“So, I can join the meeting on my laptop and the computer at the same time and have them logged in as me.” I know she wanted assurance but my god she was grown woman.


    “Yes, it will ask you if you want to switch or join as a second device.” I repeated trying to keep the annoyance out of my voice. I was on my own laptop looking at a new monitor for one I could replace at home. Of course it wasn’t broken, but I wanted a better monitor. And spending money sometimes just feels good.


    “Mind if I test it with you here?” I was more than happy to procrastinate on the job. I simply nodded and gave her an “of course”. My own fingers flew over the keyboard as I saved a three hundred dollar monitor to my favourites tab. I was making a shopping list for the pay increase I would never receive.


    After 5 minutes of browsing, I had enough. I was about to leave when a screeching wine came from the Boarding room display. I was up in moment and with my hand on her mute button. “Make sure the mute the laptop before you start.” My work laptop was quickly shoved into my bag as I scooted to the door. “Have a play and see what features you can use while you are here. I have to dip out for a bit to Junior school, I’ll be back if you are still here. Please let us know if there are any issues.” I said out of habit as I slipped out of that mess.


    I knew there was nothing wrong with the system. I also knew users just needed some confidence when they use new systems. I knew all this, but it still annoyed me how dumb people choose to be when they use technology. “Just read what’s on the screen.” I whispered my true thoughts. This habit is going to bite me one day but sometimes saying what’s on your mind helps the best.


    “Hi Gareth.” I smiled at the greeting and waved. As much as I hated these people’s tech skills, they were very nice people to chat to. My current predicament was the hate of the job conflicting with all the relationships I have built here. Friends and work mates make it daunting to look for new unfamiliar places.


    I was back in the office with a sigh and a heavy heart. I accidently locked eyes with my co-worker Sebastian. If you ever had that one person you don’t like talking to approach you for anything, you would know it’s going to be hard not to roll your eyes.


    “Gareth, can you grab these laptops for me.” The sticky note was thrusted in face without any pretext as to why he needed it. It was so tempting to be petty. To ask for a please. To say why can’t you do it yourself. I knew sour co-worker could make the environment sour. I knew he would definitely make the workspace as awkward as he could if given the opportunity.


    “Sure, why do we need this laptop?” I took the sticky note from his fingers and turned my back to him. Sometimes getting the work done is quicker than arguing with a nuisance.


    “We need to transfer images for the student. They realised the OneDrive backup folder was empty.” I had flash of annoyance and anger. We had the laptops in quarantine for 3 weeks. The procedure was 2 weeks and then erasure. I was sure these laptops he wanted was already erased.


    “They might be empty already.” I said as warning they would blame tech centre anyways. He had shrugged as crunched on his shitty sesame seed cracker with cheese. The fucker had all the time in the world to do this himself. It felt like extra pettiness from him to ask for this.


    “I told you to check their files when they came in.” He did say that. He said that first time I joined as a junior tech, 3 years ago. I really needed to get a punching bag with face on it at home.


    “I was a bit overwhelmed, sorry.” I was on my knee next to the laptops; of course, as usual it’s the last laptop out of the 130 we changed over. “Here we go.” I said as I handed the device to him. Sebastion took it without a word as he chewed in his usual annoying way. I was finally down on my seat as the boss walked in.


    “Gareth, Bob. Can you check the auditorium for me, there is an anti-bully presentation happening later this morning. There hasn’t been anything wrong but reassuring the deputy principle is always a good thing to do.” I looked at bob and jokingly not so jokingly let out a long-suffering sigh.


    I was up again with my laptop in hand and key fob in the other. “Let’s do it before recess rush.” The auditorium at least wasn’t too far from the office I was on a seat looking at the drop-down screen as Bob mirrored his screen to the apple TV we had hooked up to the projector. I was using this opportunity again to procrastinate work and take a breather from all the walking. It wasn’t the activity that killed me, it was the Australian heat.


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    “I have got to ask. Has this job not killed it for you yet?” Bob has joined the job 6 months after I did. In all intents and purposes, I was his senior. He was older than me. He had the tech officer role above me. He has a psych degree more than me. I was still junior tech. after 3 years. I hoped to lose the junior at least.


    I was the nerd. He had no experience in the field at all. He never even touched an apple device. I was losing hope in future at this place. “Not really no.” He said as he put on party frog to check the sound and video of the auditorium. “The people might have some simple tech issues. But it’s the environment and tech I get to use that makes it great here.”


    “The people are great, except two. But there is not much to do and nowhere to progress.” I was sick of the simple shit. I have a hand in the more technical aspect. I was ready to level up. I couldn’t even get to level 1tech support. “The senior role for this place is not going anywhere. He is in his perfect job, and I don’t see him with larger ambitions.”


    I was applying for different roles in other companies as we spoke. But I was not ready to let them know I was moving on. “I didn’t think you had much either. You are reading books when nothing happens doesn’t mean anything to me. But it doesn’t shout I want to do something more.”


    “But I have told him! Give me something, I want to do more. I don’t want to wake up late in the morning and not be stressed about losing my job. Of course, he says he’ll get to it, but it’s been 2 years since the first conversation. I have asked him the same just last month.” I was going to lose mind if I don’t do something more.


    The table attached to the chair was exacerbating my crazy with how it was digging into my leg. “This fucking table I swear.” I grabbed the edge of the table furiously and tried to position it properly. The sight of a student writing on the desk blindsided me. The anger and confusion made the memory of the event seem like a hallucination. My eyes teared up for a second before I wiped it away.


    I promised myself I wasn’t going to cry, never again. “I need to go home.” I said my voice almost cracking. I felt little dizzy from standing up suddenly. I took my laptop and left before Bob had anything to say. I was getting to the point where my actions wouldn’t matter. I was not going ruin my life with a tantrum at work.


    “And if there are issues call Travis.” Once I shut the door behind me, I went straight to my car without hesitation. This place starting to feel like a prison. With everyone in class I barely Interacted or saw anyone as I got my car. A Rav4, my mother’s she gave me second hand as she got herself a new one. As I touched the door handle my vision blurred.


    I saw a driver get distracted by a pedestrian on the sidewalk. The road instantly familiar, right next to the gas station where I refuel my car. The man crashed. I could feel the adrenalin spike as the car he crashed into veered right. My heart skipped a beat as time slowed, the front right of my Rav4 caved in as my car got shoved onto the sidewalk.


    My head slammed against my car roof as my knees gave out from under me. The fear of the moment overwhelmed me with pain on my head as my body gave up. I wasn’t awake long enough to guess if it was a panic attack or not.


    “Gareth wake up for me.” The slapping on my cheek continued. It reminded me of the only time I was in hospital. My eyes flew open as I looked around in fear. The crash wasn’t lethal, more of a scare than anything. But if my life after the crash was a fevered dream, I would welcome the wake-up call.


    It was the school health centre. The floral bed and the small, attached office space made it a sight I could easily recognise. Lani, the head nurse was seated on the bed next to me. “You okay there Gareth?” She waved a light in my eye for a second before checking the pressure cuff on my arm. She didn’t look too concerned.


    I was less so concerned. I had an accident excuse for the next few days, I was going to milk it for a much-needed break. I was definitely not waking up from a fever dream and I was definitely not going to admit I had a panic attack.


    “Sorry about that. Was I dead for long?” Lani laughed as she does and shook her head. I sat up with groan as I felt the skin tighten on my forehead. I was not going to enjoy the look of the lump in the morning. “Just sit there for a minute, let me know if you are feeling nauseas.” She was back behind her desk writing notes.


    “You okey there Gareth?” Pheobe was one of the casual nurses we had, I was most familiar with her and her tech issues. When she had problems, she always thought it was her fault. Seven times out of ten it was an actual strange issue we have not encountered yet.


    “Nothing a little elbow grease and Lani’s expertise can’t fix.” The ladies laughed as I felt where my head hit the car and groaned. It was painful and emotionally damaging knowing I will have to pay for that dent I must have left in my car.


    “Luckily outdoor ed was in their office when you fell. Took Max and Oliver both to help you over here.” It felt like they were unlucky to have their office in a car park. I guess I was lucky enough with their misfortune.


    “I’ll have to prioritize their air-tags then as thanks.” I looked down at my knees and sighed as the hole in my chino’s was going to be another drain on the wallet. I guess the new monitor was going to have to wait another month.


    “I was close to calling an ambulance, but you were only down for a few minutes after those two brought you over.” Lani was on her feet again with a water in hand somehow. I was grateful, nonetheless. I took a swig and threw the cup away.


    “I think I will take a nap in my car before the lunch rush is here.” I was about to stand when a hand was placed on my shoulder. I looked up as Lani looked on in concern. “Do you mind if you take that nap in the boarding house staff room. We just want to make sure you don’t pass out again.”


    I looked at her and forced a smile. “I’d love to, the car aircon is the worst.” I stood slowly before going deeper in. The health centre was attached to the boarding house, I was through the one set of doors before I dropped down on the couch. I closed my eyes and just breathed. I was going to wait for the phone call from the boss. Calling him always felt more embarrassing than him calling me.