Nightmares (Short Stories)

Misbehaving

Being an Admin for a website devoted to "Alpha male rage" which so happened to sound like a bunch of bitches complaining about how they, "the good guys," never get ladies unless they buy them. This basically means, they are the poor assholes of the world. Reading their posts for Jacob, my boss at LemonWire Technologies was just one of my punishments for losing one of our biggest clients.

This had to be torture. Jacob started this website to get feedback about a new game we had developed for Lunchtime Yummies Inc. Somehow, responses about sandwiches made to go and snacks turned into a hate filled mass shitshow that actually earned us more in revenue from ads than the actual contract with LYI.

My new "job" was to read the posts and make sure that they weren't overtly inappropriate. When I asked what that meant, he said, "Illegal Tess. Anything that can gets us fined or sued." Great. I needed a law degree now. One slip up and this is what I am stuck doing all day.

To break the monotony of this horrific train wreck of a website, I created algorithms to break down the types of sexual harassment and physical violence threatened in the posts. My favorite category was the one for "fucking the admins." Apparently, they thought I was a "beta male" for censoring them. I wasn't allowed to write anything to them besides the typical, "this is deemed inappropriate and against terms and conditions." They were total assholes.

Six months I was put on babysit dickheads duty and then I was back to writing codes for anyone other than the team I was on. One dick pic in the middle of Jacob's presentation to the clients was enough to get me landed here. He couldn't fire me since my dad owned the company and the clients turned out to be embezzlers anyway. They were arrested at the meeting and lost everything shortly after. I always research the companies and people we do business with. No one wants a scandal of a partner to reflect on them poorly.

Jacob insisted that, "you could have left out the dick pic and told me beforehand what you were planning instead of just doing your own thing. You are a shitty team player." He got a lovely present on his front door step the next night when I left a flaming bag of shot on it. Surprisingly, he didn't know it was me.

Four weeks of this crap left and I'm back to actually working. Four. Fucking. Long. Ass. Weeks.

Dear father had a stern talking to about my lack of teamwork skills and I in return had a stern talking to about leaving Jacob alone. He brought in more money to the company than my father could have ever done. Jacob, the golden child, COO of LemonWire, was my archnemisis if those were an actual thing. Dad love him like a son. He even invited him to family outings. My brother loved him too. They would play catch and go do man things together while I withered away by my mom who made every meal from scratch and cleaned the house like she was a glorified housekeeper instead of a wife. She would always smile when i told her my problems, give me a hug and just pat my back. It was belittling to know she just didn't give a shit. That could all be blamed on the amount of Valium she consumed on a daily basis. I'm honestly surprised she didn't die years ago.

Thanksgiving was in two days and I was expected at the annual Gala ball and dinner. It wasn't a family event, but a work event. I hated going especially after dealing with this shit all day, but either I went or got out on babysitting duty for assholes for another six months. Quitting wasn't an option when your father could have you blackballed by everyone.

Two hours in with six in stilettos, a slit up to my asscrack in my cocktail dress, and my hair falling out of its tight braid after head-banging in front of our main competitor's wife, I was ready to go and so was everyone else. My father demanded I stay and socialize and meet a good husband that would take care of me. "You're not suited for this kind of life. You need a good man to rein in that personality of yours and take care of you." So basically, he wanted me on Valium and bent over a table for my husband just like he thought my mom should be.