By No Proposed Title
off the mind of Amari
for hmmmmm
====
Background:
Somewhen 2003, USA, after government bankruptcy laws finally became
strict enough to cause a public outcry against creditors offering crippling
debt to consumers, several precedent lawsuits occured claiming that
creditors "tricked" people into "virtual(ly) indentured servitude" to huge
corporations. It could take 50 years to pay off minimal sums at the rates
and schedules offered... at the same time the creditors continued to offer
further debt and/or ruined consumer credit ratings for payoff loans due to
inability to pay/defer and inability to file bankruptcy. The majority of
these lawsuits were LOST by the consumers, causing a greater outcry which
was noted by the government. In response to this flurry of ire, Solvency
Legislation was initiated and passed, immediately nicknamed chaching!
regulation, mutating to ching! reg, then chiming regs, and at last the very
modern Chimenreg.
In this set of laws and regulations, one's salary is automatically
transferred to a government agency which, without fee, deducts all tax,
payments, leins, garnishes and select budgetary items (such as food,
gasoline, and clothing), delivering to the consumer only the salary portion
which is free and clear to them to spend or save as they wish. This
legislation was imposed (without choice) upon "high risk" and
government/military workers/earners, and is applied on an individual basis
so that it is possible for one family member or guardian to not incur debt
from another's current/prior credit and vice versa UNLESS an agreement is
specifically signed by both parties for sharing these obligations. Much of
the time the debts are managed and "purchased" by the same creditors this
system was designed to limit. But, however it happens behind the scenes, an
Individual Credit Arrangement (ICA) is made based on the person's history
and employ for any purchases they may wish to make "on Chimenreg" rather
than out of pocket. Reassessment of the Credit Arrangement is available on
a twice-yearly basis from the government or other free agencies. Companies
are required by law to state fees on ICA/Chimenreg made as such as "$$
reduction in Chimenreg for x yrs at your ICA" instead of the so-claimed
"leading" statements of "only $$ per month". All companies offering credit
are required to figure complete payment schedules for anyone who asks.
Almost on the heels of the Chimenreg came empirical proof that psychic
phenomenon exists as a real ability for a growing minority of people. It
seemed fairly seamless and a little eerie that within months of this
discovery, licensing/certification for psychics became available along with
"appropriate rights and privileges" which have not been disputed by any
psychic. By 2010 they were called Suvac, both the singular and plural
forms, from the original Sooth Vox* legislations recognizing psychics,
applying stiff penalties for any lies regarding things they learned
through their abilities, and certifying them for their rights and
privileges. If decertified, deregistered or legally barred from their
license to practice psychic, all rights/ privileges would be immediately
revoked and civil review would be made to determine potential penalties.
Coincidentally or not, the prices for some high-ticket items dropped
significantly. Truths emerged publicly regarding content of such items and,
of course, the staggering amounts claimed in ther "reduction of Chimenreg
for xx YEARS" forced economic change in several industries. Psychics were
used openly and widely to gauge the utility of products and services for
both individuals and companies. Suddenly it was respectable to be psychic,
they were in very high demand. Many chose to forego registration and
licensing to avoid the public pressure to perform. Decertification,
deregistration and barring became viewed as supreme "wrongs" and penalties
for such skyrocketed, becoming similar to the penalties of murder.
During this process and without effort, it seemed, psychics were given
immunity from having Chimenreg imposed upon them under any circumstance,
though they could voluntarily go on and off of it. The justification was
not a matter of discipline in spending or knowing the complex math needed
to define one's budget, it was that the psychics could automatically know
their Chimenreg without cumbersome calculations.
I follow these things because my mind will not let them rest. I have no
real interest in legal matters or in any points of politics, but my brain
takes this sort of thing seriously, noting, estimating, scheming. The
information pops to mind almost intuitively, sometimes i've no idea where i
got it, but i can always trace it back to solid ground. I like already
knowing where these insights come from, so i can say "oh yes, that must
come from the Chimenreg information i reviewed the other day" instead of
wasting my time with reverse deduction.
*Sooth Vocs (a slur on the plural term for psychics used in the
legislation) became soovak or soovocs, and, finally, Suvac.
Sequence 1
I was applying for a job at Pixelworks. On the way in i had to sign a
confidentiality agreement -- i would not discuss what i'd seen or heard
there and in fact would not initiate the matter in conversation either in
my personal or professional life for a period of a year and a day beyond my
visit or during any resultant employment at Pixelworks Inc., though i was
not encouraged to lie publicly about the experience. I'd been given this
interview by recommendation, in that 2 of my friends worked there and said
i "should" apply. So vehement were their thoughts on the matter that the
Pixelworks Headhunter had called my house to set up the appointment. Jay
and Jim worked in two separate areas of the technical support department, i
was never clear on what exactly they did, but they had both started out in
the position i was to occupy -- Technician. Not very glorious or hoity
toity sounding, but damn hard, or so i was given to believe. I was quite
certain they were balmy to suggest it, but i certainly needed a
positive-side change in my Chimenreg, and so i went, signed my voice away,
and was escorted to the "hotbox" -- a mostly empty room where all the
Technicians worked.
I sat with Delina, a senior Technician. She explained that there were 8 or 9
people who actually worked "the box", but that they were hoping to "ramp
up" to 12 people inside the month and be at 20 - 24 technicians "online"
before another 6 months was out. We looked at the equipment on her desk,
pretty standard issue, with a mainframe computer program that she was
required to run for any requests or notes she needed to make. She gave me
headphones which would allow me to hear her call, if she got one, and which
she could control if she wanted me to take over. She explained that they
handled email and telephone calls, that the issues all went through the
"offline controller" whom no one seemed to know personally, and were
filtered down to technicians based on whatever scheme they used "above".
She received an email promptly at the end of her sentence.
It was then that i realized this was an area handling the "why is your
product messing up my product?" questions. The email we'd just received was
accusing the monitor chip [that Pixelworks makes] of distorting color on
the monitor itself so that when a hardcopy "film" was ordered through an
extremely high end lithographic transparency maker, prints at about $500 a
pop by the way, the lithographs were significantly different and unuseable
as intended. This situation had already been run by the engineers who
maintained it was NOT our product, though the offended company insisted
that all other indicators had it that their other equipment was clear down
to component level. List of specs for product and sample on file with some
huge and arcane number attached to it. We called another area for more
information on the type of printer gadget being used, requested that
information to be sent to our terminal and went to get the sample.
Obviously, they were right to complain so loudly. The sample was clearly
borked. What was supposed to be a dark green to black was a yellow green
with hazy, faded spots. It was just as had been said in the email, we were
both surprised. Delina asked what i thought, suggesting that the printer
guns were out of synch or needed "recalibrating", though we both knew the
email had stated that recalibration had been performed on all machinery,
including the supposedly offending monitor. The only thing they couldn't
really test was our chip. Just then the prospective bosslady happened by
and, seeing the senior tech with the interviewee stopped for a friendly
introduction and to poke her nose into our work. Immediately she tsked and
took the sample from us, going to a chemical closet in a nearby room for a
"stop" or "fixative" in which she soaked a rag and then wiped the
transparency. And the distortions were corrected.
All the colors -- even the hopeless-seeming, nearly transparent yellows --
changed to black and dark green. It was amazing. But then i realized that
there were some photographic principles which applied and figuratively
slapped my head "D'oh! i should have KNOWN that!!" I said as much. Delina
was quite mystified still, gawking. Bosslady made a job offer on the spot.
I started to feel like i might be able to do this thing, though i'm still a
little shakey in my guts about it.
I was handed off to another tech while Delina wrote her replies, "check
your chemistry, recalibrate the printer in this specific way or add a
fixative phase at the end of the printing process" and did paperwork. I was
taken on tour.
Apparently Pixelworks had offices all over the multi-storied building i was
in, although the building had many different companies in it. We went to
the upper stories for the engineer's sections. Here i had to hang my head
and pretend eccentricity in avoiding any contact as i had not mentioned to
anyone that i knew one of the engineers here as well -- the engineer had
requested my silence, though i didn't know the full reason why -- and i had
briefly met some of the others in his department once already. Then down
and over to accounting, down farther to research & development, and to
some labs, to filing, over to communications (where i assume our
beneficient "offline controller" secretly lived), and finally plummeting
down down down the elevator to the furthest depths of the basement --
actually a lower street level lobby-like area. In the basement was the
Technician's lounge. I guess engineers and others were allowed there, but
the weirdness of it seemed intrinsic to the Tech "high stress all the time"
job. A lending library, costume workshop, games, and drinks, all with a
"year-round christmas" motif. Just weird. We returned to the hotbox and sat
me at what would be my desk.
There i met Debi, sitting next to me, who had just been let go. She seemed
very shocked although stable about it, and she expressed knowledge that her
performance had been flagging. She was packing up on her way out. It seemed
a little uncouth to have my salary negotiation next to her, but that's
where it transpired. I got a little nervous about taking the job, and was
left alone "to consider". I called my friend Allison to talk about it, but
could only get her secretary. It's not that i had to accept or decline this
job right there, but i really wanted to be done with the whole business, so
i chatted with Allison's administrative assistant instead. "Look," i asked
Shannon frankly, being somewhat more than mildly acquainted with Allison's
AA, "You're already working the best job you've ever had and Hey! here
comes this job offer for 3x your salary, benefits, stock options, kickass
environment, everyone is genuinely friendly. But it is a tough job and you
really ARE on the line if you can't make the grade because you aren't
college qualified like most of the others, and you would not be able to go
back to your old job if you didn't pass probation.
...Would you take it?"
"This sounds a little bit familiar. You mean this is the same job as you
have now only at a different company?"
"No way."
"Who do you report to for Q/A?"
"We ARE Q/A; we are the last line of tech support, supposedly right before
litigation in some cases. No one but our peers to consult and, of course,
they have their own caseload."
"YOU BET i'd take it!" She said across the line, perhaps responding to the
enthusiasm in my voice from my high of being 'just that close' to having
solved the first imponderable case i'd encountered. I notified the
appropriate people from my workstation regarding my acceptance and went
down to meet my friend Helen; my ride to the next job interview.
At the elevator i met a stranger in a suit. She was the stuffy stick-in-butt
type, but i couldn't help myself in my good mood, offering assistance. She
was lost and irritated. She introduced herself as the new "cost
accountant" for Pixelworks and spoke into her cellphone as she tersely
mentioned expecting me to escort her to the right place. "Well, it seems
from the reports that there's room to cut overhead. I hear stories of alot
of empty areas... ." I took her upstairs as quickly as i could and got out
of there.
Sequence 2
I arrived at the Job Recovery Center having left Helen 1/4 a mile ago to
ride the tube and finish collecting my thoughts. This, too, was a job a bit
out on the edge for me. No one knew i could be a Suvac but, again, it was
definitely time for a positive-change in my Chimenreg, so i needed to
consider all possibility. On my way up to the room of the interviews for
the Psychic Hotline, i met my college friend Beya who was, herself, in a
rush. She was on her way to conduct interviews for her company but was
reluctant to say for whom she worked. When she touched my coat she stepped
back in surprise. "You?" she asked, though i could tell she had known about
me even when we hung out, making demons in the snow at University.
I smiled weakly. She was to be my interviewer. "Well, we can't do this here.
You'll come to my house at 7 for dinner." And i was dismissed. Of COURSE
two Suvac chums could conduct interview with each other anywhere they
wanted, and of course it would be fair. She was bound by law to see that it
was so.
Her husband, the military man, let me in with a glint of mischief in his eye
that he quickly remembered to ask me to not disclose. I was already feeling
a tremendous pressure, that of an unwilling, unavoidable confidant, even
though i was not officially licensed. I nodded. I DEFINITELY wasn't going
to be registering unless this position promised to be well worth my while
on a monetary level. He dashed out their door as i entered and found my
way to Beya.
She was in the bedroom sorting laundry. A very informal interview, as i had
guessed. But as i passed the closet i sensed a "wrong" of the flavor of
magic, which had not yet been acknowledged among the psychic legislation,
though some psychics were choosing to read it publicly as NOC "Not
Otherwise Classified". I opened the closet and began to search for it. Beya
quickly joined me.
"Uh, no. Just don't worry about that." She said as i removed a sweater/shirt
combination on a hanger. There was a deep meeting of eyes. More of the
involuntary confidante? No, this was not that. She knew about whatever NOC
was going on here and wanted it just the way it was; unknown or unspecified
by others. Legally not a "wrong", then, and if anyone asked if there was
anything "wrong" here i would have leeway to just say "no" in reply.
"Can you tell them only what they want to know and forget the rest?" She
asked while she 'fixed' a button psychically, better sealing some magic
impression onto the outfit, thus hiding its nature from my psychic although
i knew she had not removed it.
Just then her husband burst into the room with their paychecks and a ringbox.
She slid the shirt back into the closet nonchalantly and became excited.
"It's the ring you were looking at from the collector!" He was proud, "I did
that on Chimenreg 75 dollars!" And he displayed his check to us. I was
slightly embarrassed to be among this family drama, but smiled and nodded,
immediately making the association between his acquisition of the ring and
the NOC in the closet.
She showed me her check, 650 dollars. "I only work about 5 hours a week, and
i'm not on Chimenreg, so you'll have to deduct 157.63." I was still stunned
by the legal implications of knowing her influence regarding this hard-won
purchase of her husband's. Without more detail i could not know if a crime
had been done against the seller or if a moral and literal "thought crime"
had been done against her husband with the magic. But i couldn't pry or
act upon what i knew without the Suvac licensure, especially in
consideration of the fact that magic is not recognized an actual influence.
And, in any case, SHE had given me a loophole to get out of investigating
the thing altogether.
I must have stopped looking altogether normal.
"Is something wrong?" He asked. I've always wondered if he weren't nominally
Suvac himself. His wording and timing are just way too keen and uncanny.
What are the professional ethics here? After all, this *is* a job interview.
"Everything's fine," I said, with Beya looking a bit concerned beside his
shoulder. "In a manner of speaking," which might be considered LYING if
enough were known about it. "And to answer your previous question, Beya,
'yes.'"
We had a dinner and played a game of cards. Beya handed me my employment
packet on my way out the door and said i could start anytime. Licensure
would not be required before the end of my probationary period.
Notes 1
Really, the way i see it, they're pretty much the same job. Don't you think? ;)
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