WOTD (Courtesy of Miriam-Webster)
Dross
1 : the scum or unwanted material that forms on the surface of molten metal
2 : waste or foreign matter : impurity
3 : something that is base, trivial, or inferior
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The ‘return’ key is a flat black expanse of possibility. You want to touch it, to let the code process through the system, doing thousands of years of work and myth in the blink of an eye. You think, distractedly, that mailmen barely have a purpose in light of that enter key and all the power at its command. Last week you started getting emails from the postal service showing you scanned images of the letters they were preparing to deliver to your door. They called it a daily update. you saw it as a form of self awareness. To use to the instrument of your eventual end to remind people that you still have purpose feels ironic. Why not remove you from that loop entirely, scraped away like the dross that forms on a knifes edge only to be wiped clean and disposed of leaving that flat silver expanse of sharp metal. With a slap of the key you can be that knife. They will know everything that has been happening here and the dross that is your boss, that is this unethical and burdensome situation will be cleared away.
You press return.
Once there was a swooshing sound that went with such things, as though to move through the internet was to fly and your letter would fly through the digital pathways finding its destination on a wind of electrons. It was a silly construct, no less foolish than that paperclip with a face on it. Both are gone, mostly. You miss both a little. Will you miss how things were here? Will you miss the comfort and familiarity of expectation. Who knows who will replace Kevin? Will others be snapped up in the cleansing? Will your new master decide that you were a problem because you told of the problem and not trust you? It could happen that way. It will more likely happen that way if it is a woman, won’t it? She’ll feel she has something to prove. She will feel like you only did what you did in order to move up that corporate ladder. You’ll joke about it. You’ll say, “It’s hard to climb a ladder in heels” and you’ll giggle, hoping she giggles too. She will. Then she’ll give you more work. Then she will give you more high profile work and call it opportunity. Then you’ll make a mistake–just a small one–but it will be enough to expose your weakness. That will be enough for her to say “no, you can’t climb in heels. So maybe it’s best you stay where you are.” They say men are the worst towards women in the workplace, but other women can be just as bad. That’s equality for you.
Unsend only lasts for 10 seconds. After that the option to rewind is lost. It’s been eleven seconds. All that’s left now is to continue.