A Fable
Once upon a time there was a little company. It was very small and only had a very small amount of money. Despite this it had a good game that people liked to play. The company was happy that people liked the game and tried hard to help the players. Sometimes the players were unhappy and wanted more from the company and when this happened the company would try to see if it was possible. Sometimes it wasn’t possible and the players had to be told that it wouldn’t happen, sometimes it wasn’t possible to explain the reasons for this either and so the players would grow angry with the company. Still the game was good and people liked to play it. The people who ran the company sometimes made mistakes but they always tried to do the best thing.
Then the company got a new game, the new game was going to be even better than the old game and a lot of people got really excited. The new game was going to make everyone very rich and so the company was given a lot of money to make sure that the new game would be a big success. The company bought a shiny new office and lots of shiny new computers with shiny new employees to sit in front of them and work hard for the players. This shiny new office was across the sea from the old company office and the people in charge of the company stayed in the old office while everyone else travelled across the sea.
For a while everything was good. The new game looked very exciting and the company spent a lot of money telling people about it. Lots of people were hired to look after the new game and a lot of these people were very clever and knew a lot about how to make games a success. The people at the old office however became unhappy because they were not so important to the game’s success anymore. So they made sure that they made all the decisions themselves instead of leaving it to the clever people at the new office. They tried to make important plans which the clever people pointed out wouldn’t work but the people in charge didn’t listen. Then the plans failed just like the clever people said they would and the people in charge got angry.
‘Our plans are good!’ they said. ‘The only reason that they don’t work is because you don’t obey us. We are the clever ones not you and you should listen to what we say.’
And the clever people at the new and shiny office mostly stopped caring at that point and started looking for new jobs.
The End.





July 2nd, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Aesop, eat your heart out.
July 2nd, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Ah… I see what you did there!
July 2nd, 2009 at 3:38 pm
And they all lived happily ever aft…. no wait…
July 2nd, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Thanks for the story!
July 2nd, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Nice one. Didn’t know you have a weblog.:)
July 2nd, 2009 at 3:50 pm
You Sir, deserve 1 big fat KUDO!
Thanks for this buddy, made my day just a little brighter!
July 2nd, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Excellent
July 2nd, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Couldn’t say that better meself
July 2nd, 2009 at 4:04 pm
That’s a great fable but luckily reality can’t be as silly as that can it? Noooo surely not!
July 2nd, 2009 at 4:16 pm
If I am ever, a boss, I will try to hire only the people that I am willing to listen. I would save my money and their time…
That was so sad, and so true : /
July 2nd, 2009 at 4:16 pm
There’s a missing part in this story…
How about people at the old office firing clever people at the new and shiny office ?
July 2nd, 2009 at 4:18 pm
..which actually does not matter as the game is fatally flawed….
July 2nd, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Well well … isn`t that something we`ve heard before?
Some people just never learn …. just a shame that it`s always the wrong folks who pay the price …
July 2nd, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Hi Ian! Thanks for this funny story that never happened! I would be pissed, if a company behaved like that.
July 2nd, 2009 at 5:33 pm
((in a Dalek voice))
“You must obey!!! Exterminate! Exterminate!”
July 2nd, 2009 at 5:33 pm
The sadest thing about this story that never happened is that the clever people were not only clever… They cared and felt for what they did, they were passionate.
May the passion stay and benefit people who listen.
July 2nd, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Such A nice fairy tale….kinda remind me of something…but I can’t point it out…hum…
July 2nd, 2009 at 6:55 pm
The clever people tried, really tried. That’s what makes me so sad about this purely fictional tale. I just hope that enthusiasm and desire hasn’t been burnt out of them because that would be the second tragic waste of incredible potential.
July 2nd, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Hi Ian, very nice fable. Thx for that.
July 2nd, 2009 at 11:48 pm
Well said…! Now we can pack and forget this nightmare
July 3rd, 2009 at 1:48 am
Fortunately it’s just a fable !
July 3rd, 2009 at 2:04 am
Don’t all myths or fables have an element of truth?
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Uh, fortunately it’s just a fabl… emh.. not, well, I’ve learnt lots of things.
And I surely become better, even with NO biscuit.
lol.
Thanks Iain
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:11 pm
A sad fable, i which it will never happen to anyone !
July 4th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
A very good read, thank you. This fictional tale makes me terribly unhappy and disappointed.
August 9th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
At least the poor souls in the shiney new office have reasons to leave now. about 7 thousand reasons…..