However, We At C.A.I. Believe in Second Chances - Let's Play Miss Management!
OK, Nadine officially hates fun. As Pearl wants some crosstraining, she should get all writing tasks and Nadine all art tasks. All for project PEARL, we wan it to succeed, and who'll show how it should be done if not one who came up with idea. Denise, hit her with her own ideas back. Do not forget to get all Pearl ideas in writing to cover your own ass when higher-ups start wondering about your department perfomance.
Okay, now I'm weirded out. PEARL is actually a real thing with a real bank. As you'd expect (and much in line with its in-game counterpart), it is utter horseshit.
I REALLY doubt she would make things hard on her and Nadine as they're "oh so important" to Project PEARL.
As for everyone else? Let's make them suffer!! That will certainly get and keep their morale up!
Episode 19: Gameplay Update, "Welcome to PearlWorld"
Video:
Well, this whole Season's gonna be a doozy, so let's see what they ease us in with.
Seems we'll be introducing the concept of Luke's new dislike of others being at the Water Cooler, as well as Nadine's tendency to get annoyed at others there, particularly Luke.
Luke's new stressor is that anyone being at the Water Cooler will cause him to gain Stress, usually pretty quickly. Though, oddly enough, all he cares about is whether someone is there at all rather than how many people are there, revealing to me exactly how the Water Cooler stressors are coded when cross-referencing with it:
The Moodifiers for someone being at the Water Cooler and disliking a pair of people talking at the Water Cooler are handled separately, and in regards to the Moodifiers for people talking to each other, only the highest one is taken into account. For example, even though there's separate conditions for "NOTSELF talkingTo:Winston" and "NOTSELF talkingTo:Ashley" that both inflict a +1 Moodifier, the total only reaches +2 because the person receiving the Stress also dislikes people just being at the Water Cooler. I confirmed this by checking an Episode later on where it turned out someone disliked a specific Employee talking to another specific Employee, inflicting a Moodifier of +2 instead of +1, totaling +3. While that would also fall in line with the assumption of "The regular Water Cooler Moodifier is nulled while people are talking and instead it adds all applicable Talking Moodifiers," that's disproven by Luke disliking Nadine and Pearl at the Water Cooler despite them Talking to each other.
Oh, uhhhhhh right, the cross-training. That's just a money sink where the Training Manuals apply Moodifiers to the people reading their assigned type, not a huge deal aside from Luke, who we'll have to juggle between his Manuals and the Bathroom.
Nadine's kind of a mood-killer. She hates people slacking off, but only in specific ways, making her roughly half of a Stress Sink Employee. Funnily enough, she doesn't actually mind the Arcade Machine at all despite it being pictured here. Might've been something from early in development.
Pearl wasn't kidding when she said Nadine was cross-specialized. Both of those Up Arrows are more powerful than anyone we've seen yet or will ever see in the future, at an unchallenged base value of 14 Work Rate EACH. She'll absolutely shred Financial and Writing Tasks, though she does take a bit of Stress doing it at an above-average +4 Moodifier. Still overall better than Pearl at work, though.
Her smoking will be an issue, as will her utter distaste for chit-chat and naps, but she's a valuable ally to have around. ...too bad she won't be thinking the same of us in her quest for corporate dominance.
Starting positions. No starting Stress this time, which will help a lot.
This is what Day 1 will look like, for the most part. Luke's gonna be having a fit at his desk regarding those two being near his precious, precious water.
Yeaaaah, that's gonna need some attention. Thankfully, Luke can also use the Bathroom, but Ashley will suffer for it.
Speaking of which, after sending Luke there, I head to OfficeTown to pick up a few Training Manuals.
I grabbed some Financial Manuals for Luke. Getting them out of the way early will help a lot, though since they stress him too this Episode, we'll need to ping-pong him between his desk and the bathroom.
Yyyyyyup, that sure is Luke with a total Moodifier of +7. Thankfully, as Winston has proven, it's perfectly possible to survive one Manual's worth of a similarly-high Moodifier.
Since Luke's busy and we have plenty of cash, I head out to get his last Financial Manual. ...oh, and I should mention, I've been giving most of the Writing Tasks to Winston since Luke's a bit stressed from the situation right now. He handles them about as fast, anyway, just with a bit more stress (which is actually a bit less right now, since Luke's so stressed).
Another Manual later, and the final one completes instantly, with no Stress as per usual. It's helping out with calming Winston down a bit faster.
Ah, I see Luke has a Bathroom Goal again. What aknown-ahead-of-time plan stroke of luck, that's what we need to do to calm him down anyway!
Well, Ashley's about to explode, and we need several of these Tasks gone until the next 28-ish Seconds pass, so it's Coffee time.
What a normal day in the office.
With those two being done devising their plans that I'm sure are super complicated and aren't just super basic yet snooty, we can finally distribute some Tasks safely.
Winston's new Goals come up, including Arcade time and... something else. Something silly. We'll get to that later, though.
You may notice I picked up some Writing Manuals alongside those Technical ones. This may have something to do with the silly thing.
Anyways, enjoy this end-of-Day shot with the lighting fading out since I exited the store the exact second the Day ended.
So, uh... yeah. Winston's been assigned Writing Manuals. Despite that being his second best subject.
That may or may not have been Mahavir's homework that's now being forced on SOMEONE available since he's not hereand also Mahavir was probably in this Episode in early development but Winston was easier to utilize in the Intro and is much better at easing the player into dealing with Nadine and how the Water Cooler stresses Luke now.
Starting positions and Goal reminders. Here we go, it's time to LEARN HOW TO NETWORKtemporarily! 
By the time Ashley's done with these, she'll be at the best point her Technical skill can be at, which is equal to Pearl's but with a better Moodifier. Not half bad, but this costs $24 of petty cash and 18 Seconds of reading plus the time it takes to drop by the store and the 3 storage spaces for the books and- okay, okay, basically, mass reading these things without a Goal to back them up is sadly impractical. It's unfortunate since it results in pretty good stats for Ashley in particular.
This is how much Stress someone normally gains from reading their assigned Training Manuals in this Episode, by the way. It's a +4 Moodifier, plus the fact that using an item removes the global Idle bonus so it really is +4 and not +3.
And there we have it, one fully-trained rich girl who can now say with confidence she knows how a router works. ...until she forgets it all in about 6 and a half work hours.
Also, Luke's assigned to drinking his tea today. Both Pearl and Nadine have a +2 Moodifier for him being at the Water Cooler, so they'll very slowly gain Stress while he's there. It's enough that if they never relieve themselves, they'll Burn Out the very moment he finishes (mathematically; not sure it plays out like that practically) assuming they don't take Stress from anything else. ...and well, it's Pearl and I wanna work on Winston's Arcade time, of course she's gonna get stressed by something else.
Ashley's Bathroom Goal mirrors Luke's yet again. Oh, and since I had to bring her those Manuals today anyway...
This would be amazing to do more often if the opportunity cost weren't so high. Since this was an incidental result of a Goal, though, I'll be more than happy to take advantage of it to give Winston a break.
Now then, it's time to take care of Winston's training. We unfortunately won't get to see much of his absurd 15 Work Rate from the training since he needs to go spend some time at the Arcade Machine, but it's a neat little bonus.
Training done. Game time.
While we're at it, have a picture of Nadine's Stress State. You're going to see it a lot since any amount of Stress plus working is enough to cause it.
Oooookay, time for these two to chill. Good time to grab the animation for Nadine, at any rate.
She takes a much longer exhale than Pearl does, and from what I've seen around, that's a much more common way people smoke. Oh, and you might've seen that little message at the end there plus the Morale Boost.
That'd be because Luke just finished his time at the Water Cooler, and Nadine's now relaxed enough to return to her desk.
Thankfully, Pearl needed to be in the Smoking Lounge anyway, so sending her here was inevitable.
Required Goals done, and still a while to go before we wrap things up.
Day's almost over, but I'd say we've made good time. 2 Days was physically impossible anyway, since both Goals unlocked by Water Cooler time were also timed and far exceed the leftover time from the two Required Goals.
Winston's done. He'll be a big help tomorrow in making Task management easy while Pearl, Luke, and Ashley work on their things.
Unfortunately, Luke didn't finish his Bathroom visit, so we have to do 2 more full visits tomorrow with him instead of 1. Meh.
Just some cleanup here. Nothing big.
Goal reminders, since they look nice all lined up like this.
This is the entire day, basically. Might as well show off Nadine's work rates in action.
I believe this snippet was from Day 2, actually, but it gives us something to look at today and shows off just how fast 14 Work Rate is.
Oh right, and I finally figured out that you can send the Bathroom visitor who's up next in the rotation to the Water Cooler if nobody's there so they have less travel time towards the Bathroom when the other person exits. Too bad I don't think I'll ever remember this again when it's relevant.
There's that weird timing, right there.
And then Pearl's unsettling laugh...
...and finally, Ashley. I really don't know what else to say, this is pretty casual cleanup.
I'll accept that compliment on a job well done, though.
Up next, we begin the next phase of this exercise. See you then.
...oh right, and since a few of these get recorded in advance, that challenge mentioned in the thread for burning Pearl out doesn't get attended to for a while, and an Episode or two where I remember it has that be a bad idea. Whoops! Rest assured you'll get something of that eventually, though.
Goal Writeup
Time Per Day: 140 Seconds
Task Types
Connecting
Checking Status: Online
Chatroom Created
Well, she's not shown much of her hand yet, but I've got something, at least.
Spill it. I'm not looking forward to where this is going.
I dunno about this supposed approval from the board since I can't find the documentation for this stuff ANYWHERE- aside from all the extra Tasks coming in, anyway- but something I can say for certain is that none of the usual regular members of the team are familiar enough with the hierarchy to dispute that, tech support excluded due to hopping in and out. Mahavir knows about whoever's the direct boss and that's it, while Nadine has some corporate experience but seems like she's working with Pearl on this matter. Might even be a consultant of sorts? Who knows.
The lack of documentation confuses me, but is perhaps unsurprising. The bigwigs up here have been too busy keeping me pinned down to pay attention to anything, so who knows what that means in this case.
I'm gonna try to dig deeper for a while. This project is completely unsustainable; the first batch of tasks alone is putting a dent in the storage space of the kinds of computers we have down here. That kind of work volume shouldn't be coming into an office at this rung on the ladder.
Then do what you do best, okay? I'll think of... something. Ugh, it's times like this where I wish a bunch of them would take a business trip or something.
Alright, alright, I get the message. I'll hurry and find something a bit more substantial than a lack of info.
Please do. Anything I get involved with is gonna look suspicious without proper precedent.
Got it. I'll report back later. Let me know if there's things you need to address in the office before then.
Will do. See you then.
Chatroom Closed
Video:Well, this whole Season's gonna be a doozy, so let's see what they ease us in with.
Seems we'll be introducing the concept of Luke's new dislike of others being at the Water Cooler, as well as Nadine's tendency to get annoyed at others there, particularly Luke.
Luke's new stressor is that anyone being at the Water Cooler will cause him to gain Stress, usually pretty quickly. Though, oddly enough, all he cares about is whether someone is there at all rather than how many people are there, revealing to me exactly how the Water Cooler stressors are coded when cross-referencing with it:
The Moodifiers for someone being at the Water Cooler and disliking a pair of people talking at the Water Cooler are handled separately, and in regards to the Moodifiers for people talking to each other, only the highest one is taken into account. For example, even though there's separate conditions for "NOTSELF talkingTo:Winston" and "NOTSELF talkingTo:Ashley" that both inflict a +1 Moodifier, the total only reaches +2 because the person receiving the Stress also dislikes people just being at the Water Cooler. I confirmed this by checking an Episode later on where it turned out someone disliked a specific Employee talking to another specific Employee, inflicting a Moodifier of +2 instead of +1, totaling +3. While that would also fall in line with the assumption of "The regular Water Cooler Moodifier is nulled while people are talking and instead it adds all applicable Talking Moodifiers," that's disproven by Luke disliking Nadine and Pearl at the Water Cooler despite them Talking to each other.
Oh, uhhhhhh right, the cross-training. That's just a money sink where the Training Manuals apply Moodifiers to the people reading their assigned type, not a huge deal aside from Luke, who we'll have to juggle between his Manuals and the Bathroom.
Nadine's kind of a mood-killer. She hates people slacking off, but only in specific ways, making her roughly half of a Stress Sink Employee. Funnily enough, she doesn't actually mind the Arcade Machine at all despite it being pictured here. Might've been something from early in development.
Pearl wasn't kidding when she said Nadine was cross-specialized. Both of those Up Arrows are more powerful than anyone we've seen yet or will ever see in the future, at an unchallenged base value of 14 Work Rate EACH. She'll absolutely shred Financial and Writing Tasks, though she does take a bit of Stress doing it at an above-average +4 Moodifier. Still overall better than Pearl at work, though.
Her smoking will be an issue, as will her utter distaste for chit-chat and naps, but she's a valuable ally to have around. ...too bad she won't be thinking the same of us in her quest for corporate dominance.
Starting positions. No starting Stress this time, which will help a lot.
This is what Day 1 will look like, for the most part. Luke's gonna be having a fit at his desk regarding those two being near his precious, precious water.
Yeaaaah, that's gonna need some attention. Thankfully, Luke can also use the Bathroom, but Ashley will suffer for it.
Speaking of which, after sending Luke there, I head to OfficeTown to pick up a few Training Manuals.
I grabbed some Financial Manuals for Luke. Getting them out of the way early will help a lot, though since they stress him too this Episode, we'll need to ping-pong him between his desk and the bathroom.
Yyyyyyup, that sure is Luke with a total Moodifier of +7. Thankfully, as Winston has proven, it's perfectly possible to survive one Manual's worth of a similarly-high Moodifier.
Since Luke's busy and we have plenty of cash, I head out to get his last Financial Manual. ...oh, and I should mention, I've been giving most of the Writing Tasks to Winston since Luke's a bit stressed from the situation right now. He handles them about as fast, anyway, just with a bit more stress (which is actually a bit less right now, since Luke's so stressed).
Another Manual later, and the final one completes instantly, with no Stress as per usual. It's helping out with calming Winston down a bit faster.
Ah, I see Luke has a Bathroom Goal again. What a
Well, Ashley's about to explode, and we need several of these Tasks gone until the next 28-ish Seconds pass, so it's Coffee time.
What a normal day in the office.
With those two being done devising their plans that I'm sure are super complicated and aren't just super basic yet snooty, we can finally distribute some Tasks safely.
Winston's new Goals come up, including Arcade time and... something else. Something silly. We'll get to that later, though.
You may notice I picked up some Writing Manuals alongside those Technical ones. This may have something to do with the silly thing.
Anyways, enjoy this end-of-Day shot with the lighting fading out since I exited the store the exact second the Day ended.
So, uh... yeah. Winston's been assigned Writing Manuals. Despite that being his second best subject.
That may or may not have been Mahavir's homework that's now being forced on SOMEONE available since he's not here
Starting positions and Goal reminders. Here we go, it's time to LEARN HOW TO NETWORK
By the time Ashley's done with these, she'll be at the best point her Technical skill can be at, which is equal to Pearl's but with a better Moodifier. Not half bad, but this costs $24 of petty cash and 18 Seconds of reading plus the time it takes to drop by the store and the 3 storage spaces for the books and- okay, okay, basically, mass reading these things without a Goal to back them up is sadly impractical. It's unfortunate since it results in pretty good stats for Ashley in particular.
This is how much Stress someone normally gains from reading their assigned Training Manuals in this Episode, by the way. It's a +4 Moodifier, plus the fact that using an item removes the global Idle bonus so it really is +4 and not +3.
And there we have it, one fully-trained rich girl who can now say with confidence she knows how a router works. ...until she forgets it all in about 6 and a half work hours.
Also, Luke's assigned to drinking his tea today. Both Pearl and Nadine have a +2 Moodifier for him being at the Water Cooler, so they'll very slowly gain Stress while he's there. It's enough that if they never relieve themselves, they'll Burn Out the very moment he finishes (mathematically; not sure it plays out like that practically) assuming they don't take Stress from anything else. ...and well, it's Pearl and I wanna work on Winston's Arcade time, of course she's gonna get stressed by something else.
Ashley's Bathroom Goal mirrors Luke's yet again. Oh, and since I had to bring her those Manuals today anyway...
This would be amazing to do more often if the opportunity cost weren't so high. Since this was an incidental result of a Goal, though, I'll be more than happy to take advantage of it to give Winston a break.
Now then, it's time to take care of Winston's training. We unfortunately won't get to see much of his absurd 15 Work Rate from the training since he needs to go spend some time at the Arcade Machine, but it's a neat little bonus.
Training done. Game time.
While we're at it, have a picture of Nadine's Stress State. You're going to see it a lot since any amount of Stress plus working is enough to cause it.
Oooookay, time for these two to chill. Good time to grab the animation for Nadine, at any rate.
She takes a much longer exhale than Pearl does, and from what I've seen around, that's a much more common way people smoke. Oh, and you might've seen that little message at the end there plus the Morale Boost.
That'd be because Luke just finished his time at the Water Cooler, and Nadine's now relaxed enough to return to her desk.
Thankfully, Pearl needed to be in the Smoking Lounge anyway, so sending her here was inevitable.
Required Goals done, and still a while to go before we wrap things up.
Day's almost over, but I'd say we've made good time. 2 Days was physically impossible anyway, since both Goals unlocked by Water Cooler time were also timed and far exceed the leftover time from the two Required Goals.
Winston's done. He'll be a big help tomorrow in making Task management easy while Pearl, Luke, and Ashley work on their things.
Unfortunately, Luke didn't finish his Bathroom visit, so we have to do 2 more full visits tomorrow with him instead of 1. Meh.
Just some cleanup here. Nothing big.
Goal reminders, since they look nice all lined up like this.
This is the entire day, basically. Might as well show off Nadine's work rates in action.
I believe this snippet was from Day 2, actually, but it gives us something to look at today and shows off just how fast 14 Work Rate is.
Oh right, and I finally figured out that you can send the Bathroom visitor who's up next in the rotation to the Water Cooler if nobody's there so they have less travel time towards the Bathroom when the other person exits. Too bad I don't think I'll ever remember this again when it's relevant.
There's that weird timing, right there.
And then Pearl's unsettling laugh...
...and finally, Ashley. I really don't know what else to say, this is pretty casual cleanup.
I'll accept that compliment on a job well done, though.
Up next, we begin the next phase of this exercise. See you then.
...oh right, and since a few of these get recorded in advance, that challenge mentioned in the thread for burning Pearl out doesn't get attended to for a while, and an Episode or two where I remember it has that be a bad idea. Whoops! Rest assured you'll get something of that eventually, though.
Goal Writeup
Time Per Day: 140 Seconds
Task Types
Art Tasks: 33.3%
Financial Tasks: 16.7%
Technical Tasks: 16.7%
Writing Tasks: 33.3%
- 3-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 9-12 Seconds: 33.3%
- 1-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 7-10 Seconds: 33.3%
- 1-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 3-5 Seconds: 33.3%
3-Bar Tasks: 75%
4-Bar Tasks: 25%
"Discuss plans with Pearl at the water cooler. (120 Seconds)" Unlocks Optional Goals #1 and #2
"Pearl wants Ashley to read three technical manuals. (3 Technical Manuals)" Unlocks Optional Goal #4
"Pearl wants Luke to read three financial manuals. (3 Financial Manuals)" Unlocks Optional Goal #5- "Relax at the water cooler with a mug of medicinal herb tea. (100 Seconds)" Unlocks Optional Goal #3
"Play arcade game to raise high score. (90 Seconds)"- "Pearl wants Winston to read three writing manuals. (3 Writing Manuals)"
"Smoke in the lounge. (75 Seconds)"- "Go to the bathroom four times. (4 Bathroom Visits; 32 Seconds)"
- "Go to the bathroom four times. (4 Bathroom Visits; 32 Seconds)"
Connecting
Checking Status: Online
Chatroom Created
Well, she's not shown much of her hand yet, but I've got something, at least. Spill it. I'm not looking forward to where this is going. I dunno about this supposed approval from the board since I can't find the documentation for this stuff ANYWHERE- aside from all the extra Tasks coming in, anyway- but something I can say for certain is that none of the usual regular members of the team are familiar enough with the hierarchy to dispute that, tech support excluded due to hopping in and out. Mahavir knows about whoever's the direct boss and that's it, while Nadine has some corporate experience but seems like she's working with Pearl on this matter. Might even be a consultant of sorts? Who knows. The lack of documentation confuses me, but is perhaps unsurprising. The bigwigs up here have been too busy keeping me pinned down to pay attention to anything, so who knows what that means in this case. I'm gonna try to dig deeper for a while. This project is completely unsustainable; the first batch of tasks alone is putting a dent in the storage space of the kinds of computers we have down here. That kind of work volume shouldn't be coming into an office at this rung on the ladder. Then do what you do best, okay? I'll think of... something. Ugh, it's times like this where I wish a bunch of them would take a business trip or something. Alright, alright, I get the message. I'll hurry and find something a bit more substantial than a lack of info. Please do. Anything I get involved with is gonna look suspicious without proper precedent. Got it. I'll report back later. Let me know if there's things you need to address in the office before then. Will do. See you then.Chatroom Closed
The fact that Nadine is so good at writing makes me feel like Luke's going to be our casualty of the season. But I really wish it was Pearl.
Don't you jinx ityamiaainferno wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 10:23 pmThe fact that Nadine is so good at writing makes me feel like Luke's going to be our casualty of the season. But I really wish it was Pearl.
Don't you dare
Luke is more tolerable than Nadine
I'd rather Luke stayed
And Pearl left
Episode 20: Story Update
Video:
Well, that sure was some easy cross-training, just a bunch of reading, I'm sure that's totally the end of it.
Haha, NOPE, it's Pearl and therefore we're going to have a practical exam despite Training Manuals having long since worn off. Today's going to be a wonderful day.
Yeah? Is it more interesting than the dictionary, or something?
Oh, Luke.
You're technically not allowed to wear 'outdoor riding footwear.' Like those boots you have on.
You just started working here!
Seriously. Seems a bit petty to get even passively worked up over, unless she's just looking for literally any reason to bring him down. Hint hint.
Oh hey, Mahavir's back. Still not sure why he was gone.
It's all different here, and somehow Pearl is running everything!
Oh ho! Who is that new dark-eyed vixen?
Okay, first off,
Second off, absolutely not the time, Mahavir, also that's the worst candidate for a date yet.
You have to stay away from her, she'll eat you alive and floss her teeth with the bones!
That was not a euphemism, big guy. Denise isn't kidding around here.
Seriously, Mahavir. I need your help, between you and Winston, maybe I can...
WHAT
What?
I talked to him last night. He said things were looking bad around here.
Oh dear...
Well, uh... thanks? Winston might've been able to do more, but I guess he's busy. Oof. Also, again, where were you-
Denise...
Oh god no
Oh no, there she is again... I don't even want to know what she has planned next!
"Duncan all over again, but worse" is a very apt descriptor, considering what Denise just said, I gotta hand it to Winston for that one.
Ah, there you are.
But Pearl, what IS this project?
Something seems... off. Just a little.
I've made a chart for you showing who needs to work on which tasks...
But... everyone's going to go crazy trying to do stuff they're not good at!
Yup, that seems very targetedly spiteful. We're in trouble.
Oh dear...
Wow, and I thought I could just play hookey since the boss-man quit...
Yeah, and somehow our office is getting more work than ever before, so you'll wind up doing work no matter how hard you try. There is no escape, Mahavir.
Oh, you don't have to worry.
She thinks the world of you!
Yeah, I'm still not sure what's up with that. You don't seem entirely on board with the plans unless they let you slack off, either, so what exactly is going on here...?
...o-oh. Right. Three former husbands. Kids in those marriages. Probably some issues in all that, considering how confrontational and controlling she acts.
Don't tell Winston my secret, or he might try to steal my look!
Really... that's interesting...!
Remember how I said there's no escape, Mahavir? Denise actually read your resume, unlike Duncan.
We'll keep it down even further, through the power of that extremely generous $16 of petty cash we get to start with.
Next time, we get this useless workout out of the way. See you then.
Video:
Well, that sure was some easy cross-training, just a bunch of reading, I'm sure that's totally the end of it.
Haha, NOPE, it's Pearl and therefore we're going to have a practical exam despite Training Manuals having long since worn off. Today's going to be a wonderful day.
Yeah? Is it more interesting than the dictionary, or something?Oh, Luke.
You're technically not allowed to wear 'outdoor riding footwear.' Like those boots you have on. You just started working here!Seriously. Seems a bit petty to get even passively worked up over, unless she's just looking for literally any reason to bring him down. Hint hint.
Oh hey, Mahavir's back. Still not sure why he was gone.
It's all different here, and somehow Pearl is running everything! Oh ho! Who is that new dark-eyed vixen?Okay, first off,
Second off, absolutely not the time, Mahavir, also that's the worst candidate for a date yet.
You have to stay away from her, she'll eat you alive and floss her teeth with the bones!That was not a euphemism, big guy. Denise isn't kidding around here.
Seriously, Mahavir. I need your help, between you and Winston, maybe I can...WHAT
What? I talked to him last night. He said things were looking bad around here. Oh dear...Well, uh... thanks? Winston might've been able to do more, but I guess he's busy. Oof. Also, again, where were you-
Denise...Oh god no
Oh no, there she is again... I don't even want to know what she has planned next!"Duncan all over again, but worse" is a very apt descriptor, considering what Denise just said, I gotta hand it to Winston for that one.
Ah, there you are. But Pearl, what IS this project?Something seems... off. Just a little.
I've made a chart for you showing who needs to work on which tasks... But... everyone's going to go crazy trying to do stuff they're not good at!Yup, that seems very targetedly spiteful. We're in trouble.
Oh dear... Wow, and I thought I could just play hookey since the boss-man quit...Yeah, and somehow our office is getting more work than ever before, so you'll wind up doing work no matter how hard you try. There is no escape, Mahavir.
Oh, you don't have to worry. She thinks the world of you!Yeah, I'm still not sure what's up with that. You don't seem entirely on board with the plans unless they let you slack off, either, so what exactly is going on here...?
...o-oh. Right. Three former husbands. Kids in those marriages. Probably some issues in all that, considering how confrontational and controlling she acts.
Don't tell Winston my secret, or he might try to steal my look! Really... that's interesting...!Remember how I said there's no escape, Mahavir? Denise actually read your resume, unlike Duncan.
We'll keep it down even further, through the power of that extremely generous $16 of petty cash we get to start with.
Next time, we get this useless workout out of the way. See you then.
So, out of nostalgia, I went to Big Fish Games and browsed the Time Management section, and I found a few games I remember downloading half-hour free trials for back in the day. Aerie: Spirit of the Forest, Babysitting Mania, Jack of All Tribes, the Jojo's Fashion Show games, My Tribe, Sally's Spa, and the Youda games!
I remember Jojo's being fun but the 3rd game used a really ugly art style and the plot relied on everyone being gullible idiots.
Episode 20: Gameplay Update, "She's Good At Everything"
Video:
Well, it seems Pearl expects us to actually follow up on those Manuals that have worn off already. Ah, well.
Well, uh... it seems Luke and Ashley have had their Task types switched. Oops. At least that makes things easier for us to manage, overall. Take a look at Mahavir's Goal, though... oh dear. That's a brutal one right there. The other two were just like that as well, earlier on in this Episode's lifetime (based on comments in the code), but it seems they got switched to quantity-based Goals. The Financial one will be a non-issue while the Technical one is what caused me to retry this Episode 4 times. At least it's doable in the amount of Days I'd like, unlike Episode 14. Eugh.
Also, you might notice that Nadine wants the AC on for a while. You might also remember that we have three separate people who really, really don't like the AC right now. Fun times in inefficiency!
Starting positions. Mahavir has some starting Stress, as per usual, which will make our lives a bit rougher.
With the AC turned on for the initial wave, we head off to OfficeTown to make very, very good use of that $16 we have.
Sure, I could juggle the Writing Tasks around with Nadine, but she's busy doing that with the other two types, and I'd rather not deal with juggling all three Task types through her. Besides, we'll actually get to have Mahavir do something useful for once, and that Goal of "Do ALL of them today" perfectly justifies some Writing Manuals.
And now that Mahavir's just about done with the second Manual, it's time to see what he can really do, given the proper motivation:
Not awful. Equal to Pearl with higher Stress, but still manageable.
With the others getting plenty stressed by the AC and the Goal having had sufficient progress put on it for now, I have Luke turn it off. Meanwhile, Mahavir's gonna sleep off all that Writing.
I make a quick stop to OfficeTown for supplies. I don't actually wind up using that Diet Soda, but hey, better safe than sorry.
Oh yeah, and I brought Mahavir one of those Coffees to keep his nap count down.
See, now THAT looks closer to the kind of performance he ought to be giving with that bachelor's degree.
Well, everyone calmed down from the AC, so I turned it back on. We don't really have much left to do today, anyway.
Our end-of-day progress. Like I said, Ashley's basically done already thanks to Nadine, while Luke's getting bad rolls from how the Tasks are weighted this Episode.
He did good today. If only he could do that every day, but then we'd have quite the overabundance of writers in this office.
I give you exactly one guess what that Optional Goal is, though.
We finally have something to do that isn't keeping the AC on or passing around Tasks, so we'll be having Mahavir sleep for a while until we have new Optional Goals to attend to.
On your marks, remind Goals, go!
...well, that was fast. Honestly, Nadine kind of trivializes the Financial Task Goal. I'm not sure why it's a lower quantity than the Technical Task one since Financial Tasks have a high chance of showing up. You could swap those two numbers and I wouldn't even bat an eye.
Oh look, more makeup runs. Still not sure how the hell she has that much makeup in her purse or why the hell she's applied so much that she looks like a porcelain doll.
Finally, that thing is awful to manage with only one person who likes it in the office. Yeesh.
That'd be the Smoking Lounge, then. Not too bad, but in tandem with the Bathroom Goal, it'll make things worse.
Since Luke won't be able to use the Water Cooler without getting Pearl even more worked up, and we kinda need her for a Task or two right now, I grab some Donuts for Luke. Cheap and efficient for this, especially since his desk is right by the storage area.
Of course, since this is going to take 3 Days no matter what, I can afford to bring Mahavir back for a few of these Tasks. He didn't have much on that Goal to start with, and there's not much left.
Since Luke gets pretty worked up when doing Technical Tasks, I have Nadine stop smoking for a bit to let him handle them.
Of course, since we still have Goals to complete and we ought to squeeze out every Second of efficiency we can, I pile a few of those Technical Tasks on Luke's desk to let him deal with them all at once with a Coffee.
Like so~
With closing time fast approaching, we might as well get what we can done.
And so I did, with Ashley wrapping up her makeup visit just in time to tick the number up. Sadly, I had to get Nadine away from the Lounge before Luke had a Burn Out.
This is a pretty alright set of Goals to work with, though a string of bad luck with Technical Tasks today or on the previous days renders a 3-Day run impossible.
Reminders, with the clapping sounds that accompany them. Everyone, assume optimal Goal-clearing positions.
This would be a great time to Burn Out Pearl if I hadn't recorded this in advance; she's got nothing left to do, and will only make our last Optional Goal harder. Darn.
But with that done, we can send Luke back soon once we pile up some more Technical Tasks. ...assuming they come in, anyway.
Well, they're not coming in, so I move the Coffee to Nadine's desk for safekeeping. Might as well have Luke do some other Tasks while he's back, too.
Well, now that Nadine's done making this side of the office smell like an ash tray, Luke can get to work on those Tasks that just came in. Finally.
Mahavir finished his nap too, so now the only thing on the docket for today is one more Technical Task before a reset is required.
...okay, this was BARELY on time to finish things up today. Gonna need to get people into position in advance real quick, one moment...
And with only a few seconds to spare, we clear that so that the Optional Goal I probably don't need to explain can commence.
Basically, Ashley wants to gossip with Nadine, but it seems like Nadine's not up for that; she's not fond of unproductive chatter, after all. Fortunately, it's only a total Moodifier of +1, so she can outlast this pretty easily.
And hey, we're actually seeing this notification as late as usual this time.
Of course, since Pearl doesn't like what's happening here very much, she'll need a Donut to keep her cool until it's over.Or I could've Burned her Out earlier, just saying.
Finally. That'd have been more interesting if we actually had the Technical Tasks to unlock this earlier.
And there we have it. Not much to that Episode other than hoping you get 15 Technical Tasks before 60 Seconds remain on Day 3, and the odds of Technical Tasks are a bit poor.
Next time... well, we actually have an outro pretty early on! See you then.
Goal Writeup
Time Per Day: 140 Seconds
Task Types
Video:Well, it seems Pearl expects us to actually follow up on those Manuals that have worn off already. Ah, well.
Well, uh... it seems Luke and Ashley have had their Task types switched. Oops. At least that makes things easier for us to manage, overall. Take a look at Mahavir's Goal, though... oh dear. That's a brutal one right there. The other two were just like that as well, earlier on in this Episode's lifetime (based on comments in the code), but it seems they got switched to quantity-based Goals. The Financial one will be a non-issue while the Technical one is what caused me to retry this Episode 4 times. At least it's doable in the amount of Days I'd like, unlike Episode 14. Eugh.
Also, you might notice that Nadine wants the AC on for a while. You might also remember that we have three separate people who really, really don't like the AC right now. Fun times in inefficiency!
Starting positions. Mahavir has some starting Stress, as per usual, which will make our lives a bit rougher.
With the AC turned on for the initial wave, we head off to OfficeTown to make very, very good use of that $16 we have.
Sure, I could juggle the Writing Tasks around with Nadine, but she's busy doing that with the other two types, and I'd rather not deal with juggling all three Task types through her. Besides, we'll actually get to have Mahavir do something useful for once, and that Goal of "Do ALL of them today" perfectly justifies some Writing Manuals.
And now that Mahavir's just about done with the second Manual, it's time to see what he can really do, given the proper motivation:
Not awful. Equal to Pearl with higher Stress, but still manageable.
With the others getting plenty stressed by the AC and the Goal having had sufficient progress put on it for now, I have Luke turn it off. Meanwhile, Mahavir's gonna sleep off all that Writing.
I make a quick stop to OfficeTown for supplies. I don't actually wind up using that Diet Soda, but hey, better safe than sorry.
Oh yeah, and I brought Mahavir one of those Coffees to keep his nap count down.
See, now THAT looks closer to the kind of performance he ought to be giving with that bachelor's degree.
Well, everyone calmed down from the AC, so I turned it back on. We don't really have much left to do today, anyway.
Our end-of-day progress. Like I said, Ashley's basically done already thanks to Nadine, while Luke's getting bad rolls from how the Tasks are weighted this Episode.
He did good today. If only he could do that every day, but then we'd have quite the overabundance of writers in this office.
I give you exactly one guess what that Optional Goal is, though.
We finally have something to do that isn't keeping the AC on or passing around Tasks, so we'll be having Mahavir sleep for a while until we have new Optional Goals to attend to.
On your marks, remind Goals, go!
...well, that was fast. Honestly, Nadine kind of trivializes the Financial Task Goal. I'm not sure why it's a lower quantity than the Technical Task one since Financial Tasks have a high chance of showing up. You could swap those two numbers and I wouldn't even bat an eye.
Oh look, more makeup runs. Still not sure how the hell she has that much makeup in her purse or why the hell she's applied so much that she looks like a porcelain doll.
Finally, that thing is awful to manage with only one person who likes it in the office. Yeesh.
That'd be the Smoking Lounge, then. Not too bad, but in tandem with the Bathroom Goal, it'll make things worse.
Since Luke won't be able to use the Water Cooler without getting Pearl even more worked up, and we kinda need her for a Task or two right now, I grab some Donuts for Luke. Cheap and efficient for this, especially since his desk is right by the storage area.
Of course, since this is going to take 3 Days no matter what, I can afford to bring Mahavir back for a few of these Tasks. He didn't have much on that Goal to start with, and there's not much left.
Since Luke gets pretty worked up when doing Technical Tasks, I have Nadine stop smoking for a bit to let him handle them.
Of course, since we still have Goals to complete and we ought to squeeze out every Second of efficiency we can, I pile a few of those Technical Tasks on Luke's desk to let him deal with them all at once with a Coffee.
Like so~
With closing time fast approaching, we might as well get what we can done.
And so I did, with Ashley wrapping up her makeup visit just in time to tick the number up. Sadly, I had to get Nadine away from the Lounge before Luke had a Burn Out.
This is a pretty alright set of Goals to work with, though a string of bad luck with Technical Tasks today or on the previous days renders a 3-Day run impossible.
Reminders, with the clapping sounds that accompany them. Everyone, assume optimal Goal-clearing positions.
This would be a great time to Burn Out Pearl if I hadn't recorded this in advance; she's got nothing left to do, and will only make our last Optional Goal harder. Darn.
But with that done, we can send Luke back soon once we pile up some more Technical Tasks. ...assuming they come in, anyway.
Well, they're not coming in, so I move the Coffee to Nadine's desk for safekeeping. Might as well have Luke do some other Tasks while he's back, too.
Well, now that Nadine's done making this side of the office smell like an ash tray, Luke can get to work on those Tasks that just came in. Finally.
Mahavir finished his nap too, so now the only thing on the docket for today is one more Technical Task before a reset is required.
...okay, this was BARELY on time to finish things up today. Gonna need to get people into position in advance real quick, one moment...
And with only a few seconds to spare, we clear that so that the Optional Goal I probably don't need to explain can commence.
Basically, Ashley wants to gossip with Nadine, but it seems like Nadine's not up for that; she's not fond of unproductive chatter, after all. Fortunately, it's only a total Moodifier of +1, so she can outlast this pretty easily.
And hey, we're actually seeing this notification as late as usual this time.
Of course, since Pearl doesn't like what's happening here very much, she'll need a Donut to keep her cool until it's over.
Finally. That'd have been more interesting if we actually had the Technical Tasks to unlock this earlier.
And there we have it. Not much to that Episode other than hoping you get 15 Technical Tasks before 60 Seconds remain on Day 3, and the odds of Technical Tasks are a bit poor.
Next time... well, we actually have an outro pretty early on! See you then.
Goal Writeup
Time Per Day: 140 Seconds
Task Types
- Financial Tasks: 40%
- Technical Tasks: 20%
- Writing Tasks: 40%
- 1-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 5-7 Seconds: 33.3%
- 1-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 7-9 Seconds: 33.3%
- 3-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 9-12 Seconds: 33.3%
- 3-Bar Tasks: 75%
- 4-Bar Tasks: 25%
- "Pearl wants Mahavir to do all of the writing tasks for one day. (All Completed Writing Tasks)" Unlocks Optional Goal #2
- "Pearl wants Ashley to do ten financial tasks. (10 Financial Tasks)" Unlocks Optional Goal #1
- "Pearl wants Luke to do fifteen technical tasks. (15 Technical Tasks)" Unlocks Optional Goal #3
- "Keep the AC on for a while. (90 Seconds)" Unlocks Optional Goal #4
- "Go to the bathroom six times. (6 Bathroom Visits; 48 Seconds)"
- "Take a nap on the sofa. (90 Seconds)"
- "Gossip with Nadine at the water cooler. (60 Seconds)"
- "Take a smoke break in the smoking lounge. (90 Seconds)"
Quackles wrote: ↑Sun Aug 30, 2020 3:30 amOh, now that's interesting. Why do you think they switched them, and what do the comments say?The other two were just like that as well, earlier on in this Episode's lifetime (based on comments in the code), but it seems they got switched to quantity-based Goals.
Luke's is basically the same, but with his name and Technical Tasks and evaluating Ashley in those conditions instead of himself. I think they might've been changed because having the one "Do all of them" Goal for Mahavir makes sense to drive home the impact of it, and to be honest, just having them do all of the Task Completions of a type in a Day is probably easier in difficulty than the final version, at least for the Technical and Financial Tasks (which are what were made harder, what a coincidenceThe XML Files wrote: <goal owner="Ashley" description="Pearl wants Ashley to do all of the financial tasks for one day." evaluateAt="continuously" required="1" inverse="1" displayType="xmarks" displayValue="1">
<subgoal><![CDATA[
[Mahavir greenCompleted] > 0*
[Nadine greenCompleted] > 0*
[Luke greenCompleted] > 0*
[Pearl greenCompleted] > 0
]]></subgoal>
</goal>
). I wish Luke's had stayed that way, honestly. ...in fact, if it was, doing this Episode in 2 Days might be possible, with some careful management of the AC to get Nadine's smoke break done earlier.Also, Mahavir's "evaluateAt" is marked as "levelEnd" instead of "continuously," but "continuously" is the state used for basically any Goal type that isn't evaluated at the end of the day, so I'd say that was pretty early in the process of coding the Episode. Might've even been an error that didn't matter because they ultimately became comments instead. Having the description there is definitely an artifact of early coding practices, though, since Goal descriptions are called with variables in the version of the code I have access to, such as "GoalText.20.MahavirAllWritingTasks"
There is nothing written in the company handbook about frequuency of bathroom breaks or about arcade machine usage.
"Arcade machines are hereby banned in the office and you may only have 1 5-minute bathroom break per shift."
Episode 20: Outro Update
Video:
Well, we carried on through Pearl's cross-training. As for the aftermath...
Yes, Pearl. I'll get it all done!
See that you do!
Well, whatever Pearl's planning, I guess it's not secretive enough to be doing the paperwork herself.
Phew! I thought she'd never leave. Finally, some peace and quiet.
True, though I think there's still someone here...
Huh? What?
Really? You looked like you were about to fall over!
No kidding. Guy looks ready to faceplant his keyboard.
I'm glad I was able to come in and help out, and I needed the cash...
I know exactly how you feel...
Yeaaaaah, she does the work well, but she's kind of the opposite of supportive. Or friendly. Or sociable.
It's not good for my health!
It's not made better by your tea, but yeah...
Hmm. I think you need a little R&R!
Surprising no one, "roiboos" tea (actually spelled "rooibos") is a kind of herbal tea. The name means "red bush." It's got a bunch of the same quote-unquote
studies for health like a bunch of other teas, but whatever it is, it's better for him than that blend he got from Taos.
Rolfing has to do with alternative medicine and energy fields and massage and I'm not touching that with a ten-and-a-half foot pole, but it's very Luke, to say the least.
No, silly! Rest and relaxation! Here, you should go to this party, I have a flyer for it in my bag.
A party?
I'll admit, that's not the kind of thing I expect Denise to have on hand, but it seems to be cheering him up a bit so far.
But I've got so much work!
Reggae's a genre I can't really pin down even after looking it up, but it apparently finds its origins in Jamaican dance music.
Have a good time!
Nobody tell her the elevator's already going down, shhhh
Well, seems all that work coming in has extended to after-hours. Denise doesn't seem too worried about it, though, so here's hoping she knows how to take care of it all.
Next time, some absurdity and thickening tension. See you then.
Connecting...
Checking Status
Chatroom Created
Mmmmmmm, not fond of this. That girl's good at her job, I'll give her that, but working on a team is... well, she definitely doesn't see any wiggle room for much of anyone's silliness.
Nadine's an utter headache, yes, though she at least seems to stick to the background unless something really annoys her.
...read that statement more carefully and you'll see the problem.
Okay, yes, she seems like she has a target already. We have no idea how far she's willing to go, but Denise seems willing and able to keep it under control in its current state.
That look in her eyes, though... I've seen that. To be honest, she'd fit right in with the board upstairs, except she's actually competent at her job. Too competent to fail upwards, but maybe that attitude will blaze a trail on its own.
I'd like to be far, far out of the way when that happens, frankly.
Since I'm already here, have you found anything yet?
Following a paper trail without a paper trail is kind of hard, you know. All the requests and forms I can find from where I am are essentially just taking on additional projects or siphoning work off from other places. It's weird.
So... it just kind of... ends? Near the bottom-middle areas of the company?
So far. Not finding anything to substatiate things one way or the other, which is irritating. It's pretty invisible in the limited space I can work from, since... well, I still have to do my job. I'd get caught out in an instant otherwise.
And I can't just ask around in these circumstances. Hmph. Well, just keep looking. Maybe tech support will get assigned up here soon. I hear the keyboards have been rather fragile lately, who knows what those higher-ups have been doing to them.
...you're not. You're seriously not.
What? You said it yourself. I'll get strange looks for weeks from tech support, especially during the several days they'll be stuck up here fixing my setup. Too many jittery, high-strength coffees will getcha~
Oh God, fine. I'll keep an ear to the support tickets upstairs. Even then, whatever sources I can find will need time to respond back. Will that work?
Easily. Thank you so much for this.
Any time. ...I really am gonna give you some looks when we see what wrath you've brought down on that hardware, you know.
Eh, I'll deserve it. See you then?
Well, yeah. Seeya.
Chatroom Closed
Video:
Well, we carried on through Pearl's cross-training. As for the aftermath...
Yes, Pearl. I'll get it all done! See that you do!Well, whatever Pearl's planning, I guess it's not secretive enough to be doing the paperwork herself.
Phew! I thought she'd never leave. Finally, some peace and quiet.True, though I think there's still someone here...
Huh? What? Really? You looked like you were about to fall over!No kidding. Guy looks ready to faceplant his keyboard.
I'm glad I was able to come in and help out, and I needed the cash... I know exactly how you feel...Yeaaaaah, she does the work well, but she's kind of the opposite of supportive. Or friendly. Or sociable.
It's not good for my health!It's not made better by your tea, but yeah...
Hmm. I think you need a little R&R!Surprising no one, "roiboos" tea (actually spelled "rooibos") is a kind of herbal tea. The name means "red bush." It's got a bunch of the same quote-unquote
studies for health like a bunch of other teas, but whatever it is, it's better for him than that blend he got from Taos.Rolfing has to do with alternative medicine and energy fields and massage and I'm not touching that with a ten-and-a-half foot pole, but it's very Luke, to say the least.
No, silly! Rest and relaxation! Here, you should go to this party, I have a flyer for it in my bag. A party?I'll admit, that's not the kind of thing I expect Denise to have on hand, but it seems to be cheering him up a bit so far.
But I've got so much work!Reggae's a genre I can't really pin down even after looking it up, but it apparently finds its origins in Jamaican dance music.
Have a good time!Well, seems all that work coming in has extended to after-hours. Denise doesn't seem too worried about it, though, so here's hoping she knows how to take care of it all.
Next time, some absurdity and thickening tension. See you then.
Connecting...
Checking Status
Chatroom Created
Mmmmmmm, not fond of this. That girl's good at her job, I'll give her that, but working on a team is... well, she definitely doesn't see any wiggle room for much of anyone's silliness. Nadine's an utter headache, yes, though she at least seems to stick to the background unless something really annoys her. ...read that statement more carefully and you'll see the problem. Okay, yes, she seems like she has a target already. We have no idea how far she's willing to go, but Denise seems willing and able to keep it under control in its current state. That look in her eyes, though... I've seen that. To be honest, she'd fit right in with the board upstairs, except she's actually competent at her job. Too competent to fail upwards, but maybe that attitude will blaze a trail on its own. I'd like to be far, far out of the way when that happens, frankly. Since I'm already here, have you found anything yet? Following a paper trail without a paper trail is kind of hard, you know. All the requests and forms I can find from where I am are essentially just taking on additional projects or siphoning work off from other places. It's weird. So... it just kind of... ends? Near the bottom-middle areas of the company? So far. Not finding anything to substatiate things one way or the other, which is irritating. It's pretty invisible in the limited space I can work from, since... well, I still have to do my job. I'd get caught out in an instant otherwise. And I can't just ask around in these circumstances. Hmph. Well, just keep looking. Maybe tech support will get assigned up here soon. I hear the keyboards have been rather fragile lately, who knows what those higher-ups have been doing to them. ...you're not. You're seriously not. What? You said it yourself. I'll get strange looks for weeks from tech support, especially during the several days they'll be stuck up here fixing my setup. Too many jittery, high-strength coffees will getcha~ Oh God, fine. I'll keep an ear to the support tickets upstairs. Even then, whatever sources I can find will need time to respond back. Will that work? Easily. Thank you so much for this. Any time. ...I really am gonna give you some looks when we see what wrath you've brought down on that hardware, you know. Eh, I'll deserve it. See you then? Well, yeah. Seeya.Chatroom Closed
Episode 21: Story Update
Video:
Well, things seem like they're starting to heat up. Who knows what Pearl's next plan will-
...oh. Well then. There goes the Coffee.
Okay, but if we...
No buts! It's always buts with you.
Negative Nancy keeps this place from falling apart at the drop of a hat by actually questioning plans, Pearl.
Well, we'll need some additional budget for...
I know, I know. For snacks and beverages and all those other goodies. Don't you all have enough toys around here?
Coffee is a legitimate tool to be used in pumping out Tasks in a timely manner.
Well, when you start to feel stressed out it's nice to...
Hmph! Training manuals to help with people's skills are one thing...
What on earth do you mean?
I see you giving out caffeine and sugar!
I think she noticed our dominant strategy last Episode. Great. Just great.
But... it's just coffee and donuts!
I'm looking out for all of you, dear.
On Coffee? I get that withdrawal headaches are a thing, but the main reason we're using so much Coffee in the first place is because of all the extra work coming in, anyway. And where oh where did that work come from, I wonder...
But I'm just the office manager... I'm not a role model!
And there's a reason why you're not!
Literally the opposite, Pearl
Now, follow me, there's something else I want you to organize...
...well, with those two exiting stage right, we've got some developments to get to.
Heeeeeere we go.
Hmm? Who are you again? A delivery boy?
I don't think we've been... properly introduced yet.
Right. And what do you do here?
Oh, but I am capable of so much more.
Your resume agrees with you and is breathing down your neck to get it together.
No.
No?
Meanwhile Ashley's just watching this whole conversation like
Ah, your rapier wit is...
This conversation is over.
Hey, dudes.
Augh! Is that you?
...did something happen at that party, Luke?
What have you been bathing in? Skunks?
...oh. Oh great. Guess the smell's still stuck to him.
Just stay away from me, you walking biohazard!
As for you, Mahawhatever... get back to work, slacker.
Ach! The crushing agony of rejection! How sad...
That is not even close to the problem
There is but one cure... I must acclimatize her to my charms.
Seriously. Try napping it off, instead. It would probably be less likely to get you killed.
I've discovered just the thing, takes care of so many stress-related problems...
Yeaaaaah, uh, I don't think that would help that issue, no. Yeesh.
Next time, we deal with the office further twisting itself into knots. See you then.
Video:
Well, things seem like they're starting to heat up. Who knows what Pearl's next plan will-
...oh. Well then. There goes the Coffee.
Okay, but if we... No buts! It's always buts with you.Negative Nancy keeps this place from falling apart at the drop of a hat by actually questioning plans, Pearl.
Well, we'll need some additional budget for... I know, I know. For snacks and beverages and all those other goodies. Don't you all have enough toys around here?Coffee is a legitimate tool to be used in pumping out Tasks in a timely manner.
Well, when you start to feel stressed out it's nice to... Hmph! Training manuals to help with people's skills are one thing... What on earth do you mean? I see you giving out caffeine and sugar!I think she noticed our dominant strategy last Episode. Great. Just great.
But... it's just coffee and donuts! I'm looking out for all of you, dear.On Coffee? I get that withdrawal headaches are a thing, but the main reason we're using so much Coffee in the first place is because of all the extra work coming in, anyway. And where oh where did that work come from, I wonder...
But I'm just the office manager... I'm not a role model! And there's a reason why you're not!Literally the opposite, Pearl
Now, follow me, there's something else I want you to organize......well, with those two exiting stage right, we've got some developments to get to.
Heeeeeere we go.
Hmm? Who are you again? A delivery boy? I don't think we've been... properly introduced yet. Right. And what do you do here? Oh, but I am capable of so much more.Your resume agrees with you and is breathing down your neck to get it together.
No. No?Meanwhile Ashley's just watching this whole conversation like
Ah, your rapier wit is... This conversation is over. Hey, dudes. Augh! Is that you?...did something happen at that party, Luke?
What have you been bathing in? Skunks?...oh. Oh great. Guess the smell's still stuck to him.
Just stay away from me, you walking biohazard! As for you, Mahawhatever... get back to work, slacker. Ach! The crushing agony of rejection! How sad...That is not even close to the problem
There is but one cure... I must acclimatize her to my charms.Seriously. Try napping it off, instead. It would probably be less likely to get you killed.
I've discovered just the thing, takes care of so many stress-related problems...Yeaaaaah, uh, I don't think that would help that issue, no. Yeesh.
Next time, we deal with the office further twisting itself into knots. See you then.