It was time for review at his work, and Carson was in his office, watching the clock on his computer tick away slowly to the top of the hour, when he’d be meeting with his boss to receive his “performance assessment”. Carson didn’t know why he was so nervous this time around. He knew there was no reason to be nervous, after all, he’d been doing a great job, and after the last stellar review he’d gotten, which had been capped off with a promotion, a substantial raise, and the privilege of running his own product development team, he knew everything was going to be just fine…and yet, everything at the office had been so strange lately, he couldn’t help but have a sense of some ominous doom hanging over his head.
He looked away from the clock and back to the rest of the screen for a moment, and then back at the clock in the corner, only to discover that in that briefest of moments, ten minutes had somehow passed in the blink of an eye. It wasn’t the first time it had happened either–if anything, it had been happening more and more often while he was in his office, this…losing time. Usually it was just a few minutes here and there, but just the other day he’d lost two hours he couldn’t account for. He’d have no memory either, of what he had been doing for that whole time–as far as he could tell, he’d just been sitting there, staring off into space, and yet as disturbing as that concept was, it also didn’t unnerve him nearly as much as he knew it should that it kept happening–after all, it had to be a sign of something serious right? Like a stroke, or who knew what? He hadn’t talked to anyone else about it, but it seemed like everyone in the office had been on edge for a few months now, ever since that last batch of hires, when their boss had brought on Ollie as some IT support, who was now their only IT support, after the rest of the team had quit without explanation over the next few weeks. Ollie was…a creep, and a slob, and never seemed to be getting any actual work done. No one could understand why Bryce didn’t just fire him, but any time someone tried to talk about it (including Carson a couple of times) Bryce wouldn’t even entertain the idea.
Still, with that ten minute loss, it was almost time for his review. He got his self-assessment together that he’d been working on for the last few days, put on his coat, and left to head for Bryce’s office. It was on the other side of the small building where they worked, and so Carson walked past most of his co-workers in their cubicles, and again, that sensation of doom swept over him as he passed them by. Most of them were just staring at their screens not doing anything at all, their jaws slack, but a few were…well, their behavior was a bit worrying, in all honesty, especially the ones who had already gotten their reviews this week. Phillip, he swore, hadn’t changed his clothes once since he’d had his three days ago, and when he passed him by, he…swore he was masturbating, but he didn’t want to get close enough to find out for certain. He caught a whiff of cigar smoke as he passed by Aaron, who seemed to be taking at least five breaks a day to go outside and smoke–though Carson was suspicious that he’d started smoking inside too, which was vile. Aaron looked over at him as he passed him by, and sneered slightly. They…weren’t on the best of terms, and things had only gotten worse since Carson had ben picked for that promotion over Aaron after the last cycle of reviews. Aaron thought he deserved it because he was older and more experienced, and he’d been spreading rumors around that Carson had only gotten it because he was a brown-nosing suckup to the boss. It wasn’t true, of course, and Carson hadn’t dignified it with an argument–he’d decided to just let his performance speak for him, and he’d done a good job, hadn’t he? This review would settle it at least, once it was over with.
He knocked on Bryce’s door, and a voice called him in. he opened the door, expecting to just find Bryce there on the other side–and his boss was there, but in a chair against the wall was another person–Ollie. Carson just stared at him, confused why he would be there. “Did…you just have your review, Ollie?” he asked, assuming he would be leaving in any case.
Ollie smiled at him, showing off his yellowed teeth, “Oh no–Bryce has asked me to sit in on reviews this cycle–you don’t mind that, do you Carson?”
Carson looked from Ollie over to Bryce, who was just staring into space at his monitor. He hadn’t even seemed to notice Carson stepping into the room. “I…I suppose not, no,” Carson said, and took a seat in front of Bryce’s desk.
His boss still didn’t seem to notice him, and he remained sitting for a few moments, until Bryce finally gave a start, and looked away from the computer. “Oh, Carson! Is it that time already?” he said, “I didn’t notice you come in–I’ve been getting very absorbed in my work recently.”
“Uh…yeah,” Carson said, “Here’s the, uh, self-assessment you asked me to fill out, sir.” Carson slipped the papers over to Bryce, his eyes looking back at Ollie. “Do…you mind if we do this in private, Bryce? I…don’t know why Ollie is here.”
“Ollie has been helping me out with all of the reviews this cycle. He’s a sharp guy–really understands people, what they need, what their potential is. Just try and relax Carson, I know you’re nervous, but a bad review can be more helpful than a great one, sometimes.”
Carson looked back at Bryce, confused. “A…bad one?”
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