But they have so much in common! Hating the AC, hating Pearl smoking, having only one Up arrow, being terrible with Financial tasks...
However, We At C.A.I. Believe in Second Chances - Let's Play Miss Management!
Episode 15: Gameplay Update, "Shore Leave?!"
Video:
Well, here we go, then. A somewhat interesting Episode, plus a new member.
You can ignore the "four tasks in a day" thing Duncan mentioned, by the way, apparently that was a bit rough to program. Instead, each half of the office (excluding Duncan) will be expected to not complete any Tasks for a whole day.
Now, I'm sure the game expects you to take it slow and do these two Goals on separate days. It sounds the most reasonable, after all.
However, it's gotten pretty clear that "reasonable" is not what we aim for in this game.
Ah right, Ashley. Basically, stressing her out with raw work is kinda hard since she's tied with Mahavir in terms of Moodifiers, but without a higher Writing one. However, she's even slower than him in any subject that isn't Art; it's hardly worth the time it would take to complete to give her anything but Art Tasks. However, the fact remains that very, very few Employees are any good at Art Tasks, so...
Problems arise due to how many things she gains Stress from. Both global relaxation points, smoking, and Luke hogging the Bathroom all bother her, meaning she'll often be getting worked up just from everything happening around her. She's got the Bathroom as her relaxation point to counterbalance this, but she also bothers Luke a lot by doing that. It can get rough to manage if you aren't careful.
Starting positions. No starting Stress this Episode.
This is what most of the day will look like, aside from Duncan being over at the Arcade Machine. That's gonna change in just a minute. Oh right, and Winston gains noticeably more Stress from people being at the Arcade Machine than last Episode.
Oooof. That'll be rough to deal with for 120 Seconds overall, gotta be honest.
Went and picked up some Coffees. You might notice I'm stacking Tasks on Duncan's desk while everyone else besides Winston is off doing their own things, and I've even put a Coffee on Duncan's desk. Well...
...what do you say we multitask a bit?
Duncan may not be super fast on Coffee, but he's fast enough to mostly keep up with what's coming in all on his own, and everyone else is busy managing Stress from their own Goals anyway; this way not only looks cooler, but is more efficient in terms of the other Goals.
Just another Coffee a while later. Not much to say regarding what's happening here.
Of course, Duncan's got his own limits, so I send him back to Arcade Machine after a while. It has the same Moodifier for him as the Whiteboard, so the only difference is how much of a migraine Winston will get and how this actually contributes to Goal progress. That and travel time, but Goal progress makes up for that.
I send Winston to the Water Cooler so Duncan can get a bit more time in at the Arcade Machine before he needs to come back. Of course, I'll still need an extra punch of Stress reduction, so I grab a Donut in addition to the other stuff I bought and place the Coffee on Pearl's desk for easy pickup in a moment.
Here we go again~
It's a bit unfortunate that I've been getting distracted from sending Ashley to the Bathroom repeatedly, but at least we'll have enough time for it for reasons that will become apparent at the end of the day.
Hi, yes, welcome to Duncan's Donuts and Coffee, how may I help you?
Much, much later, I send Duncan back to the Arcade Machine to rack up some more time on it since there's enough time for Denise to survive any amount of Stress the Overdue Tasks manage.
On top of that, Pearl completed her smoke break, so at least we can get her away from there tomorrow.
Ah, and our first Goal to talk with Ashley. These are a bit more varied and interesting than Mahavir's talking Goals, from what I remember.
I don't think I wind up needing that Diet Soda. Ah well. At least the Day's over. But of course, we need to see those End of Day Goals complete.
And they both do! Oh, and I may have mentioned this before, but Bathroom Goals are calculated by how much time is spent in there, despite it being a static number of visits. It counts the number of Seconds they're in there, and every 8th number (offset by 1 or starting from 0, however you'd like to phrase it; point is that it's every 8 Seconds but the milestones are at 7, 15, 23, 31, 39, etc.), it increments the counter by 1. You might notice that the Day ended just before Ashley exited the Bathroom for what would've been the 8th time, and it didn't count. We'll see how quickly it completes tomorrow, even though we'll still have to leave her in there for a full 8 Seconds due to how the Bathroom works.
Oh, and here's the reason we'll have plenty of time for Ashley's Bathroom visits even if we'd forgotten about doing them today; we can't complete this Episode in 2 Days. To do so, we'd have to make sure no one completed any work but Duncan AND that Duncan spent all but 20 Seconds at the Arcade Machine, which are two conditions that don't mesh together at all.
Luke's Goal is pretty easy to guess, considering Ashley's Goal.
Today will mostly be focused on getting any Optional Goals done that we can while polishing off those Required Goals. So basically, everything but Winston's Optional Goal will be done since it's the only one with significant time constraints.
Starting positions and Goal progress, as usual.
Interestingly, Pearl finally has a conversation partner who doesn't get stressed out talking to her, besides Denise. I guess Ashley's pretty into whatever they're talking about.
With that out of the way, we start sending Luke to his Bathroom visits. I could buy Winston some Donuts to let Duncan use the Arcade Machine for longer, but we need someone to do the Art Tasks and Ashley's kinda busy right now.
A while later, Duncan's taking care of the Art Tasks while Winston logs some time on the Arcade Machine himself. We'll mostly just be trying to get Duncan's Goal out of the way, with Winston contributing to his own Goal just to relax in intervals.
Now that Pearl's finished her introductory talk with Ashley, we can send her back to do some work. Oh, and now that she's finally back, we can get a good look at how much Stress she can accrue while Luke's in the Bathroom. Keep in mind Luke also gains this level of Stress baseline while Ashley's in there, though he has the Water Cooler to deal with it... if you can handle Pearl's Stress gain from all of that.
That's, uh. That's a lot of Stress, especially if she winds up with Art Tasks to take care of at the time.
Anyways, this is gonna be a pretty usual setup for the rest of the Day while Duncan takes care of his Arcade Machine Goal. Simple enough, though Pearl and Winston may need some relief soon.
This is clearer in the video, but if you'll notice, Ashley's only just entered the Bathroom, yet the Goal completed near-instantly. This is because she got a lot of leftover time in here from yesterday. I've yet to find a practical application for this since she's still stuck in there for 8 Seconds, but maybe there'll be one later on.
Sent those two off to the Water Cooler since they were getting kinda nutty. This'll be close...
Uhhh... I stand corrected, it was close.
Also I think Pearl's Danger State animation glitched out because she started talking after it began or something, I dunno, but it makes this look several times more hilarious
So, uh, yeah... welcome to our first Burn Out. Yes, I know it says Stressout, I like Burn Out better and also I kinda misremembered the term but have been calling it that this entire time in all of my posts and mechanics updates SO... not gonna go back on that after all this time, now am I?
Anyways, it's the end of the day and Winston couldn't have done too much anyway, I don't feel too bad about this and didn't bother resetting for it since the circumstances behind this Episode's Goals make 3 Days the minimum anyway.
Duncan finally finishes his Arcade Machine Goal, and Pearl can finally relax a bit. If Luke had been in the Bathroom any longer, she might've Burned Out as well.
There's our Required Goals alert, and of course we'll ignore it as usual.
Might as well have Luke finish off his Bathroom Goal before the Day ends, though it doesn't matter at all.
There we go, and now the day can-
...end? Oh hey, a Quality of Life thing I didn't know existed! Those are always fun to find.Good thing I didn't reset when Winston blew a gasket, like holy crap, wow
Anyways, it's basically always worth it to earn more petty cash if you can handle the tedium. The only cost is your time spent doing not much of anything except making tomorrow easier with more resources available. Just do keep in mind that if you had to go through multiple Burn Outs to see this screen, you might not be able to feasibly deal with all the work coming in, depending on who's left...
And there we have it. End of Day 2, approaching Day 3 for the second time.
As you can see, all we have left to do is Winston's Arcade time, and we're in no time crunch for it. This'll be... kinda dull, but oh well.
Basically imagine this happening for 90 Seconds, I dunno
Might as well show off Ashley's Work Rates in motion for those of you who are just reading.
As seen here, Ashley's pretty darn fast at Art Tasks, but she still plays second fiddle compared to Tara. Relatively calm worker, though.
On the other hand, THIS is... Well...
Let's just end the Episode and be done with that, shall we?
And there we go. Better than last time, though has some weird hiccups in it, I think.
Next time, we see what the hell else Duncan has in store for this office. See you then. Hoo boy.
Goal Writeup
Time Per Day: 140 Seconds
Task Types
Connecting...
Checking Status: Online
Chatroom Created
When I heard him say he changed his mind, I didn't expect him to go aaaaaaall the way to the other end of the work/relax spectrum. It's kinda like what happened to Timothy, except... still a problem affecting the whole office instead of mostly one person.
I should've seen this coming. Why did I ever think him changing his mind could go well? ...well, not that I entertained the thought of him changing his mind in the first place, but my point stands.
Look, I know you were looking forward to the hammer being brought down, but this is at least a better situation than that other mess. He's still on probation, don't get me wrong, but we're at least, like... not getting actively worse, I guess?
Fine, then. We'll see how he screws it up later. Prove me wrong. I swear by this happening.
It's... not unlikely, I'll give you that, but I can only act on what I'm given. If it makes you feel better, the decreased number of Tasks actually getting done by their specialists is gonna have rippling effects on the office's performance eventually. That's the thing about these management decisions; the impact on the office itself is immediate, but the negative effects on the structure overall don't become obvious and able to be acted on until later. It's pretty begrudgingly slow.
So what I'm hearing is "Give me some time and there'll be concrete evidence the company won't be able to ignore." I can settle for this, yes.
That's why I'm saying not to get too trigger-happy, dude. We can get this out of the way just fine with a few connections and pulled strings after this has gone on long enough, whenever we need to. It's simple business.
Okay, fine. I'll wait. But you better believe I'll be venting if I see any more mind-numbing management in there. Despite how well Denise is dealing with all of this, I still can't help but feel bad for her.
Then believe me when I say she'll be fine, and if worst comes to worst, I'll personally make sure she and her team make it out okay. I'm growing rather confident in what I'm seeing, and I'm not about to let all this time spent on the cameras go to waste. It's hard enough making myself keep an eye on this while working and making sure not to mess it all up. I think I'd snap if we lost her after all of this.
Got it, and believe me, I know how hard you'd lose it. Talk to you again later?
Well, yeah. This office has no shortage of stuff to talk about, ya know?
To my dismay, yes.
Chatroom Closed
Video:Well, here we go, then. A somewhat interesting Episode, plus a new member.
You can ignore the "four tasks in a day" thing Duncan mentioned, by the way, apparently that was a bit rough to program. Instead, each half of the office (excluding Duncan) will be expected to not complete any Tasks for a whole day.
Now, I'm sure the game expects you to take it slow and do these two Goals on separate days. It sounds the most reasonable, after all.
However, it's gotten pretty clear that "reasonable" is not what we aim for in this game.
Ah right, Ashley. Basically, stressing her out with raw work is kinda hard since she's tied with Mahavir in terms of Moodifiers, but without a higher Writing one. However, she's even slower than him in any subject that isn't Art; it's hardly worth the time it would take to complete to give her anything but Art Tasks. However, the fact remains that very, very few Employees are any good at Art Tasks, so...
Problems arise due to how many things she gains Stress from. Both global relaxation points, smoking, and Luke hogging the Bathroom all bother her, meaning she'll often be getting worked up just from everything happening around her. She's got the Bathroom as her relaxation point to counterbalance this, but she also bothers Luke a lot by doing that. It can get rough to manage if you aren't careful.
Starting positions. No starting Stress this Episode.
This is what most of the day will look like, aside from Duncan being over at the Arcade Machine. That's gonna change in just a minute. Oh right, and Winston gains noticeably more Stress from people being at the Arcade Machine than last Episode.
Oooof. That'll be rough to deal with for 120 Seconds overall, gotta be honest.
Went and picked up some Coffees. You might notice I'm stacking Tasks on Duncan's desk while everyone else besides Winston is off doing their own things, and I've even put a Coffee on Duncan's desk. Well...
...what do you say we multitask a bit?
Duncan may not be super fast on Coffee, but he's fast enough to mostly keep up with what's coming in all on his own, and everyone else is busy managing Stress from their own Goals anyway; this way not only looks cooler, but is more efficient in terms of the other Goals.
Just another Coffee a while later. Not much to say regarding what's happening here.
Of course, Duncan's got his own limits, so I send him back to Arcade Machine after a while. It has the same Moodifier for him as the Whiteboard, so the only difference is how much of a migraine Winston will get and how this actually contributes to Goal progress. That and travel time, but Goal progress makes up for that.
I send Winston to the Water Cooler so Duncan can get a bit more time in at the Arcade Machine before he needs to come back. Of course, I'll still need an extra punch of Stress reduction, so I grab a Donut in addition to the other stuff I bought and place the Coffee on Pearl's desk for easy pickup in a moment.
Here we go again~
It's a bit unfortunate that I've been getting distracted from sending Ashley to the Bathroom repeatedly, but at least we'll have enough time for it for reasons that will become apparent at the end of the day.
Hi, yes, welcome to Duncan's Donuts and Coffee, how may I help you?
Much, much later, I send Duncan back to the Arcade Machine to rack up some more time on it since there's enough time for Denise to survive any amount of Stress the Overdue Tasks manage.
On top of that, Pearl completed her smoke break, so at least we can get her away from there tomorrow.
Ah, and our first Goal to talk with Ashley. These are a bit more varied and interesting than Mahavir's talking Goals, from what I remember.
I don't think I wind up needing that Diet Soda. Ah well. At least the Day's over. But of course, we need to see those End of Day Goals complete.
And they both do! Oh, and I may have mentioned this before, but Bathroom Goals are calculated by how much time is spent in there, despite it being a static number of visits. It counts the number of Seconds they're in there, and every 8th number (offset by 1 or starting from 0, however you'd like to phrase it; point is that it's every 8 Seconds but the milestones are at 7, 15, 23, 31, 39, etc.), it increments the counter by 1. You might notice that the Day ended just before Ashley exited the Bathroom for what would've been the 8th time, and it didn't count. We'll see how quickly it completes tomorrow, even though we'll still have to leave her in there for a full 8 Seconds due to how the Bathroom works.
Oh, and here's the reason we'll have plenty of time for Ashley's Bathroom visits even if we'd forgotten about doing them today; we can't complete this Episode in 2 Days. To do so, we'd have to make sure no one completed any work but Duncan AND that Duncan spent all but 20 Seconds at the Arcade Machine, which are two conditions that don't mesh together at all.
Luke's Goal is pretty easy to guess, considering Ashley's Goal.
Today will mostly be focused on getting any Optional Goals done that we can while polishing off those Required Goals. So basically, everything but Winston's Optional Goal will be done since it's the only one with significant time constraints.
Starting positions and Goal progress, as usual.
Interestingly, Pearl finally has a conversation partner who doesn't get stressed out talking to her, besides Denise. I guess Ashley's pretty into whatever they're talking about.
With that out of the way, we start sending Luke to his Bathroom visits. I could buy Winston some Donuts to let Duncan use the Arcade Machine for longer, but we need someone to do the Art Tasks and Ashley's kinda busy right now.
A while later, Duncan's taking care of the Art Tasks while Winston logs some time on the Arcade Machine himself. We'll mostly just be trying to get Duncan's Goal out of the way, with Winston contributing to his own Goal just to relax in intervals.
Now that Pearl's finished her introductory talk with Ashley, we can send her back to do some work. Oh, and now that she's finally back, we can get a good look at how much Stress she can accrue while Luke's in the Bathroom. Keep in mind Luke also gains this level of Stress baseline while Ashley's in there, though he has the Water Cooler to deal with it... if you can handle Pearl's Stress gain from all of that.
That's, uh. That's a lot of Stress, especially if she winds up with Art Tasks to take care of at the time.
Anyways, this is gonna be a pretty usual setup for the rest of the Day while Duncan takes care of his Arcade Machine Goal. Simple enough, though Pearl and Winston may need some relief soon.
This is clearer in the video, but if you'll notice, Ashley's only just entered the Bathroom, yet the Goal completed near-instantly. This is because she got a lot of leftover time in here from yesterday. I've yet to find a practical application for this since she's still stuck in there for 8 Seconds, but maybe there'll be one later on.
Sent those two off to the Water Cooler since they were getting kinda nutty. This'll be close...
Uhhh... I stand corrected, it was close.
So, uh, yeah... welcome to our first Burn Out. Yes, I know it says Stressout, I like Burn Out better and also I kinda misremembered the term but have been calling it that this entire time in all of my posts and mechanics updates SO... not gonna go back on that after all this time, now am I?
Anyways, it's the end of the day and Winston couldn't have done too much anyway, I don't feel too bad about this and didn't bother resetting for it since the circumstances behind this Episode's Goals make 3 Days the minimum anyway.
Duncan finally finishes his Arcade Machine Goal, and Pearl can finally relax a bit. If Luke had been in the Bathroom any longer, she might've Burned Out as well.
There's our Required Goals alert, and of course we'll ignore it as usual.
Might as well have Luke finish off his Bathroom Goal before the Day ends, though it doesn't matter at all.
There we go, and now the day can-
...end? Oh hey, a Quality of Life thing I didn't know existed! Those are always fun to find.
Anyways, it's basically always worth it to earn more petty cash if you can handle the tedium. The only cost is your time spent doing not much of anything except making tomorrow easier with more resources available. Just do keep in mind that if you had to go through multiple Burn Outs to see this screen, you might not be able to feasibly deal with all the work coming in, depending on who's left...
And there we have it. End of Day 2, approaching Day 3 for the second time.
As you can see, all we have left to do is Winston's Arcade time, and we're in no time crunch for it. This'll be... kinda dull, but oh well.
Basically imagine this happening for 90 Seconds, I dunno
Might as well show off Ashley's Work Rates in motion for those of you who are just reading.
As seen here, Ashley's pretty darn fast at Art Tasks, but she still plays second fiddle compared to Tara. Relatively calm worker, though.
On the other hand, THIS is... Well...
Let's just end the Episode and be done with that, shall we?
And there we go. Better than last time, though has some weird hiccups in it, I think.
Next time, we see what the hell else Duncan has in store for this office. See you then. Hoo boy.
Goal Writeup
Time Per Day: 140 Seconds
Task Types
Art Tasks: 25%
Financial Tasks: 25%
Technical Tasks: 25%
Writing Tasks: 25%
- 1-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 7-9 Seconds: 50%
- 2-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 8-9 Seconds: 50%
3-Bar Tasks: 66.6%
4-Bar Tasks: 33.3%
"Duncan wants Luke and Ashley to do no tasks in one day, without anyone stressing out. (No Completed Tasks, No Burnout)" Unlocks Optional Goal #2- "Duncan wants Pearl and Winston to do no tasks in one day, without anyone stressing out. (No Completed Tasks, No Burnout)" Unlocks Optional Goal #3
"Take a cigarette break in the smoking lounge. (120 Seconds)" Unlocks Optional Goal #1
"Freshen up in the bathroom eight times. (8 Bathroom Visits; 64 Seconds)"- "Play on the arcade machine to try to beat Winston's score. (120 Seconds)"
- "Get to know Ashley by gossiping with her at the water cooler. (60 Seconds)"
"Go to the bathroom five times. (5 Bathroom Visits; 40 Seconds)"
"Play on the arcade machine. (120 Seconds)"
Connecting...
Checking Status: Online
Chatroom Created
When I heard him say he changed his mind, I didn't expect him to go aaaaaaall the way to the other end of the work/relax spectrum. It's kinda like what happened to Timothy, except... still a problem affecting the whole office instead of mostly one person. I should've seen this coming. Why did I ever think him changing his mind could go well? ...well, not that I entertained the thought of him changing his mind in the first place, but my point stands. Look, I know you were looking forward to the hammer being brought down, but this is at least a better situation than that other mess. He's still on probation, don't get me wrong, but we're at least, like... not getting actively worse, I guess? Fine, then. We'll see how he screws it up later. Prove me wrong. I swear by this happening. It's... not unlikely, I'll give you that, but I can only act on what I'm given. If it makes you feel better, the decreased number of Tasks actually getting done by their specialists is gonna have rippling effects on the office's performance eventually. That's the thing about these management decisions; the impact on the office itself is immediate, but the negative effects on the structure overall don't become obvious and able to be acted on until later. It's pretty begrudgingly slow. So what I'm hearing is "Give me some time and there'll be concrete evidence the company won't be able to ignore." I can settle for this, yes. That's why I'm saying not to get too trigger-happy, dude. We can get this out of the way just fine with a few connections and pulled strings after this has gone on long enough, whenever we need to. It's simple business. Okay, fine. I'll wait. But you better believe I'll be venting if I see any more mind-numbing management in there. Despite how well Denise is dealing with all of this, I still can't help but feel bad for her. Then believe me when I say she'll be fine, and if worst comes to worst, I'll personally make sure she and her team make it out okay. I'm growing rather confident in what I'm seeing, and I'm not about to let all this time spent on the cameras go to waste. It's hard enough making myself keep an eye on this while working and making sure not to mess it all up. I think I'd snap if we lost her after all of this. Got it, and believe me, I know how hard you'd lose it. Talk to you again later? Well, yeah. This office has no shortage of stuff to talk about, ya know? To my dismay, yes.Chatroom Closed
Liking the new in-line Youtube video. That's a really nice change!
I'm also pretty happy that Burnout doesn't end up penalizing your rating at the end of the episode. Means there's more of an allowance for failure and that it's not the end of the world if you do lose a couple employees along the way.
I'm also pretty happy that Burnout doesn't end up penalizing your rating at the end of the episode. Means there's more of an allowance for failure and that it's not the end of the world if you do lose a couple employees along the way.
In Winston's case, easily. What's kinda funny is that I recently noticed that Employees don't get that bonus when they're holding an item over their heads. Mahavir was too busy eating a Donut to keep calm about Pearl being on the Couch back in Episode 14, even, so you could see it tick up at some point in the video while holding a Donut over his head.
Episode 16: Story Update
Video:
Last time, we met our new artist and had everyone take a break for a day to foist all the work on Duncan.
And now, it seems like everything's starting to come to a head...
Yeah, uhhhh, about that, Pearl-
You're one to be talking... but for once, I agree.
What he said.
Me?! But why, I...
As much pressure as it is for Denise, she's next in command in this office, to the point where Duncan entrusts her with a lot of what goes on here despite management status. If anyone can do something directly, it's her.
Oh boy, and even MORE is going wrong
It's bad enough that I have to share a bathroom with anyone, and worse that it's... ugh. Unisex!
Man, you are so out of touch with the way the universe works.
Yeaaaaaah, I get the feeling she doesn't get out of her social circles much.
Augh! You... filthy hippie!
He keeps going into the bathroom and coughing all over everything, that's what's wrong!
Oh. Always wondered what he was doing in there so often. Well, besides the tea, anyway. Oogh.
Man... it's no wonder I'm sick!
Something she might've learned if she had ever needed to share a bathroom before. No one I've heard of, let alone met, likes that makeup cloud smell.
Denise!
Oh! Be right there!
Oh boy, what is it now, Duncan? We're all waiting on pins and needles.
I've been thinking.
The... masculine mindset?
Yes! Competitive! Fierce! Determined!
Okay I think he might've actually been in the navy at this point, it sounds like a very military thing to drill it into people's heads to be every single one of those things.
And I have just the thing!
To be honest, everything I've heard and done with yoga seems more intense than lifting weights, so if anything I'd expect the yoga option if he knew what he was talking about.Which he doesn't, of course.
No, no, silly. I just want you to play this videogame!
What?
Since I haven't mentioned it in a while and this is a half-decent time in this circus of a situation, this is your reminder that Denise is good and pure and tries very, very hard.
All the more reason to play. It's skill building! After playing against Winston the other day and beating his high score...
Somehow I doubt that heavily.
You were playing on easy mode!
Theeere we go. That'd do it.
See what I mean? Aggressive! Competitive!
He said, while the employee next to him is a few inches away from a meltdown.
Oh... okay...
And as for you, my fearless opponent...
No no, I need to talk to you about something quite different... and more serious.
Oh god, abandon ship, I detect something astoundingly hardheaded incoming
That's because you had that hippie do the technical maintenance tasks!
Winston! I'm shocked.
...p-pot meet kettle??? What?!?
I'll take care of it!
No, no, first things first.
Let's see, that makes... at least three separate statements that were absolutely the wrong thing to say to someone who would've maintained the servers expertly if given the chance and is very serious about their arcade high scores. Can we make it four?
What?!
I want you to spend some time with the latest training materials and technical manuals. Make sure you're up to date.
Four, he did it. Oh boy.
But I don't need training!
Now I'm just imagining his comments in each of the instruction pages. "Please do not touch the networks your IT coworkers have made and maintained except in an emergency. We have our ways, and we will find whoever touched it without checking with us."
Ah ah ah! No buts. You can always learn some more.
Can you, when you yourself wrote the materials being assigned? Also, five.
Six, oh my god.
That's just meaningless management gibberish!
Checked on it, I can kinda see where he thought that sounded smart. Emphasis on "thought." "Vertical integration" refers to a company or management style where the supply chain is owned by the company itself, such as a car manufacturer producing its own steel. This makes markedly less sense when it's literally Winston reading his own words he wrote down for other people and Duncan expecting that to improve his performance, let alone morale.
Winston, as much as I admire those qualities, I think you might be getting a little TOO determined and aggressive...
SEVEN.
Uh... rich girl!
Keep trying, Luke, maybe you'll think of something more apt eventually.
...WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!
Oh dear. It's going to be a long day.
No kidding. Yeesh.
Next time, we deal with this meltdown potpourri. See you then.
Video:
Last time, we met our new artist and had everyone take a break for a day to foist all the work on Duncan.
And now, it seems like everything's starting to come to a head...
Yeah, uhhhh, about that, Pearl-
You're one to be talking... but for once, I agree.What he said.
Me?! But why, I...As much pressure as it is for Denise, she's next in command in this office, to the point where Duncan entrusts her with a lot of what goes on here despite management status. If anyone can do something directly, it's her.
Oh boy, and even MORE is going wrong
It's bad enough that I have to share a bathroom with anyone, and worse that it's... ugh. Unisex! Man, you are so out of touch with the way the universe works.Yeaaaaaah, I get the feeling she doesn't get out of her social circles much.
Augh! You... filthy hippie! He keeps going into the bathroom and coughing all over everything, that's what's wrong!Oh. Always wondered what he was doing in there so often. Well, besides the tea, anyway. Oogh.
Man... it's no wonder I'm sick!Something she might've learned if she had ever needed to share a bathroom before. No one I've heard of, let alone met, likes that makeup cloud smell.
Denise! Oh! Be right there!Oh boy, what is it now, Duncan? We're all waiting on pins and needles.
I've been thinking. The... masculine mindset? Yes! Competitive! Fierce! Determined!Okay I think he might've actually been in the navy at this point, it sounds like a very military thing to drill it into people's heads to be every single one of those things.
And I have just the thing!To be honest, everything I've heard and done with yoga seems more intense than lifting weights, so if anything I'd expect the yoga option if he knew what he was talking about.
No, no, silly. I just want you to play this videogame! What?Since I haven't mentioned it in a while and this is a half-decent time in this circus of a situation, this is your reminder that Denise is good and pure and tries very, very hard.
All the more reason to play. It's skill building! After playing against Winston the other day and beating his high score...Somehow I doubt that heavily.
You were playing on easy mode!Theeere we go. That'd do it.
See what I mean? Aggressive! Competitive!He said, while the employee next to him is a few inches away from a meltdown.
Oh... okay... And as for you, my fearless opponent... No no, I need to talk to you about something quite different... and more serious.Oh god, abandon ship, I detect something astoundingly hardheaded incoming
That's because you had that hippie do the technical maintenance tasks! Winston! I'm shocked....p-pot meet kettle??? What?!?
I'll take care of it! No, no, first things first.Let's see, that makes... at least three separate statements that were absolutely the wrong thing to say to someone who would've maintained the servers expertly if given the chance and is very serious about their arcade high scores. Can we make it four?
What?! I want you to spend some time with the latest training materials and technical manuals. Make sure you're up to date.Four, he did it. Oh boy.
But I don't need training!Now I'm just imagining his comments in each of the instruction pages. "Please do not touch the networks your IT coworkers have made and maintained except in an emergency. We have our ways, and we will find whoever touched it without checking with us."
Ah ah ah! No buts. You can always learn some more.Can you, when you yourself wrote the materials being assigned? Also, five.
Six, oh my god.
That's just meaningless management gibberish!Checked on it, I can kinda see where he thought that sounded smart. Emphasis on "thought." "Vertical integration" refers to a company or management style where the supply chain is owned by the company itself, such as a car manufacturer producing its own steel. This makes markedly less sense when it's literally Winston reading his own words he wrote down for other people and Duncan expecting that to improve his performance, let alone morale.
Winston, as much as I admire those qualities, I think you might be getting a little TOO determined and aggressive...SEVEN.
Uh... rich girl!Keep trying, Luke, maybe you'll think of something more apt eventually.
...WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!
Oh dear. It's going to be a long day.No kidding. Yeesh.
Next time, we deal with this meltdown potpourri. See you then.
Episode 16: Gameplay Update, "Mad Mad Management"
Video:
Well, we've got our work cut out for us with the office getting ready to have a meltdown, it seems.
We've got a lot of petty cash Goals today, but otherwise, this is a pretty simple lineup. Even the thing with Denise isn't as bad as last time since it's even less time than before and it's on the Arcade Machine instead of the Water Cooler with someone else.
Winston's Stress will be tough to manage if we don't get the Arcade Machine out of the way, though, so we need to get that done as fast as we can.
Deluxe Markers, v2.0, are here! In Luke's case, it's a kombucha drink, but it's otherwise identical to the Deluxe Markers; $15 of petty cash, -90 Stress for Luke, typically used in Goals to wall you off via petty cash.
Starting positions. No starting Stress in this Episode, despite Winston's aggravation.
This'll be most of what's happening today. Pearl and Winston get stressed by Denise being at the Arcade Machine (and Winston gets just as Stressed about it as last Episode, meaning A LOT), and Ashley and Luke's trips to the Bathroom will further annoy Pearl. Not much else going on besides the same strategy we employed in Episode 12, which is to get Tasks distributed after letting them pile up a bit.
I send Pearl and Winston to the Water Cooler to keep their Stress under control. Thankfully, Pearl doesn't get on people's nerves unless she has a Goal to talk with them; I guess you could explain it as mutual griping about Duncan at the moment.
With the Tasks getting piled up, Denise gets to work spreading them around the office efficiently. Oh, and you're about to witness something I forgot about and only recently remembered, lacking a good time to bring it up. This might be more obvious to those of you watching the video, but take a look at this:
Now, aside from me misclicking on Luke's desk instead of Luke once, what happened here? Well, Ashley exited the Bathroom. For some reason, when anyone exits the Bathroom, whichever Employee you have selected is deselected. I can only assume this was a band-aid solution to a bug that would occur if you could send someone to the Bathroom the instant the door started opening.
Regardless, we can't blame it for me panicking and clicking Luke's desk in the process of trying to select him again
I managed to take the picture at the most confusing time possible, so I'll just tell you Ashley's offscreen, about to close the Bathroom door. Either way, we're back on track with work and Arcade time.
Since we're nearing the end of the day and we've just earned enough petty cash for what I want to do, a trip to OfficeTown is in order.
Three Technical Manuals are on the menu (the 4th one is for tomorrow because reasons), and you can see the Kombucha Mate for sale here. We won't be picking that up 'til tomorrow.
And now, we begin the process of Winston's...
training
Funnily enough, the guy gains Stress from reading these things in ANY Episode, not just this one, but it's even faster here.
Winston normally has a global Moodifier for reading Technical Manuals of +4. Since reading a Training Manual doesn't count as being idle, he doesn't get the -1 bonus, and this Episode gives him an additional +2 Moodifier to reading Technical Manuals, meaning he's at a +6 Moodifier, or 6 Stress per Second. Since reading a Training Manual takes 6 Seconds, Winston will gain 36 Stress for each Technical Manual he reads, so he NEEDS a break of idle time before the third one today.
Getting that second Manual done, and leaving behind some Tasks on Luke's desk for when he gets back. We don't want to get on the Arcade Machine while Winston's reading these, or he'll Burn Out easily. Thankfully for him...
Luke finishes up his fourth Bathroom visit, providing a Morale Boost to the whole office.
Oddly enough, Luke's Goal unlocks something for Ashley. It's basically identical to last Episode's Goal, but a bit longer. These two still don't mind talking together. And now that Winston's a bit calmer, we can polish off that Arcade Machine Goal.
Cutting it close on Ashley's Bathroom Goal. I'd rather not have to send her to the Bathroom for 8 whole Seconds tomorrow, so here's hoping she gets back fast enough...
With Denise's equally dubious training out of the way, we bring Winston the last Technical Manual we bought for today. The last one will be tomorrow, and it'll be quick.
Ashley finished up her Goal in the Bathroom just in time. In fact, the clock has been frozen at 0 for several Seconds, leading Winston to finish up with his Technical Manual, even if he only had 4 actual Seconds with it. All the Goal cares about is that Winston interacted with the Manual at all, not how long he spent reading it. Good thing, too, or we might've had to waste $8 of petty cash just getting another Technical Manual to make up the difference if that were the case.
Oh hey, a Goal for Duncan. Been a while since we had one for him that wasn't the Arcade Machine, so I wonder what it could be.
As it turns out, Duncan FINALLY has a Goal to actually use his own relaxation point. He's always been too busy playing on Winston's before nowor had the office real estate be occupied by Mahavir's Couch, meaning it was gone for the whole Episode and thus couldn't have a Goal for it, but shhhhhhhhhhh.
The rest of this will be extremely easy. No one really cares that Ashley and Pearl are at the Water Cooler, only Pearl cares about Duncan being at the Whiteboard (though to be fair, she has a pretty high Moodifier for it this Episode), and we've got one more that will be pretty low-impact. Petty cash won't be an issue for Luke's Kombucha Mate, either, since 4-Bar Tasks give a ton of it.
Starting positions, nothing special.
With those three getting started, it's time to buy Winston his last Technical Manual. Now, if you'll remember, Timothy and Pearl had similar Goals, and when their Goal was completed, they skipped the animation for the Training Manual completely. As such...
...we can bring Winston the last Manual and immediately send him to where he's next needed.
Turns out Winston has a copy of Duncan's Goal, but for the Arcade Machine. Both will be pretty easy, as long as we keep an eye on Pearl's growing irritation with Duncan's flowcharts.
Thankfully, Winston being on the Arcade Machine doesn't bother her very much, so she can still calm down a little while at the Water Cooler when Duncan's busy helping us with Tasks periodically.
Getting there. Just a bit more of this, and we'll be done within 2 Days, easy. Good to see that back again, and all it took was Goals that could numerically be done in that time.
So, uh... sending Luke to the Bathroom was kind of a mistake, since Pearl's already gaining enough Stress from the other two. I wind up having to juggle Duncan around just to make sure Pearl doesn't Burn Out.
Good thing Winston finishes up to calm her down enough for Duncan to come back.
Duncan's finally done drawing nonsense graphs, so we can have him handle the Art Tasks coming in until Ashley's done somehow enjoying Pearl's company.
Finally, we have enough petty cash to get Luke his kombucha, as well as plenty of time to deliver it since he's right here by the storage cubbies instead of on the opposite end of the office.
The store flavor text, for those of you who like seeing the different descriptions.
Yeah, this won't even be close.
Since Ashley's always been in the Bathroom while her Goals were completed, we haven't seen this sprite yet. It's kinda neat, though I'm having a hard time deciding whether diamonds in her eyes are cute or just weird-looking.
And with Luke downing three bottles of kombucha, still probably healthier than whatever his homemade tea was...
...we wrap up the Episode. Been a while since we could 2-Day something, but this was a lot less tense than most 2-Days in Season 2. Weird, but...
Next time, this office can't even. See you then.
Goal Writeup
Time Per Day: 140 Seconds
Task Types
Connecting
Checking Status: Online
Chatroom Created
Okay, now it's just weird. This doesn't really affect the office at all, aside from getting likely the most competent Task-working employee on the team eternally on his bad side.
You're telling me. There's no salvaging what just happened in that regard. At least ripple effects from his previous plans are catching up to him, finally.
I told you, didn't I? Now, you just wait until the quality of ALL the work going down from that shore leave has been noticed. Things'll kick into high gear, and the hammer will be poised right where you want it, waiting for things to get any worse.
God, I hope so. This whole trip to central has felt like a gross waste of time and human resources, despite the experience it's given Denise.
I'm inclined to think the experience was worth at least a bit of this, but I'm not about to let it go on much longer if things don't take a sudden turn for the better. It's embarrassing to watch, really.
You're still not over how brainless management in the middle tiers of the company looks compared to what you expect of the upper echelons each day, are you?
Not even close to being over it. Who knows if I'd have tried fixing that too if there was any time left for it, but hey, first things first. Denise'll be ready one of these days, and then I'll get started with what's to come.
Still waiting on whatever that is, you know.
And I still insist that you'll know what you'll need to. Heck, maybe I ought to get YOU a coffee this time. Last time was pretty nice, and I AM stuck keeping a lot from you about what's going forward.
Alright, then. That'll be nice, but just the regular stuff. Whatever the heck your preferred blend does to you looks unnerving.
I'll get you to try it one of these days, you know. Take a sip of this stuff, and you'll realize just how much you can accomplish in an hour. See you then?
Yeah, sure. Seeya.
Chatroom Closed
Video:Well, we've got our work cut out for us with the office getting ready to have a meltdown, it seems.
We've got a lot of petty cash Goals today, but otherwise, this is a pretty simple lineup. Even the thing with Denise isn't as bad as last time since it's even less time than before and it's on the Arcade Machine instead of the Water Cooler with someone else.
Winston's Stress will be tough to manage if we don't get the Arcade Machine out of the way, though, so we need to get that done as fast as we can.
Deluxe Markers, v2.0, are here! In Luke's case, it's a kombucha drink, but it's otherwise identical to the Deluxe Markers; $15 of petty cash, -90 Stress for Luke, typically used in Goals to wall you off via petty cash.
Starting positions. No starting Stress in this Episode, despite Winston's aggravation.
This'll be most of what's happening today. Pearl and Winston get stressed by Denise being at the Arcade Machine (and Winston gets just as Stressed about it as last Episode, meaning A LOT), and Ashley and Luke's trips to the Bathroom will further annoy Pearl. Not much else going on besides the same strategy we employed in Episode 12, which is to get Tasks distributed after letting them pile up a bit.
I send Pearl and Winston to the Water Cooler to keep their Stress under control. Thankfully, Pearl doesn't get on people's nerves unless she has a Goal to talk with them; I guess you could explain it as mutual griping about Duncan at the moment.
With the Tasks getting piled up, Denise gets to work spreading them around the office efficiently. Oh, and you're about to witness something I forgot about and only recently remembered, lacking a good time to bring it up. This might be more obvious to those of you watching the video, but take a look at this:
Now, aside from me misclicking on Luke's desk instead of Luke once, what happened here? Well, Ashley exited the Bathroom. For some reason, when anyone exits the Bathroom, whichever Employee you have selected is deselected. I can only assume this was a band-aid solution to a bug that would occur if you could send someone to the Bathroom the instant the door started opening.
Regardless, we can't blame it for me panicking and clicking Luke's desk in the process of trying to select him again
I managed to take the picture at the most confusing time possible, so I'll just tell you Ashley's offscreen, about to close the Bathroom door. Either way, we're back on track with work and Arcade time.
Since we're nearing the end of the day and we've just earned enough petty cash for what I want to do, a trip to OfficeTown is in order.
Three Technical Manuals are on the menu (the 4th one is for tomorrow because reasons), and you can see the Kombucha Mate for sale here. We won't be picking that up 'til tomorrow.
And now, we begin the process of Winston's...
training Funnily enough, the guy gains Stress from reading these things in ANY Episode, not just this one, but it's even faster here.
Winston normally has a global Moodifier for reading Technical Manuals of +4. Since reading a Training Manual doesn't count as being idle, he doesn't get the -1 bonus, and this Episode gives him an additional +2 Moodifier to reading Technical Manuals, meaning he's at a +6 Moodifier, or 6 Stress per Second. Since reading a Training Manual takes 6 Seconds, Winston will gain 36 Stress for each Technical Manual he reads, so he NEEDS a break of idle time before the third one today.
Getting that second Manual done, and leaving behind some Tasks on Luke's desk for when he gets back. We don't want to get on the Arcade Machine while Winston's reading these, or he'll Burn Out easily. Thankfully for him...
Luke finishes up his fourth Bathroom visit, providing a Morale Boost to the whole office.
Oddly enough, Luke's Goal unlocks something for Ashley. It's basically identical to last Episode's Goal, but a bit longer. These two still don't mind talking together. And now that Winston's a bit calmer, we can polish off that Arcade Machine Goal.
Cutting it close on Ashley's Bathroom Goal. I'd rather not have to send her to the Bathroom for 8 whole Seconds tomorrow, so here's hoping she gets back fast enough...
With Denise's equally dubious training out of the way, we bring Winston the last Technical Manual we bought for today. The last one will be tomorrow, and it'll be quick.
Ashley finished up her Goal in the Bathroom just in time. In fact, the clock has been frozen at 0 for several Seconds, leading Winston to finish up with his Technical Manual, even if he only had 4 actual Seconds with it. All the Goal cares about is that Winston interacted with the Manual at all, not how long he spent reading it. Good thing, too, or we might've had to waste $8 of petty cash just getting another Technical Manual to make up the difference if that were the case.
Oh hey, a Goal for Duncan. Been a while since we had one for him that wasn't the Arcade Machine, so I wonder what it could be.
As it turns out, Duncan FINALLY has a Goal to actually use his own relaxation point. He's always been too busy playing on Winston's before now
The rest of this will be extremely easy. No one really cares that Ashley and Pearl are at the Water Cooler, only Pearl cares about Duncan being at the Whiteboard (though to be fair, she has a pretty high Moodifier for it this Episode), and we've got one more that will be pretty low-impact. Petty cash won't be an issue for Luke's Kombucha Mate, either, since 4-Bar Tasks give a ton of it.
Starting positions, nothing special.
With those three getting started, it's time to buy Winston his last Technical Manual. Now, if you'll remember, Timothy and Pearl had similar Goals, and when their Goal was completed, they skipped the animation for the Training Manual completely. As such...
...we can bring Winston the last Manual and immediately send him to where he's next needed.
Turns out Winston has a copy of Duncan's Goal, but for the Arcade Machine. Both will be pretty easy, as long as we keep an eye on Pearl's growing irritation with Duncan's flowcharts.
Thankfully, Winston being on the Arcade Machine doesn't bother her very much, so she can still calm down a little while at the Water Cooler when Duncan's busy helping us with Tasks periodically.
Getting there. Just a bit more of this, and we'll be done within 2 Days, easy. Good to see that back again, and all it took was Goals that could numerically be done in that time.
So, uh... sending Luke to the Bathroom was kind of a mistake, since Pearl's already gaining enough Stress from the other two. I wind up having to juggle Duncan around just to make sure Pearl doesn't Burn Out.
Good thing Winston finishes up to calm her down enough for Duncan to come back.
Duncan's finally done drawing nonsense graphs, so we can have him handle the Art Tasks coming in until Ashley's done somehow enjoying Pearl's company.
Finally, we have enough petty cash to get Luke his kombucha, as well as plenty of time to deliver it since he's right here by the storage cubbies instead of on the opposite end of the office.
The store flavor text, for those of you who like seeing the different descriptions.
Yeah, this won't even be close.
Since Ashley's always been in the Bathroom while her Goals were completed, we haven't seen this sprite yet. It's kinda neat, though I'm having a hard time deciding whether diamonds in her eyes are cute or just weird-looking.
And with Luke downing three bottles of kombucha, still probably healthier than whatever his homemade tea was...
...we wrap up the Episode. Been a while since we could 2-Day something, but this was a lot less tense than most 2-Days in Season 2. Weird, but...
Next time, this office can't even. See you then.
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%
- 1-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 8-10 Seconds: 66.6%
- 2-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 10-13 Seconds: 33.3%
- 3-Bar Tasks: 66.6%
- 4-Bar Tasks: 33.3%
- "Duncan wants Denise to try playing the arcade machine. (60 Seconds)"
- "Freshen up in the bathroom six times. (6 Bathroom Visits; 48 Seconds)" Unlocks Optional Goal #2
- "Go to the bathroom four times. (4 Bathroom Visits; 32 Seconds)" Unlocks Optional Goal #3
- "Drink three bottles of Kombucha Mate from OfficeTown. (3 Kombucha Mates)"
- "Duncan wants Winston to read four technical manuals. (4 Technical Manuals)" Unlocks Optional Goal #1
- "Play all the way through challenge mode on the arcade machine, within one day. (60 Seconds, One Day Rush)"
- "Finish drafting some flowcharts on the whiteboard, within one day. (60 Seconds, One Day Rush)"
- "Get the scoop on this office by gossiping with Pearl at the water cooler. (90 Seconds)"
Connecting
Checking Status: Online
Chatroom Created
Okay, now it's just weird. This doesn't really affect the office at all, aside from getting likely the most competent Task-working employee on the team eternally on his bad side. You're telling me. There's no salvaging what just happened in that regard. At least ripple effects from his previous plans are catching up to him, finally. I told you, didn't I? Now, you just wait until the quality of ALL the work going down from that shore leave has been noticed. Things'll kick into high gear, and the hammer will be poised right where you want it, waiting for things to get any worse. God, I hope so. This whole trip to central has felt like a gross waste of time and human resources, despite the experience it's given Denise. I'm inclined to think the experience was worth at least a bit of this, but I'm not about to let it go on much longer if things don't take a sudden turn for the better. It's embarrassing to watch, really. You're still not over how brainless management in the middle tiers of the company looks compared to what you expect of the upper echelons each day, are you? Not even close to being over it. Who knows if I'd have tried fixing that too if there was any time left for it, but hey, first things first. Denise'll be ready one of these days, and then I'll get started with what's to come. Still waiting on whatever that is, you know. And I still insist that you'll know what you'll need to. Heck, maybe I ought to get YOU a coffee this time. Last time was pretty nice, and I AM stuck keeping a lot from you about what's going forward. Alright, then. That'll be nice, but just the regular stuff. Whatever the heck your preferred blend does to you looks unnerving. I'll get you to try it one of these days, you know. Take a sip of this stuff, and you'll realize just how much you can accomplish in an hour. See you then? Yeah, sure. Seeya.Chatroom Closed
See, I keep thinking that, but Manuals have a gigantic time sink to get going and Coffee just doubles her low Work Rates to 6. If you plan to give her a Manual, you need a purpose for what she's doing, and unfortunately, dealing with shuffling tasks around is faster. There may eventually come a time where there's no good substitute for a deficient character, though, allowing Training Manuals to seize the moment they've been waiting for.
Episode 17: Story Update
Video:
Well, last Episode was a horrific couple of days for Winston. And this time...
Huh. He's back, it seems. I wonder who could have possibly left to make room for him.
Well, I guess we can see what Pearl and Ashley have been bonding over.
He said he was a lawyer, but then I find out he's only passed the bar in South Dakota!
Well... I guess describing it as "gossiping" wasn't inaccurate. Hm.
You poor dear. Men are such liars!
I wonder if her overbearing personality carries over to her home life or if it's something else entirely.
That's not the worst of it.
The creep wouldn't stop hitting on me. He followed me for a block!
Stereotypes from 2007 I assume are oof aside, that sounds... kinda familiar.
Oh yeah, this was in the thumbnail, huh
Oh Mahavir, I'm so glad you're back!
You are?
Winston's taken off, he refuses to work in the same office as Duncan, and...
That's the guy, he must have stalked me into the office!
Aaaaaand there was a reason it sounded familiar, it seems.
Someone call the police before I faint!
How could I not, such an enchanting pearl?
Nah, Pearl's standing next to her
Surely the oyster from which you sprang was not of this Earth!
Uh...
She winters in the Azores, I'll have you know!
You must allow me the pleasure of showing you around the office.
Welp, if that line completely bombing didn't kill his enthusiasm, nothing will.
We've got work to get done, and I want to see a ship of sailors, not a pack of effeminate gossips!
None taken, sir!
Duncan, that's the face of a guy who knows you had a picture of him hanging in your office before he even got here, I don't think he'll be changing his wardrobe any time soon.Seriously I never noticed that picture in here before or the fact that it was here before Mahavir ever set foot in Central, like wow.
There it is, there's the ripples from shore leave. I know enough about higher-higher-ups to know this is about to get rough for him. ...and us, by extension.
Well, regardless of 'human resource' policies such as that, we still have to get the work done...
What, like with a whip?
You wish.
I need you all to step up the pace, hm? Let's pull together and make it a team effort! Now move along!
You say that as if this team was able to deal with him without casualties so far. We lost our best Employee already.
But wasn't it your idea to come here?
Look, we don't have time to bicker.
Maybe we should start with those two up there? Seems like a meltdown waiting to happen.
Just try to keep people from getting stressed out. I hear there's a lot of work coming down the pipeline!
Oh, man...
As someone who's looking at the Goal list right now, are you really sure about that, Denise?
I wonder what keeps him going, despite knowing she doesn't understand a word of his style of flirting. And also is after lawyers rather than office workers who don't even do work equal to their English Lit doctorate.
Next time, we handle a weirdly lax set of Goals. See you then.
Video:
Well, last Episode was a horrific couple of days for Winston. And this time...
Huh. He's back, it seems. I wonder who could have possibly left to make room for him.
Well, I guess we can see what Pearl and Ashley have been bonding over.
He said he was a lawyer, but then I find out he's only passed the bar in South Dakota!Well... I guess describing it as "gossiping" wasn't inaccurate. Hm.
You poor dear. Men are such liars!I wonder if her overbearing personality carries over to her home life or if it's something else entirely.
That's not the worst of it. The creep wouldn't stop hitting on me. He followed me for a block!Stereotypes from 2007 I assume are oof aside, that sounds... kinda familiar.
Oh yeah, this was in the thumbnail, huh
Oh Mahavir, I'm so glad you're back!You are?
Winston's taken off, he refuses to work in the same office as Duncan, and... That's the guy, he must have stalked me into the office!Aaaaaand there was a reason it sounded familiar, it seems.
Someone call the police before I faint! How could I not, such an enchanting pearl?Nah, Pearl's standing next to her
Surely the oyster from which you sprang was not of this Earth! Uh... She winters in the Azores, I'll have you know! You must allow me the pleasure of showing you around the office.Welp, if that line completely bombing didn't kill his enthusiasm, nothing will.
We've got work to get done, and I want to see a ship of sailors, not a pack of effeminate gossips! None taken, sir!Duncan, that's the face of a guy who knows you had a picture of him hanging in your office before he even got here, I don't think he'll be changing his wardrobe any time soon.
There it is, there's the ripples from shore leave. I know enough about higher-higher-ups to know this is about to get rough for him. ...and us, by extension.
Well, regardless of 'human resource' policies such as that, we still have to get the work done... What, like with a whip?You wish.
I need you all to step up the pace, hm? Let's pull together and make it a team effort! Now move along!You say that as if this team was able to deal with him without casualties so far. We lost our best Employee already.
But wasn't it your idea to come here? Look, we don't have time to bicker.Maybe we should start with those two up there? Seems like a meltdown waiting to happen.
Just try to keep people from getting stressed out. I hear there's a lot of work coming down the pipeline! Oh, man...As someone who's looking at the Goal list right now, are you really sure about that, Denise?
I wonder what keeps him going, despite knowing she doesn't understand a word of his style of flirting. And also is after lawyers rather than office workers who don't even do work equal to their English Lit doctorate.
Next time, we handle a weirdly lax set of Goals. See you then.
We can only guess, but my guess is that it's some sort of a male-only work-out or sports magazine because you can see the back of the guy on the cover.
That or pirate adventure books. He's got to have got those nautical metaphors from somewhere.
Episode 17: Gameplay Update, "The Stress Test"
Video:
Well, I know Denise said this wasn't gonna be easy, but...
...yeaaaaah, it's not looking like much. It won't be as much of a landslide as you'd think from this, but this won't be a challenge to 2-Day as long as we have our priorities straight.
Ashley's Task Goal will have a bit of a speed bump due to one simple reason: there are no Art Tasks this Episode. We're gonna have to juggle those Tasks around to get them done in a timely manner. Once that's over with, Ashley will do basically nothing except maybe take an overflow Task or two. ...she's not very good this Episode.
Starting positions, Mahavir's the only one with starting Stress. Odd, considering the office-wide discontent, but ah well.
And here we have our first position to work with. Now, you might be remembering how Tara needed the AC to talk with Mahavir for extended periods of time. In Ashley's case... well...
She is slightly more than mildly annoyed by him. Guess she's at the point where she's just rolling her eyes, for the most part.
I give Luke and Duncan some Tasks to whittle down for Ashley, but I forgot that Duncan's Whiteboard was gone to make room for Mahavir's Couch. Whoops. I still wind up giving him the Financial Tasks since I don't want Pearl working right now, even after I realize I can't shuffle Tasks around with him.
Those two are almost done with their talk, so it's almost time to get Ashley back to her desk to figure out how sending an email works.
With Mahavir finally realizing that Ashley can barely even respond to his pick-up lines without misinterpreting every last metaphor he uses, we have her head back to her desk to finally start working. Some of the Tasks in that stack aren't previously worked, but I need her working on SOMETHING productively while the others get more ready for her.
I head to OfficeTown to get Ashley a Coffee. ...it's not gonna help very much, I'll be real with you, but it'll be some level of more productive. Oh, and notice how the Red Classique Stapler is back in stock? That may or may not be relevant.Do I even need to state that, of course it's relevant.
Like I said, it's not helping much since it just doubles her extremely low numbers, but it's something to make this more bearable.
Ashley's getting overwhelmed by basic work programs, so we send her to the Bathroom to freshen up and relax. We can get some Tasks ready for her in the meantime.
Finally done... maybe now we can work on the Radio Goal a bit for tomorrow.
Oh right, and this Goal. You might think it's just having Duncan do 20 Tasks, but it's actually even easier than that.
Literally just "Do your jobs for long enough after unlocking this Optional Goal ASAP."
Well, not much happened today, huh. It's almost like the Goal list was really short and didn't have much going on except Task shuffling.
The most unique thing is me sending those two to the Water Cooler to keep from gaining Stress from the Radio. And even then, it's not really needed.
On the bright side, we kept anyone from Burning Out, so we can move on with this particular Goal.
Oh boy, this Goal. It'll make things more interesting, thankfully.
A Denise Goal! And it's a lot like the Arcade, except the Water Cooler is much closer to the center of the office and we need to keep Pearl there as well. That's more interactive than whatever yesterday was, easily.
Starting positions, starting reminders. Scarce today for obvious reasons.
Time to take advantage of the initial time we have to speak with Pearl before more and more Tasks come in. We'll need some supplies soon, though... ones we couldn't afford back in Episode 12.
As such, we head to OfficeTown the moment things start picking up.
Time to grab a couple Diet Sodas, and now's the time when we ought to grab the Red Classique Stapler. It'll save a shopping trip later.
Are you prepared for SPEEEEEEEED?!
God that's beautiful...
So yeah, when you're not being shaken down for all the petty cash in the universe for the world's greatest markers, Diet Sodas are the name of the game for getting Tasks distributed quickly. Remember this. Remember it well.
Oh yeah, and we're done blasting the office with a somewhat inefficient device in our current setup. And as you might expect...
There it is. You knew it had to be coming, right? Super manly man's man of a manager needs the finest of all staplers sourced from extremely apt movies.
Oh right, and our regularly-scheduled interruption because we did all the green things.
We begin making progress again, and I show off the Goal text you're going to see at the end of the update anyway. Ah well!
Tasks pile up, Denise chugs a soda. A tale as old as time itself, one that will continue to be told into the future.
Duncan gets his enviable stapler, and we pass out the Tasks lickety-split. ...when's the last time I've heard that phrase, now that I'm typing it? "Lickety-split." Hm.
With everybody busy working and this lecture nearly over, we're all set to finish the day. Not even Ashley's slow enough to mess this up.
See, there we go. Before we finished with Pearl, even.
And Pearl's done spouting management platitudes with a quarter of the day to spare, too!
This was a really weird Episode in terms of gameplay, seriously. The Goal list was so TINY with such small numbers all around. I'm not sure what happened here or if this was like a template for an earlier level that got shifted around.
Next time, we finally have an Outro this Season. Only took us getting to the Episode that's always had an Outro so far to do it. Finally. ...see you then.
Goal Writeup
Time Per Day: 140 Seconds
Task Types
Video:Well, I know Denise said this wasn't gonna be easy, but...
...yeaaaaah, it's not looking like much. It won't be as much of a landslide as you'd think from this, but this won't be a challenge to 2-Day as long as we have our priorities straight.
Ashley's Task Goal will have a bit of a speed bump due to one simple reason: there are no Art Tasks this Episode. We're gonna have to juggle those Tasks around to get them done in a timely manner. Once that's over with, Ashley will do basically nothing except maybe take an overflow Task or two. ...she's not very good this Episode.
Starting positions, Mahavir's the only one with starting Stress. Odd, considering the office-wide discontent, but ah well.
And here we have our first position to work with. Now, you might be remembering how Tara needed the AC to talk with Mahavir for extended periods of time. In Ashley's case... well...
She is slightly more than mildly annoyed by him. Guess she's at the point where she's just rolling her eyes, for the most part.
I give Luke and Duncan some Tasks to whittle down for Ashley, but I forgot that Duncan's Whiteboard was gone to make room for Mahavir's Couch. Whoops. I still wind up giving him the Financial Tasks since I don't want Pearl working right now, even after I realize I can't shuffle Tasks around with him.
Those two are almost done with their talk, so it's almost time to get Ashley back to her desk to figure out how sending an email works.
With Mahavir finally realizing that Ashley can barely even respond to his pick-up lines without misinterpreting every last metaphor he uses, we have her head back to her desk to finally start working. Some of the Tasks in that stack aren't previously worked, but I need her working on SOMETHING productively while the others get more ready for her.
I head to OfficeTown to get Ashley a Coffee. ...it's not gonna help very much, I'll be real with you, but it'll be some level of more productive. Oh, and notice how the Red Classique Stapler is back in stock? That may or may not be relevant.
Like I said, it's not helping much since it just doubles her extremely low numbers, but it's something to make this more bearable.
Ashley's getting overwhelmed by basic work programs, so we send her to the Bathroom to freshen up and relax. We can get some Tasks ready for her in the meantime.
Finally done... maybe now we can work on the Radio Goal a bit for tomorrow.
Oh right, and this Goal. You might think it's just having Duncan do 20 Tasks, but it's actually even easier than that.
Literally just "Do your jobs for long enough after unlocking this Optional Goal ASAP."
Well, not much happened today, huh. It's almost like the Goal list was really short and didn't have much going on except Task shuffling.
The most unique thing is me sending those two to the Water Cooler to keep from gaining Stress from the Radio. And even then, it's not really needed.
On the bright side, we kept anyone from Burning Out, so we can move on with this particular Goal.
Oh boy, this Goal. It'll make things more interesting, thankfully.
A Denise Goal! And it's a lot like the Arcade, except the Water Cooler is much closer to the center of the office and we need to keep Pearl there as well. That's more interactive than whatever yesterday was, easily.
Starting positions, starting reminders. Scarce today for obvious reasons.
Time to take advantage of the initial time we have to speak with Pearl before more and more Tasks come in. We'll need some supplies soon, though... ones we couldn't afford back in Episode 12.
As such, we head to OfficeTown the moment things start picking up.
Time to grab a couple Diet Sodas, and now's the time when we ought to grab the Red Classique Stapler. It'll save a shopping trip later.
Are you prepared for SPEEEEEEEED?!
God that's beautiful...
So yeah, when you're not being shaken down for all the petty cash in the universe for the world's greatest markers, Diet Sodas are the name of the game for getting Tasks distributed quickly. Remember this. Remember it well.
Oh yeah, and we're done blasting the office with a somewhat inefficient device in our current setup. And as you might expect...
There it is. You knew it had to be coming, right? Super manly man's man of a manager needs the finest of all staplers sourced from extremely apt movies.
Oh right, and our regularly-scheduled interruption because we did all the green things.
We begin making progress again, and I show off the Goal text you're going to see at the end of the update anyway. Ah well!
Tasks pile up, Denise chugs a soda. A tale as old as time itself, one that will continue to be told into the future.
Duncan gets his enviable stapler, and we pass out the Tasks lickety-split. ...when's the last time I've heard that phrase, now that I'm typing it? "Lickety-split." Hm.
With everybody busy working and this lecture nearly over, we're all set to finish the day. Not even Ashley's slow enough to mess this up.
See, there we go. Before we finished with Pearl, even.
And Pearl's done spouting management platitudes with a quarter of the day to spare, too!
This was a really weird Episode in terms of gameplay, seriously. The Goal list was so TINY with such small numbers all around. I'm not sure what happened here or if this was like a template for an earlier level that got shifted around.
Next time, we finally have an Outro this Season. Only took us getting to the Episode that's always had an Outro so far to do it. Finally. ...see you then.
Goal Writeup
Time Per Day: 140 Seconds
Task Types
- Financial Tasks: 33.3%
- Technical Tasks: 33.3%
- Writing Tasks: 33.3%
- 2-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 10-13 Seconds: 100%
- 3-Bar Tasks: 66.6%
- 4-Bar Tasks: 33.3%
- "Make sure no one stresses out for one day. (No Burnout)" Unlocks Optional Goal #2
- "Listen to the radio for a while. (60 Seconds)" Unlocks Optional Goal #3
- "Chat up this new girl Ashley at the water cooler. (60 Seconds)"
- "Complete ten tasks just in case Daddy calls to check up. (10 Tasks)" Unlocks Optional Goal #1
- "Have the office complete twenty tasks overall. (20 Tasks)"
- "Lecture Denise about management at the water cooler. (60 Seconds)"
- "Get one of these Classique staplers he's heard so much about. (1 Red Classique Stapler)"