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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#109: Working Hard, Hardly Working

For better or worse, a lot of our identity (or at least, how people perceive us) is tied to what we do for a living. As well as making up the daily rhythm of our lives, a lot of our goals and aspirations are career-based. Whether you’re a workaholic or living for the weekend, this week we’re diving into the world of work, writing about dream jobs — and the not-so-dreamy jobs.

This week's prompts

Write about a character who has landed their dream job, only to discover it isn’t quite what they imagined it to be.

Dark – 34 stories

Start your story with a character quitting their job, or getting fired.

Angst – 35 stories

Write about a character who leads a secret double life outside of their day job.

Thriller and Suspense – 16 stories

Set your story during the night shift.

Dark – 53 stories

Your character sits down at their desk on a Monday morning and finds a completely unexpected email in their inbox. Write about what happens next.

Thriller and Suspense – 24 stories

Stories

“The Haunting” by Donald King

Submitted to Contest #109

CW: murderIt was four in the afternoon, but the sun was already down as Charlie pulled into a spot across the street from the old clapboard house. The air smelled of decay. Fallen leaves, long since faded to a late November brown, dammed the gutter leaving a rotting stew against the curb. He stepped over the morass and kicked his car door shut behind him. An old crow squawked angrily and launched off its perch on the power line. Charlie took a few more steps down the street, looking for a better way back across the puddle before deciding to...

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“The Confession Counselor ” by Princy K. Writes

Submitted to Contest #109

James parked the minivan in front of the open cemetery and turned the wheezing engine off. He checked his Apple watch- half-past eleven at night. His shift as the Confession Counselor for Departed Souls kicked off in fifteen minutes.Lifting the briefcase resting on the passenger seat, he shoved open the driver-side door and stepped out. The intimate breeze petted his neck, tickling the spine. Shivering, James scribbled on his mental pad to pack a scarf for the next visit.Waddling up the pebbled pathway, he continued in the familiar direction...

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“Extreme Customer Service” by Liz Skelton

Submitted to Contest #109

Lauren tugged on her backpack and walked through the parking lot, heading the opposite direction of the burnt out office workers. As usual their day was wrapping up just as hers was getting started. It took a special kind of person to work the overnight shift at Swifty Pizza’s corporate call center, but Lauren loved it. She made double what she would on day shift, she got to sleep peacefully while her roommates were in class, and she never had to worry about the evening classes on campus filling too quickly. “Hey Marco,” she said with...

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“Night Falls (and so do you)” by Charlie Bright

Submitted to Contest #109

Passing through the fifth and final checkpoint, you suppress a shutter as the magic dampening runes wash over you. It’s been over six months since you started working as a security guard, and having your magic stripped from you every night was just as unnatural and obtrusive as the first time. But it’s not like you can complain; non-magicals couldn’t feel the runes, after all. Confessing that you could… You shake your head, strands of dyed-black hair falling in your eyes before you brush them back again. Tonight was your last night working h...

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“I DON@T LIKE MONDAYs” by Kayhan Egeli

Submitted to Contest #109

It has been eighteen months since I worked from home due to pandemics and following lockdowns. In a way, office life is disappeared from my life. Today I am back to my old routine, I got up, had a shower, a piece of toast and drive to work. My boss, managing director of the company Alan sent to me a text on Friday and asked me to be in the office on Monday." We are back to normal Tony, see you Monday," it was short but not sweet. It is difficult for me to adjust myself to a new old life. I put the CD on to listen to "I don't like, Mondays fr...

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“Delusion” by Tyler Hanson

Submitted to Contest #109

This is the story of a woman named Penelope. Penelope works for an ordinary company, at an ordinary desk, where she works an ordinary nine to five. Penelope’s job is simple, she answers emails at her desk. Nothing more. Nothing less. Penelope has been doing this for her entire adult life with no complaints. Some might even say this job is monotonous, boring, or even soul-crushing. And yet, Penelope is happy. That is, until one Monday morning, when something bizarre happened. Something that Penelope would never forge...

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“Leave of Absence ” by Vox Deruste

Submitted to Contest #109

Leave of Absences By Vox Deruste “ Hey, Julian!” My attention was jerked away from the computer screen by the voice of my superior. “ Kinda need you to take out the screens from these Chromebooks.” I looked at a stack of partially damaged laptops, partially broken in all but one way. Screens we can take out and use for other laptops later. “ I’ll get on that Mike.” I took out a screwdriver from a tool pouch and got to take out the screw connecting the screen to the Chromebook. “ Huh?” Mike said with slight curiosity. We w...

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“9-5” by Lydia Daggett

Submitted to Contest #109

TW: Self harmRon cranes his neck to stare blankly at the cuckoo clock hanging just above eye level. It is 4 :12AM and the toilet seat is beginning to leave an impression on his bum. Six minutes have past yet time seems to stand still. Nothing matters. Not one damn thing. The crease marks are the least of Rons’ worries. Wiping, he stands, forgets to flush and so the hot, dry and somewhat toxic air continues to permeate the premises. Shaved facial hair from weeks past and toothpaste crust the sides of the sin...

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“The Anticipated Dream Job” by Connie Grote

Submitted to Contest #109

Kathleen lands the ideal dream job she has always sought. As administrative assistant to the CEO in a government manufacturing facility, she has her own secretary outside a private office. She alone assists the CEO. Her expense account covers traveling around the world on his behalf every month and answering only to him. Her salary affords her the ability to buy top designer clothes, eat at the best restaurants and live in an ultra-modern penthouse apartment with a rooftop garden and patio. But, during a business trip to Spain, she att...

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“One Crazy Morning” by Wayne Scheer

Submitted to Contest #109

One Crazy Morning The craziness began when I woke up and quit my job. I had no idea what I was dreaming because as soon as my eyes popped open the dream dissolved like melting images in a Dali painting. Without thinking, I grabbed my cellphone from my nightstand and speed dialed my supervisor to tell him I was quitting my job. Tom is also a friend and he offered me his honest reaction. "Go to hell, Robert. It's 4:30 in the damn morning." I thanked him for the time of day. "The reason I'm quitting," I said, "is because of a dr...

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“Pismo Beach ” by Maria Bray

Submitted to Contest #109

As it so happens, the words, “I QUIT” were quickly followed by, “You can’t quit! You’re fired!”Fine. Quit, fired, who gives a shit? I don’t qualify for unemployment anyway in the field I was in, so it hardly matters. If my demanding, never satisfied boss wants the last word, let him have it. As they say, no skin off my ass. My last thought as I walked away was, “Good luck filling my position, dickwad.”I might have also thought, “See you in hell,” but that’s not very nice, is it?I probably should have applied for something else before I quit,...

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“An Exercise in Futility” by DS VACILLATION

Submitted to Contest #109

If anyone walked by the car and happened to glance in, hopefully all they would see is her body slumped over the wheel as though she was taking a nap. Probably they wouldn’t notice the way she grasped it for support while she shook with sobs. They wouldn’t be able to hear her howling and gasping for breath like a two year old throwing a temper tantrum, nor would they see the way her eyelashes had clumped together into choppy sections as the tears liquefied her mascara, sticking together rather than running down her face in long dramatic blac...

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“The Firing” by Jacqueline Porter

Submitted to Contest #109

The Firing. Fani dressed carefully for the meeting. She wanted Ramon to see her the way she used to look, her dark eyes made enormous with kohl and her full mouth painted a rich crimson. Her last touch was to slide her blade inside the waistband of her jeans and button her grey linen jacket to conceal it. She was never punctual. But this time, she planned to arrive thirty minutes late. Propped against the flaking, sunbaked wall of the Hotel Pacifico, watching the street urchins hustle while her thirty minutes ticked b...

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“A Corrugated Dismissal” by Christine Johnson

Submitted to Contest #109

I wonder if I should take the stapler or is it theirs? After near twenty years, I am not sure where the laws of personal property delineate between ownership through purchase and ownership through usage. And paperclips. Are they inventoried? Will they come after me if the wire basket is short a few? I have never been fired before so I am not exactly sure what is the proper protocol for packing up my desk. “Laid off due to downsizing” is what Alissa the messenger said as I flipped the fifteen pages of the severance ...

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“The Gray Mask ” by Sayda A

Submitted to Contest #109

Gray Mask by: Sayda A. The full moon glistened in the dark night, lighting up the street outside my office. I couldn't get the thought out of my head, where had I seen this mask before and why did it appear in Mr. Grover's attic. About an hour ago I was sitting in my office and thought that no cases would come in at this time so I was reading a book. I love to read books. Then surprisingly the phone rang. I picked up and said "Hello, this is detective Hazel, is there anything I can assist you with?" I asked. "Hello this i...

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$250

Prize money

162

Contest entries

149

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Sep 03, 2021 EST

Won by CJ Rodgers 🏆

Title: Diner At The End

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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