Prompt 376 – Reward

On what occasion do you reward yourself and what is your reward?

“Whatcha got there?”

“Ice cream.”

“Aren’t you lactose intolerant?”

“Maybe. What of it?”

“So why are you eating something that’s going to constipate you later?”

“I’m rewarding myself.”

“Seems more like punishment.”

“S’not.”

“What are you rewarding yourself for?”

“Didn’t kill anyone at work today.”

“Low bar.”

“Is it though?”

“You wouldn’t hurt a fly, let alone murder another human being, you big wuss.”

“You don’t know that. I totally killed that giant spider in the laundry room the other day.”

“Yeah that thing was huge…but you’re still not a murderer.”

“Yet.”

“Your job isn’t even that stressful and your coworkers are all really cool.”

“Most of them. Betty is on the top of my list.”

“She’s the one that never stops showing you pictures of her cats?”

“And telling me what diets I should be on to slim down, like she knows anything about me or nutrition.”

“Yikes. But is that enough to warrant a death threat?”

“She replied all to an accidental company-wide distro email asking to be removed from the conversation.”

“Oh no.”

“And then a dozen other employees across the country did the same. Crashed our email server for the better part of the day. But she started it.”

“Oof. You know what? I think you deserve another scoop of ice cream.”

Notes: I wanted to write a silly scene about someone rewarding themselves for doing the bare minimum, like waking up before noon on a Sunday, or taking a shower/actually getting dressed while on vacation. The ice cream thing seemed like a fun reward. The second speaker must not eat it often if they’re lactose intolerant so it could very well be a reward. Although, if they’re like me, that won’t stop them either. I eat ice cream far more often than someone with an intolerance should.

As for myself, I dunno if I really reward myself all that often. If I want something, I’ll just have it. Though I suppose sometimes I do use it as a motivation tactic to get me to reach my writing goals. “If I write 500 words, I can go watch an episode of Haikyuu.” “If I finish this chapter, I can go play Outer Worlds.” “If I write for 20 minutes without stopping, I can go get a latte.” The reward varies depending on my mood/what I want to do to procrastinate my writing, and sometimes it doesn’t work, but it is probably the only thing I consistently will “reward” myself for.

I had a wild morning back at work after a day off and I am glad this is going to be a short week for me because if the rest of the week goes like today I might just walk out and disappear into the void for all eternity. One thing is clear; I can’t ever take another vacation. Hopefully when I go to a friend’s wedding in May, my backup won’t get sick, or I’ll have extra backup that isn’t my poor boss, who, despite trying his best, breaks everything he touches.

That’ll do for this prompt! Take your own stab at it! See you tomorrow!

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