post-perfect i

A voice booms amidst the darkness, “You’re all here because you’re the best of the brightest, the crème de la crème.”   These words echo in the void.  “You’re all here because you’re special.”

            Let there be light.

Employee Orientation: Day One. 

An over-head projector illuminates the room along with a single spotlight on a man at the podium.  He’s talking, using his hands, actually flapping, no, flailing.  

A lot. 

He calls on the seated crowd of disinterested faces.  His waving locks of hair, slicked back. 

The power tie. 

Oh, the obnoxious power tie. 

Light, no, pale tangerine-colored tie.

            “How do you distinguish yourself from the faceless masses?” he asks us in the darkness of the room as the Power Point slide changes.  

            The starched collar of the purposely faded blue dress shirt looks tight, doesn’t it? 

Too small around his neck, the Adam’s apple straining against it as he speaks. 

He’s going on and on about SWOT analysis.  Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, but who cares, right?  

            “If you ignore the downsides, you are the downside,” the man on stage, behind the podium says, pointing. 

He’s pointing at you. 

Is he pointing at me?  

“You become the failure, itself,” he tells the room.