Everyday Spooky
Three Goats were standing around a water cooler trying to avoid going back to their workstations. This was a pretty popular activity in the office. At any point in the day, you could pretty easily find 3-4 folks just milling about at the water cooler, all trying to avoid going back to doing work.
This was such a common occurrence that even the bosses couldn’t help but take part. After all, the only difference between bosses and workers was the bosses once got told that the company they work for valued their work and would therefore be entitled to receive more money and more responsibility. But that responsibility was just managing the workers who the company did not consider all that special.
So having been validated the one time, bosses couldn’t help but feel a little more sympathetic towards the company and didn’t want to waste too much time at the water cooler — but at the end of the day, they didn’t want to be working just as much as the next guy.
Today though seemed to be a pretty tough day for everyone. What started with just three goats quickly ballooned. Two chickens from accounting showed up. Then there were three more goats from various departments, the elephant from development came, the whole customer service department came and even the chickadee from marketing made it to the water cooler.
Eventually, the Owner of the company stepped out of his office and realized everyone was missing. The Owner walked up and down the hallways but found no trace of anyone anywhere. This was unacceptable. Where could everyone be?
They were all at the water cooler. Somehow the whole office had managed to make their way down to the water cooler and everyone was talking and laughing and the water was flowing. The workers had already been forced to replace the water keg twice because there were so many folks drinking water at the same time.
“What is this, a party?” Came the angry voice everyone recognized as the Owner, “Where’s my invitation?”
“Well, there weren’t really any invitations sent out but you’re welcome to join us,” the first goat answered, “We have plenty of water.”
“I pay for that water and you all are not currently doing your jobs.” The Owner shot back, “So if you ever want to drink water again I suggest you all get back to your workstations and do some damn work!”
Many of the folks gathered started breaking up and headed back to their desks. Most workers weren’t up for the fight. They just wanted to do their work, make some money, and then enjoy whatever time they had leftover. It wasn’t ideal and everyone, of course, wanted more time of their own to enjoy. But, that simply wasn’t the way of the world.
The three Goats weren’t going anywhere. They tried to convince everyone to stay a little longer, to no avail. They tried to convince everyone that the Owner couldn’t really do anything if everyone refused to work. Things would only get worse for everyone if they all gave in every time the Owner threatened them.
A few of the animals who stayed agreed with the Goats, but they too knew it would take a lot of organizing to actually make any real change so, despite being in solidarity with the others, they went back to their workstations and got back to work.
This left only the Goats. They knew returning to their workstations would feel like defeat. They had simply wanted to take a long break from work, but things spiraled, and now they had no choice but to face that feeling of defeat.
“Let’s just quit,” the first goat spoke up.
“I’m down,” the second goat chimed in,
The third goat hesitated. He had a lot of credit card debt that needed to be paid down and this job was helping to keep him afloat.
“I dunno guys…” the third goat started, “Money is really tight right now, and I kind of need this job.”
“Life is tight too though, and you only have so much of it to enjoy,” the first Goat reminded him.
“Life is pretty tight,” the third goat agreed, “But what if we just promise not to do any more actual work today instead of quitting?”
"Well if that's the case why not just walk out?" The second goat offered.
And that's what they did. The three goats gathered their things, didn't say anything to anyone, and walked out of the office.
More than likely the Owner wouldn't even notice that they were gone. He only tended to care about productivity when he was bored and wanted to feel important but three workers missing towards the end of the day probably wouldn't raise any immediate flags. Even if their Boss really cared he'd just have to tell the Owner and the Owner would just get mad at him for not keeping the workers in line. The goats could just sneak out quietly, have a small victory, and come back the next day no harm, no foul.
And that's what they did. They staggered their sneak-outs to avoid suspicion and agreed to meet at the bar down the street.
When the first goat arrived at the bar he felt as if he'd made it to some hidden oasis which exists only in the middle of the day. An oasis he never saw because he was never outside at the exotic hour of 3:00 pm on a weekday.
When the second goat arrived the first goat already had a beer waiting for them.
When the third goat arrived the three friends all toasted themselves for still being able to dig down and find their own meaning and autonomy in a world where the ability to do so seemed like it was always in the hands of the owners... At least on the weekdays.
