STRESS BALL

Pete didn’t enjoy his job, it was high intensity, tight deadlines, a lot of pressure. Pete was the primary client quality assurance officer at Softwork International… He checked the logos were straight on promotional stress balls.

These weren’t high quality stress balls, they cracked and lost their colour in the sun, but they were cheap. Three sizes, 288 custom hues, free delivery for orders over £100. Pete tried not to think about how many were thrown away the moment they were given out. He tried not to think about how little people thought about his work.

~

Angie didn’t enjoy her job, it was high intensity, tight deadlines, a lot of pressure. But when it got too much, she’d take out of her desk drawer a small blue ball of foam plastic. The logo had flaked away about twelve years ago leaving a glue ghost that read ‘Aquatec Painting Solutions Ltd.’ but she didn’t keep it to remember the company.

From every trade show, Angie’s father would return with a gift. A pen engraved with the name of a defunct print shop. A neon pink t-shirt with a mustard yellow inspirational slogan. A music box that tinkled out a jingle. Angie had lost them all but for some reason she still had this ball.

She gave it a squeeze and felt dad squeeze back.

ANAX