Interoffice Relationships

The Machine wants you to mingle.

Break rooms, company picnics, Christmas parties. For a very small investment, The Machine keeps all of its minor assets in one place. On a daily basis, the smallest parts of The Machine gather to wonder their role in the greater scheme.

They never find out. They whine, and they complain, and they share gossip. And some of them make grandiose statements about leaving The Machine, and joining a New Machine, where things would have to be better.

But most never do.

The Machine wants you to share with your coworkers, as long as it’s not something important like how little money each of you makes. You should talk over your problems, and make friends with the other people who’ll understand what you’re going through.

And then, after a while, you’ll feel connected to them. And you’ll come to like them, and look forward to seeing them. And you’ll start to gather on weekends, and after work for drinks. Some of you may even develop personal relationships, which of course is strictly forbidden by The Machine.

And in time, these people form a support group, whose sole purpose is to reinforce the bottom level of The Machine. These people become closely bonded, even though they have nothing in common with each other except servitude.

They become the closest of friends. Until the day when one leaves The Machine. Then, that person is never spoken to again, to be replaced by someone else working in The Machine.

These relationships keep the blinders on, and keep our eyes looking at The Machine. We’re so busy with our daily duties and office friends, we don’t make contact with other people outside of The Machine. We lose perspective on the world.

And we live for our time in The Machine.