On the Run

At one of the many Cube Cities cursed by my employment, I learned an important lesson.

In Cube City, you are always on the run.

In this particular case, it was a run to the bank every pay day. The company didn't have direct deposit and distributed paychecks to us twice per month. After six months on the job, the paychecks started bouncing.

At first, I thought perhaps there was a glitch in the system. I was relatively new to Cube City and didn't really understand that a bouncing paycheck usually isn't accidental. After about three bouncing paychecks, I started to catch on. I updated my resume, starting applying for jobs, and made sure I was at my desk when paychecks were passed out. I would avoid bathroom and lunch breaks on pay day to ensure my availability since the paycheck distributor insisted on personally handing your hot check to you.

That's when the running began. My fellow cube dwellers and I had discovered that there was enough money in the bank each pay period for about three of the 20 employees to deposit checks without consequence. So we all tended to dash to the bank as soon as we received our checks. If it had been a real running race, I would've called it the Pay Day 5k since my bank was about three miles away from Cube City. I had to practice a few times to get it right and often felt like I was running uphill against faster people. I eventually found my stride. I think I won the race one time, and it's really sad to feel victorious about that. But when you're on the run, you have to keep your eye on the finish line and hope that your hard training pays off.

We all received reimbursements for non-sufficient fund charges, but we lived one paycheck behind while the company tried to catch up. That was hard on those of us who were just starting out in Cube City.

I developed some strong leg muscles because of the bouncing paycheck experience. But like any race, the Pay Day 5k had to end. I was tired. I had to run away from that company in order to collect all of my earned winnings and prevent serious injury. So I opted for a lower-impact job that wouldn't give me as much of a run for my money.