Algorithms

6

I'd held out as long as I could, working for Declan's Jewelry. I don't know if it was some sort of stubbornness or just my old habits, dying hard. Almost every other business had either been absorbed or put out of business by The Store. I could have jumped ship sooner, as it was inevitable that I would eventually have to work there. But for some reason I hadn't.

I hadn't loved the job at Declan's. I was good at my job, but I got paid less than I do at The Store. I got discounted jewelry as well, but I never wore it. The gemstones and necklaces sitting in my dusty velvet-lined jewelry box certainly weren't the pull. I think maybe I just liked Declan, the grumpy old Irishman whom you'd never expect to be an expert in women's jewelry.

When Declan's finally closed I had to move to The Store—by then they controlled nearly all sales. They had me take an ability test and the algorithms placed me in the job they thought suited me best. I didn't even have to interview, or make a resume. Just a test. The job they gave me was tedious and dull. Anyone could have done it. I thought I was smarter than that, or at least more skilled at sales—I had experience at Declan's, after all. But I guess I wasn't.

One day I mentioned that to Marc, partly because I really couldn't see why he had the same job I had. He was obviously intelligent, and a hard worker.

"Do you really think they're trying to put you in something you enjoy?" He asked.

"Well no, but... I guess I just thought I was better than this. I can do more than this."

"That's the whole point. People like us, the intelligent ones, they need to keep us bored. We wouldn't be good in charge, but we are smart enough to do more than we do. Why do you think you get a discount? It's not just because they're giving you a benefit. It's because you'll buy more, especially since you're around this stuff all day." He lightly kicked one of the larger boxes on the floor near us.

"But why wouldn't they want to use us to our full potential?" I asked.

Marc sat down on the box and made a half-smile, half-grimace. "Because then we'd be happy, and then we would be worse consumers. The more time we spend bored at work, the more we spend on things that entertain us outside of work. It's sort of brilliant, actually. But it sucks for us."

"Do you really think that's true?"

"Yes. I do. I mean, when you get out of work, and you feel like all you did was hit your head against the wall all day, that's when you see the ads for the virtual experiences, or the movies, or the guided trips, or the amusement parks. And then you think, 'wow, my life is dull. It would be amazing to go do that', and then you pull out your wallet."

"I guess. But that's just how advertising works, Marc. It's not a conspiracy."

"That's how it used to work. But now, they control the information. They control what you see and when you see it. They know what you've looked at online, and then they tailor ads towards you. That's what I mean about something real. I just know there must be more out there, but I can't get to it--can't even get to information on it—because it doesn't make them a profit."

I was starting to feel that this wasn't a conversation we should be having with cameras present, so after a pause I just said, "Well, you've given me a lot to think about," and went back to work.

Maybe what Marc was saying was true, and maybe it extended to everything. Why was I paying so much for the dating sites and algorithms if they weren't working for me? No one just met at a bar or through friends anymore, as my parents had. We were told that without the guaranteed compatibility the algorithms provided, it would never work. They would point out the soaring divorce rates before the dating sites. But was that even true? Was anything true? I started to get a headache so I took the rest of the day off.

I went to a park and just sat on a bench, watching the other people. They were all wearing expensive sports gear and playing with the best equipment money could buy. Not even a day at the park was free anymore. I walked home instead of taking the bus (something I'm not sure I'd ever done) and when I got there I removed myself from all of the dating sites. I thought I would feel panicked, paralyzed at the thought that I might never meet anyone. But I didn't—as I looked at my less-cluttered screen, I felt free.