Jason Kelly, A man juggling a budding tech career with community college and limited social life.

Chapter 1 – Discovering the App

Sometimes it wasn’t one thing that got you down, but a bunch of little things all adding up over time. That’s how it was for Jason Kelly. He’d just gotten out of a graphic design class at the community college with only a limited time before the start of his Friday shift at the computer electronics manufacturing company he worked for.

He parked his old Accord in the parking lot with only a couple minutes to spare, glancing briefly in the mirror to make sure he looked professional, or at least presentable. He kept his dark brown hair just long enough that he could comb a subtle wave into it, and while he didn’t have the time or money to hit the gym regularly, he was at least slim from a fairly active lifestyle and good eating habits. His office clothes weren’t exactly flattering – it was difficult to find clothes that properly fit his frame – but the button up shirts and navy blue blazer made him blend in at least a little with the rest of the white-collar crowd.

Jason waved to the security guard, Michael Cullen, at the front desk as he rushed into the office, hoping not to run into his supervisor before making it to his desk.

“Cutting it close again.” Michael called out to him in passing.

“Yeah, my class went late, and traffic wasn’t good.” He shrugged, hating how the words sounded as soon as they left his lips. Even if it was true, it was the kind of excuse he gave all too often these days.

When he got to the second floor he nearly jumped when Allison Carn, the supervisor in question, spotted him from the doorway to her office. “Kelly. Glad you could make it. Come see me in my office once you’ve dropped off your stuff at your desk.”

The clock on the wall read 9:03am, only three minutes after his start time, but this sort of thing was becoming an unfortunate habit for him.

Three minutes later he was taking a seat in front of Allison’s desk. “Your end of year review is coming up soon.” She said, giving him a friendly smile. It was almost enough to disarm him, but he knew the news wasn’t good. “I have to evaluate your performance. In most areas, I can say positive things about your first year at the company, but there are areas that need more work, would you agree?”

Jason nodded, but didn’t volunteer a reply.

“Do we need to talk about your attendance?”

“My schedule is hectic. And I know that’s not really an excuse, but I promise I’m trying to work on it.”

Allison sighed, but offered another smile, “If you want, I can offer you some projects you can work on at home or after hours to make up the productivity. Make up for any issues you might have in other areas.”

“That’s… kind of you. But I don’t know if I’d have time to do extra work.”

“At least consider it. Here, take my personal number.” She began scribbling on a post-it note. “Text me when you get back to your desk. I know your schedule is tight already, but if you’re serious about your career, working one on one could help ensure your advancement.”

He took the note with her cell-phone number on it. “I’ll think about it. See if there’s any way I could fit it into my schedule.”

She stood and shook his hand as he left the office and returned to his cubicle, where he sat down with a heavy sigh. He thumbed his phone on, and saw a Skype notification waiting for him while he pulled up his contacts and entered in Allison’s number. He hesitated only a moment before opening his messenger app to see that the message was from his long-distance girlfriend. He and Stephani had yet to meet in person, they’d become friends in an online forum and had decided to try long-distance dating a couple months prior. It didn’t feel like it was going very well, at least to Jason. And it didn’t help that she was having some medical issues which were eating into her time and money.

:Stephani: Can’t chat tonight. Something’s come up.

He took a moment before responding. The prospect of a half an hour or so chatting with his girlfriend on Skype was what got him through days like this. But he knew he couldn’t push her.

:Jason: I understand. Maybe tomorrow?

:Stephani: Yeah, we can try for tomorrow.

As he closed the messenger application he noticed a new app symbol on his phone’s main screen with the letters MRE on the icon. Some self-installing mobile game, no doubt. He’d deal with that later. He shot a simple text to Allison identifying that it was his number, then suppressed a groan as he remembered that tomorrow was not only Saturday, but also his monthly game night with his friends.

He reopened Skype, but paused… Maybe he could go to his game night, and chat with his girlfriend after, depending on the timing. Yeah, he could sort that out later. Besides, he was already fifteen minutes behind getting started on his work, not to mention some of his work he’d not quite gotten to the day before.

So he put all of that from his mind, aside from the acknowledgement text from his supervisor, and did his level best to focus for the next six hours on nothing but his work. The company proprietary software wasn’t going to code itself.