Instant Story

Flash fiction fresh from my fingers to your mind!

Challenge #03035-H112: Hostile Working Conditions

Call Centres, Don't you just love to hate them, the faceless voice on the other end of the line, that automaton of modern industry you can vent all your frustration at and abuse until your hearts content.

You're sure they don't mind, if they did they could just hang up! You would! They couldn't loose their job over it surely?!?

Besides, its not like they aren't paid well enough to take one frustrated customer, if there was more than one complaint, surely they would be doing something about it RIGHT NOW?!?

they aren't really a person on the other end! Not really.

They couldn't be, working at a call centre. they don't have feelings, or loved ones, or physical/mental health concerns!
and their management cares more about them then you! Or you would be getting what you demand!

they are just machines trying to prevent you from getting the service you deserve, damned the rules or T's and C's, or even the current issue affecting the company they have just spent 5 min explaining to you.

It's a major inconvenience to be talking to a lowly plebe like them.

Inspired by every caller that decides a call centre employee is a a verbal punching bag. To whom we would love dearly to give a piece of our mind to and hang up. But unfortunately, most cant afford to, because that's a terminating offence, and we have bills and, kids and partners to support.

And besides, if we did, you would get some sort of bonus or whatever for being a @$$#013. -- Adam in Darwin

[AN: True Facts - I almost got a job in a call centre. They were going to call me back when a slot opened up but the whole thing moved to somewhere in India before the window of opportunity happened for this nerd. The only time they called me was to try and sell me car lawsuits among other scams. Check out that related story this Thursday]

"So here's the brief. Stay on call for as long as possible, as you get paid by the minute. Put them on hold if they start to swear, but otherwise stick to the script. Hold doesn't count into your time. Churn here is high and management docks you if you take more than the scheduled bathroom breaks."

Lori was sure that was unrelated, but in this economy, she had to take whatever job was going. Leave only if you're fired because you're too expensive for the health department and of course they didn't cover dental. She'd had jobs like this before and used her first bathroom break to change her underwear for an adult diaper. Go-gurts and mountain dew were sustenance standbys as management only gave employees twenty minutes to eat. For those twenty minutes, there were nutritious sandwiches that she brought with her in a cold bag because like hell would anyone trust the break room fridge.

There was a clock on the computer screen with the local time in the area she was going to connect to and a script checklist. There was also a checklist of numbers for her to mark as liable or un-liable based entirely on whether they picked up and whether they put up with the script and for how long.

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Challenge #03034-H111: Obscured by Alchemy

There’s two types of people:

1- those that can extrapolate information from incomplete data -- Anon Guest

[AN: I love this but have to resist the urge to fill in the missing information. Thankyou, Nonny, for messing with my brain]

There are times in alchemy that the four elements are insufficient to explain what just happened. For instance, the metal of potash. Purging wood with fire, then soaking the char in water for a week, straining out the charcoal, and then

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Challenge #03033-H110: A Different Solution

They saw Human Ji sit down for their tea after the brief fight with the braggart that had decided to be an idiot. As the crowd dispersed, people getting back to their normal routines, they first helped the owners put the tea gardens back together, mainly because they were nervous about approaching Ji, before plucking up their courage and approaching the table. Lightly clearing their throat, they asked, softly. "I'm having to deal with bullies in school that keep trying to beat

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Challenge #03032-H109: Dragon Favoured

The Dragonmage, the young men and women chosen of dragon-kind. Formerly the unwanted, the undesirable, the abused, the mistreated. Incorruptible due to their bond with their dragons, they feared almost nothing save for the idea that their desire to save innocent lives would fail. The greedy, the grasping, the cruel, they sought out children who might have eggs now. Attempts to corrupt, attempts to control their own dragonmages. But the dragons were sent to taught this world a lesson, painfully if need

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Challenge #03031-H108: Love Her to Education

What if someone loves a member of the Family, but has to learn to cook. -- Anon Guest

[AN: Has been linked to Engagement Approval Feast by my pal DaniAndShali ]

As far as love is concerned, there are levels of adoration. Loving to distraction is easy. Loving to invention is harder, inspiring the lover to make something initially for their best-beloved. Harder still... is loving to education.

Izzy had been kept out of the kitchen by a series of circumstances for her

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Challenge #03030-H107: Tea and Socialisation

I can't help it Internutter, I gotta see! Mr. Sunshine introduces Jay to his one, and only, true friend outside the Pax Humanis organization, Ms. Lilicoon. Her hands have healed quite a lot now and she keeps in regular contact with Sunshine and even has permission to visit his home on occasion, of course she always makes sure to ask first in case he's busy. Now that he's got a new student, and to show him that there's hope for even ones

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Challenge #03029-H106: Experiments in Friendship

The ship was doing a long-haul taking a mix of human and havenworlder colonists to one of the few mixed-colony worlds. A human child, with their havenworlder friends, had begun exploring the ship and found their way to the engine room. When the parents found them, they were being given a lesson in how the engine works, and being allowed to be helpful, as much as kids can be. -- Fighting Fit

The world that Planetary Survey had found was perfect. Perfect

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Challenge #03028-H105: Swim the Light Fantastic

They flew past me all the time inside those massive metal machines. Though some were bigger than others. My people have been floating among the stars, bright spots in what, for most, would be otherwise pure darkness for as long as I can remember. We had bodies, once, and needed such machines before, but we evolved past that. My family called me, we were heading to a new asteroid belt. Holding out hands, we, as bright flames, flew to see those that

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Challenge #03027-H104: The Paper Anchor

The book was old, beyond old, really. It had been passed down from parent to child for a millennia. It was, now, so thick and large it was carried in a careful satchel and, due to being so ancient, the oldest of the pages yellowing, only carefully opened with gloves. The newest pages, however, were much fresher and had been added to the book almost weekly over the past hundred years. But now, the owner, dying gracefully of old age, called to

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Challenge #03026-H103: Worn Away

The family went to court just as the parent said they would. Recordings of the cruel abuse the students, and instructors, of the Alliance - run school were shown as evidence. And now these people were forced to see, and hear, everything they did to her and face their crimes. Of how Barbara would stop, turn away to hide her tears, something the cameras saw, though everyone else ignored. It wasn't just the parents who intended to teach the instructors, the students,

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Challenge #03025-H102: Illegal Tender

There is bad way to win and there is a good way to lose; what’s interesting while also being troubling is that it’s not always clear which is which. A flipped coin doesn’t always land on head or tail, sometimes it may never lands at all -- grimsley

Kosh hadn't expected to find a slice of home in the hoard. Precisely, an octagonal slice of gemstone engraved with the stylised castle chess piece that was Whitekeep's sigil. It was

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Challenge #03024-H101: Mostly Harmless You Say

Pib's parents are on a station for a while as the ship they normally work on was in for repairs, and these repairs were going to take some time. The instructor at the primary school reads the transcripts of young Pib from aboard the ship and sees the injury / kill count of the child and their jaw drops. Some of the pirates wounded, or killed, by this larval human were not exactly amateurs, or small-fry. The parents just smile. -- Anon Guest

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Challenge #03023-H100: A Day in the Life of a Global Villain

Another day passed by in this prison. Before I fell asleep I heard clanging on the cell door. Someone on the other side spoke “Package for prisoners 089” I pulled myself out of bed “that’s me” a small compartment opened up revealing a small box. “Who’s it from?” I asked, no response must’ve left. I slowly open the package, my cell mate chimed in “what’cha got there?” I raised an eyebrow “transport proteins”. “What?” I didn’t need

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Challenge #03022-H099: Situational Education

Human children have a propensity to pet anything that's soft and furry. It's just a part of what seems to be observable human nature from childhood into adulthood. However, sometimes children had to be taught to not pet the fuzzy. In this case, they meet a havenworlder who has a soft, fluffy, service animal that has a sweet, little purr. The havenworlder, due to very advanced age, has gone very hard of hearing, the service animal makes sure they stay calm. --

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Challenge #03021-H098: The Lengths Gone Unto

A man walk down the crossroad late that night that when he ran into a beast in black. The beast spoke “Boy that’s a heavy load you have on your back, I can take care of your troubles and your worry woes, all you gotta is sign.” Man said “beast I do believe another devil beat you to it this time. I do wish I had something to give but ‘fraid I’m sold out. If you ain’t looking for

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