Short Story Wednesday Review: Effective Immediately by Evan Ronan

 

From the massive archive….

 

It has been four months of mind numbingly boring work since Morale Was Down. Nothing remarkable has gone on as things have been their usual daily boring routine. Avoid as much work as possible and stay out of the eyes of the bosses is still the basic plan and it works. Today is Friday and that means, unsurprisingly, that reports are down. Reports are always down on Fridays. You have also just been informed by e-mail memo to everyone in the building that due to ongoing issues with the aging plumbing system resulting in low water pressure, you are to use as little toilet paper as possible and flush often to reduce the chances of clogs. That is ridiculous, but it is what it is. There are also too many passwords, Stacy is being incredibly difficult, and you have paperwork to finish once you ease into your day by surfing around on Facebook for a bit.


That plan is disrupted by Bob who can’t be trusted and yet tells you that Alan wants a meeting. If Bob is not screwing with you, as he often does, the fact that Alan wants a meeting can’t be good. You could check if your voicemail was working, but your password that worked last night is no longer valid. That means you can’t access your voicemail.  Then Alan, Vice President of Technology and Finance Operations, actually walks into your office and catches you swearing at your phone. He most definitely wants you to come to his office for a meeting in a little over an hour.  Things are about to get very weird. Good thing you did solve the theft of the Stromboli four months ago.

 

Second in the planned Close of Business trilogy, Effective Immediately is another funny mystery. Like the first one there is plenty of adult language as well as humor. In fact, there are about 17,000 words in this short story and many of them are funny regarding the corporate life. The tale takes shots at numerous folks you will recognize from corporate life, but these same folks are also present in retail, academia, and elsewhere. Along the way it solves two mysteries while also explaining why you never go to the restroom on the same floor you work on---if you can help it.

Material supplied by the author in exchange for my objective review.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2015, 2023