I had an idea for a story and I posted the beginning in October 2022. Here it is to read.
My sister burst into tears after looking at her phone.
I glanced at her. Did she break up with her boyfriend again?
“Remember to rate Shelly Dublin’s service,” my computer said into my headphones.
I tapped the rating for two-stars and gave a bland reason why. Shelly deserved less after taking months to finally answer my request. By the email chain, she started working on my issue yesterday. No matter how poor her service was, I couldn’t give her one star.
A billion one-star reviews meant death. The government decided to get rid of anyone who wasn’t a productive member of society. Everything everyone did was rated. Forgot to tie a shoe one-star. It came untied within a few hours one-star. Afternoon untied two-stars. Forget to review someone one-star.
I turned my status to off for a ten-minute break. If I was late to work, I’d get one-star.
“Kelsey, what’s up?” I asked her.
She held up her phone and showed me her rating of 998,866 one-star reviews. If she received 1,134 more, she’d die.
-K.A.