The Test: Part 3

Wanting to secure my spot in the finals of Survivor: Cubicle Island, I had to make sure my other competitors (my 3 other co-workers still in the office) would be dropping out of the game. I thought, since this was a competition, why not make someone earn their way to the finals.

"Office challenge." I declared as I walked into the three different cubicles of my three different co-workers. Surprisingly, they were all game.

The four of us met up in the middle of the office, where we could take advantage of the most spacious area in the place. I came prepared with the necessary game tools and four candles.

"What's this?" One of my co-workers asked, as she observed the scene in front of her. The other two co-workers, both males, were also curious.

"This is an immunity challenge."

"Immunity from what?" One of the male co-workers asked. They were all confused.

"From elimination." I said, as a matter of fact. "In order to achieve immunity, you must win the physical challenge that I have laid out in front of you." I had set up an obstacle course using supplies I found around the office. The obstacle course consisted of three different stations. I explained to them that in order to advance, you must complete the events in order.

The first event was the "Office Marathon." I set up cones to direct my co-workers around the office. The race started and ended where we were stationed. Once one returns, they have to complete the "Accuracy Shooting" event. Similar to the NHL All-Star Game SuperSkills Competition, one player must hit four targets. Instead of using pucks, we threw tacks at post-it note pads. II spent way too much time setting this up...

I seriously considered making the third event something involving my co-workers doing my work, but I didn't think I could pull it off. After they complete the "Accuracy Shooting" event, they will have to chug a water bottle as quickly as possible. Trust me, if there was beer in the fridge, the alcohol would have replaced the water.

The female co-worker dominated the game. She paced herself on the run, but smoked us all on both the "Accuracy Shooting" event and water chug. Not gonna lie, her chugging ability kind of turned me on - which I made clear when I awkwardly handed over the "Immunity Idol" (which was really just a box of paper clips).

With the game ending, my co-workers looked at me with a what's next? look. I moved along, gathering up four chairs and arranging them in a circle. After instructing them to sit, I handed them each a candle. It seemed like everything I did was more confusing to them than before.

Since the game was only one half of this competition. The other half was the "game recap," but what they don't know was that it was really a "Tribal Council" meeting between the two losers of the game.

"Before we get into the voting, please plead your case as to why you deserve to stay in the game." I said to the two male co-workers.

"Um... Well, you asked me to play, so I don't need to play this game." One of them said.

"Okay..." I said with a disappointed look. "You certainly didn't help yourself with that response." I told the "Tribal Council." Right before I was going to usher in the voting process, one male co-worker looked at his watch and panicked.

"We have to leave!" He yanked on the shirt of our other male co-worker. "Now!"

"You guys would have been voted out anyways." They both gave a whatever-I-don't-care raise of the eyebrow. I took that as a shot at me, so I quickly blew out both of the candles they were holding. "Tribe has spoken. Get out. Leave."

With the two leaving me and one of my female co-workers behind, I engaged her in a stare down of a epic proportions. The tension was as strong as the Rocky vs. Ivan Drago stare-down in Rocky IV. Only the greatest of forces could break our eye contact; something extreme was going to have to break up this battle. Something would need to be sent from the heavens to end this match-up.

"Oh! A text message." That's all it took? Her phone sounded off indicating she received a text message. She took her cell phone out of her pocket and began to read to herself.

"You looked away!" I yelled in a victorious tone. "You will now be sent to Exile Island."

"No..." She said, while looking back at her phone. "I think I'll just go home now." She quickly exited the game and the office in under a minute. My initial thought of the quick exits by my 3 co-workers had me excited that I outlasted them. That excitement soon changed to wonderment: why did they all rush themselves out the door?

Heading back to my cubicle, I checked my cell phone to see several missed calls, text messages, and voice-mails awaiting my return. This was a surprise, because I receive like a text or two during the workday.

The messages I received all stressed the importance to get home immediately. Checking the train schedule, I quickly noticed that they suspended service. Since I take the train to work, this was a massive problem. Massive because I was stuck at work - with no where to go. On the positive side, there was no way I was losing this competition or failing this test my boss laid out for me. I alerted my boss to this news.

"I told you to leave earlier!" He yelled at me.

"But what about the test and competition?"

"What are you talking about? What test and competition?"

"You were testing me to see if I would leave early and I passed! Also, you wanted to outwit, outplay, and outlast me today."

"I wasn't testing or competing with you! I wanted you to leave in case they shut down mass transit - which they did!"

"Then why are you still here?"

"I live around the block. I told you a million times." I really need to start thinking things through...