Another day, another dollar. Well, I make more than a dollar a day, but the phrase still holds true to some sense. Of course how much I make on any given day depends on what work I find. Money has become a lot less reliable since I became a free lance worker. Not that I would have in my right mind chosen to work this way, but I will have to admit that working this way does grow on you. Though I still wish for the reliability of working for a mega-corporation.
As I implied, I was not always free lancing. My parents were employees for the Snod mega-corporation, which made me a employee when I was born. I had a very non eventful childhood, had an occasional broken bone, was an irritable moody teenager, and finally became a semi-stable young adult. Pretty much like every other kid I know. I had gone to the company schools, and tested into the tech fields. The task placement tests gave an accurate result for me. It determined that I was to train to be a machinist, which fittingly was what I liked to do. I was lucky there, not all people are placed correctly. They usually get really close, but they always miss by a bit for a few people.
Training was straight forward. I had my specifics, and the generals. All of which was supposed to make me a productive and intelligent member of the company. I would be good at my task, and still know enough about everything else to fake a conversation. The standard requirement for every employee. And I did meet that requirement without too much difficulty, that is not why I do not work for Snod anymore. I am not exactly sure the reasons why they let me go, but then I was not actually fired. I mean, nobody was ever fired from Snod, I was ‘transferred’.
I was doing my daily routine, being just another happily ignorant employee, and word come though that my skills were needed elsewhere, and so I was going to be transferred. Transfers usually meant better pay, better housing, or something else that was better, so I was excited. I rushed home and began packing my few things. And the next day I headed for the airport with my ticket to a new work place, and boarded an airplane heading to my new city.
After disembarking from the plane, I found two people waiting for me, they had already grabbed the rest of my luggage. Taking me to one of the restaurants in the airport, I badgered them with questions about my new work place. They easily avoided my questions. I began to wonder why they were acting strangely. After a hollow lunch full of small talk, they handed me an envelop, said “Thanks for being a loyal employee for Snod, we hope that your loyalty will remain with us. We are terribly sorry that we have no need of someone with your skills. Good luck.”, and left.
I was in shock. I could absolutely not believe what they said. At first I hoped that it was perhaps some cruel joke. But as I watched them walk away, it began to sink in. I still can hardly believe it.
I found a money account card, an address, and keys to an apartment in the envelop. When some of my senses returned, I checked how much the account card held. They had stuffed about nine months of pay into it. I figured the keys would fit the lock on an apartment, which would be at the address. I then got a cab, and went to what was now home. Dragging myself into my new bedroom, I fell on to the bed, and cried my self to sleep.
I’ll sum up the next couple of months as being hell, won’t say much more than that. I did manage to find some work, though the first couple of jobs were short. Nothing I liked doing anyways. I did manage to find a job as a machinist, but the pay was so lousy that I had to quit. Realizing that there weren’t many machine shops around, and the few that were expensive, I took a chance and spent the rest of the money I had been given. Bought a shop, bought some tools, and found a few costomers. I’m not making millions, but I make enough to save up for new tools every so often after paying bills. All in all, I’m not so bad off.