“The Settings”

Author’s Note: This is a Take Ten to Write story and has not been proofread for errors. If I feel inspired or if there’s interest in the story, I’ll post a revised, edited, and extended version at a later date. Happy reading!

Prompt: Write a story titled “The Settings”.

These darn settings are messing everything up. All I wanted was to set my screen to always stay on, and now I can’t get the stupid thing to ever turn off.

And yes, before you ask, I did try turning the whole device on and off. I did try calling the help desk. I ever tried throwing it against a wall.

None of that worked. It wouldn’t even give me the option to do a complete shut-off, and the staff at the tech shop apparently don’t work with my kind of device anymore. Apparently it’s ‘too old’ and ‘out-of-date’ and ‘nobody makes replacement parts for that ancient relic anymore’. I mean come on, that’s absolutely ridiculous. I’m ten times older than this stupid thing and I’m not an ‘ancient relic’, am I? No, don’t even say it. I don’t want to hear it.

Oh yes, and before you ask, no, I’m not just going to go out and buy another newer device. What, do you think I’m made of money? Okay, well I guess I’m fairly well off, but that’s not the point. This is a matter of principle. I paid good money for this device and now it won’t work, so I either want it fixed or I want my money back.

Oh, what’s this, an early birthday present? Now, let’s see what it is.

Ah, a newer version of my very same device. Yes, alright, well I guess it’ll do. Here, take this old piece of junk. Sell it to a stranger over the computer. Just don’t tell them that it won’t turn off.

Final Comments: This one was a lot of fun to write and I feel like the narrative flowed fairly easily. Huh, I wonder what that says about me…

Overall Rating: 😅