Retirement

Soon, I'll be free...

Retirement is what happens when an employee stops working, but isn't dead or fired. It is a mythical state of leisure and relaxation, a time when a worker can simple spend their time doing whatever they like every day, without having to worry about things like meetings or managers. The only deadline that exists now is their own, which largely depends on their finances. It is that final walk out of the office, with a last party where there's cake and maybe a gold watch or a pen, maybe even a handshake with someone from upper management. The soon-to-be ex-employee are thanked for all their years of service, and the chains fall away. They are free. We're free! For most workers, retirement is the goal, the carrot at the end of a very long stick, and the Corps know it. The promise of an earlier retirement, of more funds for when you retire, or benefits such as housing, food, or other securities do much to lock a worker in place. Most corporations exist in the paradoxical state of promising retirement packages and doing whatever they can (short of murder... Mostly) to avoid paying it out. The most popular and effective way to solve it is just to work their employee to death - it's a tried and true method from even before the Exodus. Add enough work, enough stress, enough boredom, and it'll puts the dead in deadline Other employees are reassigned to more hazardous areas of work, from weapons testing to toxic waste disposal, depending on their role and expertise. The race towards retirement is a dangerous one, pitting corporation versus employees. There is a unspoken, almost instinctual agreement between employees that sometimes even cross corporate borders - lets all help the old guy get over the finish line. Corporations are working on and making great strides in crushing this vestigal remnant of solidarity between working, though, so don't worry about that.