend or rate the work highly...
|
 |
|
|
|
Select a Random Book
|
|
Welcome !
