Jonathan thought about when he had started the job, the economy and company were doing so well that he could just switch out a malfunctioning router with a new one, no matter the problem. Now he had to spend some time diagnosing the problem, and fixing it if possible.

Unfortunately, this was one of those times where he was going to have to fix it. There were some simple software errors that required some reprogramming, setting up properly, and fine tuning. It was fairly basic to him, but it would require a minimum investment of two hours. Jonathan longed for the days where he would just take the five minutes to unhook it, and replace it with a new, faster, and better working unit.

Tinkering around for hours on end felt beneath him. The challenges in his job had long since passed, and his social problems limited his ability to get promoted into a team leader or managerial role. Jonathan felt like he was at a dead end point in his job.

Nevertheless, fixing the router kept him away from his desk, co-workers and bosses, and that was fine by him. The best part was that if he worked at a semi-reasonable pace, he would finish fixing the router, and be off for lunch.

Two hours later, powering up the router, it looked as though everything was working perfectly, and his day was half over. Packing up his gear, he went back to his computer, marked the task as complete, and set his status as being away for lunch. The computer notified him that he had only fifty-eight minutes remaining until he was scheduled to be back at his desk. A small timer appeared on his ICD, counting down the minutes and seconds. Sighing heavily, Jonathan went to the elevator, giving a wide distance between himself and any group conversations he saw going on.

Once in the elevator, he selected the floor for the food court, and waited the few moments it took before arriving on the floor. As the doors opened, Jonathan noticed there were only a dozen people eating lunch at this time. Happily surprised, he walked up to one of the vending machines and ordered chilli and a biscuit with a Coca-Cola branded energy drink.

His meal was served within two minutes, and the machine thanked him for his purchase. It also reminded him that he had just used up his allotment of beef for the week, and that he would only get meat substitutes in further purchases.

Sitting down, Jonathan immediately turned on the privacy screening and a large screen came up between his booth and the open design of the food court. The screen came to life and started playing advertisements for various new products while a news ticker slid across the bottom. It had been a long time since he had watched a general news broadcast, but focused in more on eating than taking in the news and events going on worldwide.

The chili and biscuit both tasted bland, and weren’t very hot. He chastised himself for making such a poor meal choice, and thought about the meals his mother used to make without the use of the various vending machines.

Taking a big sip of his energy drink, the bottle began to broadcast its own message in an excitable, youthful voice. “Don’t you feel fabulous when you drink the Smart Healthy Buzz? Coca-Cola enjoys your business Jonathan. You’ve earned three thousand Coke credits to date and qualify for the gold level of beverage drinkers!”

The gold level would mean a discount of ten percent on all future purchases. He had been devout Coca-Cola product consumer since his birth, and felt a little pang of excitement at reaching the gold level.

Jonathan’s ICD started to quietly beep, letting him know that he had two minutes to return to his desk, and report in for more tasks. Turning off the privacy screen, and tossing all of his waste into a receptacle, he strolled back into the elevator, and returned to his desk.

Sighing heavily, he reclined in his desk, and began answering inquiries by various staff, co-workers, management and the building’s own technology team. It was mostly regarding the issue with the router, and it frustrated him to have communications coming in from twenty people over a five percent decrease in efficiency, but for some, the decrease was “important”.