#the teal one is named Ms. Waitress

[dsi-os]

siiighs sorry guys i made the childish babysitter dog-thing and the chaos lord cat gay. my bad. i’m sorry for making gay people, it will happen again.

[writingbites-blog]

Playing the Slot Market

Originally posted on r/WritingPrompts under the writing prompt:  [WP] Every night before bed people tally up the experience they gained that day. If they have enough they can improve different skills. As you are mindlessly checking your stats you see that you somehow have over two decades worth of experience points from a single day.

"You have GOT to be kidding me! Not again!" Ori groaned and dropped her head to the desk. After the waitressing slot she'd taken last week, she'd finally reached a high enough level in charisma to qualify for a month-long slot in a Sales 3. A slot like that would be just the opportunity she needed to gain listening and social adaptability points, and even some persuasion points thrown in for good measure. She probably wouldn't even need another slot! One month in a Sales 3 position and she should have fulfilled all of the requirements to enter the Developmental Psychology program. And then no more worrying about finding her own slots, she would have a direct path out of the slot market and into a full-time career.

Ori lifted her head and sighed, looking at her reflection in the black monitor. "Why did you put off communication category slots for so long? Not everything is about aptitude and anatomical knowledge, you idiot." She shouldn't have taken that extra MRI Tech 4 slot, she didn't even really need it. Ori switched on her monitor and navigated to a discount software website. Of course she still couldn't afford an automatic slot acquisition program. This was now her 6th full day of trying for a Sales 3 slot. Not one had lasted past the time it took her to click on it. A box popped up at the bottom of her monitor and a robotic voice announced "Slot market closing in 10 minutes". She navigated back to the slot market and scrolled through the communication category. No Sales 3, of course. She hovered over a Waitress 2 position at Scarlet Crustacean. Another week of smelling like fish wouldn't be that bad. On a whim, Ori clicked over to the Pay for Skill tab. Since she didn't need any other skills for the Developmental Psychology program, she would be better off taking one of these higher paying positions to save up for slot acquisition software. She selected a time negotiable MRI Tech 3 position at the hospital uptown. Makes sense that they want someone qualified for an MRI Tech 4+ for this, can't have rich people at the mercy of someone focused on gaining skill.

~~~

Ori kicked off her shoes and sped over to her computer. She could finally register for the University! The MRI Tech position had paid off, she'd finally gotten the Sales 3 position and today had been her last day. She logged on to her University account and clicked submit on the application she'd been preparing for weeks. "Skills missing in anatomical knowledge." said a robotic voice. What? That couldn't be right! She had more than enough registered in the system. Ori clicked submit again. "Skills missing in anatomical knowledge." "No way, this must be a mistake." 

She dialed the Skill Bureau. "Hello, Skill Bureau, how can I direct your call?" Sounded like a kid. Probably a teenager on a day slot. 

"I need to talk to someone about an error in my skill count, please."

"One moment, I'll transfer you" Ori paced around the room while hold music played from the phone.

 "Skill Management, how can I help you?"

"I can't register for the Developmental Psychology program, but I know I have the skills."

"May I have your name and pin please?"

"Ori Teal, Teal spelled like the color. My pin is 63903" A pause followed

"It seems you are missing some anatomical knowledge skills"

"That's impossible! I took a ton of Medical slots!" 

"I'm sorry Ms. Teal, I see your job history matches what you're saying, but the skills aren't properly registered. Were you using an old browser when registering skills?"

"I switched to the newest version last year when I heard that the old one was going to stop functioning."

"Ok, now that's your problem. For the years leading up to that, it seems your skills didn't register properly. I'm afraid there is nothing I can do at this time. I'll send in a report and they should respond in the next 6 months."

"6 MONTHS?! This isn't my fault!!" 

"There were known issues with the old browser, if only you'd updated sooner this may not have been a problem."

"I couldn't afford to update sooner! The browser costs a fortune!" 

"I'm sorry ma'am, there is nothing I can do right now. I'll file a report." Ori slammed down the phone, tears already streaming from her cheeks. She didn't even have the will to pick a slot. She collapsed onto her bed and cried until she slept.

~~~

"New report resolution." Ori looked up from her book and saw a notification on the computer screen. She still hadn't figured out how to disable these stupid automatic email alerts. Next time Fin was over, she'd have to ask him to turn them off. Kids knew so much about these new technologies, it'd be easy for him.

She opened the email so the computer would stop yelling out reminders at her. She stared at the screen puzzled for a while. What report was this? Something about anatomical knowledge points being applied to her skill registry? After thinking for a minute, her eyebrows shot up: they had finally fixed that decades-old error. She'd just gotten a couple decades worth of her points back! She'd been retired from the slot market for years now, but 73 shouldn't be too late to start a new program, at least it would stop her from being bored even if she never worked. 

Ori grabbed the phone and called the Skills Bureau. 

"Hello, Skill Bureau, how can I direct your call?" 

"I need to talk to someone about re-entering the slot market, please" 

Hold music sounded until a young, feminine voice picked up. "How can I help?" 

"I'm retired and would like to re-enter the slot market, please." 

"I'm afraid I can't do that ma'am" 

"It would only be for a day. I want to register for a University Program. No actual positions." 

"Well, I can put in a report. Name and PIN number please?”