‘I see they’ve had a reshuffle at Mount Olympus.’
‘Have they?’
‘Yes, they’ve gone all modern. Embracing new technology.’
‘About time, so who’s gone where?’
‘Well, Zeus is still tops but remember that wood-nymph, Skype?’
‘In charge of the toadstools?’
‘That’s the one, she’s been promoted, part of visual communications now; but here’s the shock: Hermes is out.’
‘No!’
‘Well, no one wants a winged messenger these days, not when you’ve got Facebook and texting.’
‘Yes, I suppose not. So where’s he gone?’
‘They’ve put him in a call centre dealing with technical enquiries.’
‘Hermes? Computer hardware?’
‘No, Windows support.’
———————————————————————————————–
Friday Fictioneers (FF) is a challenge open to writers all over the world: write a 100 word story using the week’s unique photo as inspiration. This week’s picture is supplied by Al Forbes. (© Al Forbes)
More hows, whens and whats of FF can be found here at Rochelle’s site. (Thank you, Rochelle, for hosting.)
More FF stories here
absurd 
Windows support. Let the Mu-ha-has begin.
For Mu-ha-has, please press 8.
Ta dah! Very clever last line. Did you think of that first?
Believe it or not, no. I had all but the last four sentences when the punchline suddenly popped into my head.
ha ha, I laughed out loud, great piece 🙂
Glad you liked it, Helen. Thank you.
lol. thanks for the laugh 🙂
My pleasure. Thank you for laughing.
Unfortunately, I just got off the phone with Hermes: I speak English, he speaks Greek–perfect for the job.
Haha! Indeed : )
Ugh 😉
Thanks, Dawn : )
When I was at university, our email program was called Hermes. Didn’t have a technical support department though. Nice idea here, very imaginative/
Thanks, Elmowrites. When I went to Art School we only had new-fangled Post-its.
Sooo funny! That last line was a killer. Sometimes with a line like that you know a story has been manufactured around it, but that one really came out of the blue. Excellent.
Thank you, Sandra. I really didn’t have the last line in mind at all when I began improvising the set up.
What a treat! Really funny and a stunning example of creativity set free.
Thank you, Sandra. The only trouble with ‘creativity set free’ is trying to get it back in the box afterwards.
Ha!ha!This is top of the line!Love it!
Thank you, Atreyee.
:-)It was a pleasure to read such high quality work Mike
Dear Mike,
Pressing 8 over and over again. This was really good. Simple and pretty near perfect.
Aloha,
Doug
Thank you, Doug. Your comment is important to us, we will connect you with an operator as soon as one becomes available. In the meantime, please enjoy listening to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.
Dear Mike,
I worship the goddess Skype. I’m pressing 1 for story enjoyment and then 2 for clever. Great job!
shalom,
Rochelle
Thank you, Rochelle. It’s good to know that Skype is getting the praise she so deserves.
Wonderful take on the prompt, Mike. Let’s just hope they don’t outsource his job to India. You really press our laugh buttons with this one.
Thank you, Russell. It’s rumoured India might be on the cards – Shiva could pick up six calls at once.
Very clever weaving of modern day with the ancient gods…and as someone in the tech field, your last line verges on a horror story…..
Luckily I use an Apple Mac.
Witty and wonderful, Mike! This one is so much fun, and cleverly executed… the dialogue sharp and real, despite the fantasy. Nice job!
Thank you, Dawn. Now I don’t know what to say… : )
That, my friend, is hard to believe. 😉
You know, I was also thinking that Hermes should have been put in charge of design… scarves, perhaps?
I think Mercury got that one. I know, allegedly they are one and the same but apparently the Italians have more of a natural flair for fashion.
But, is there anything more desirable than an Hermes scarf?
I know not of such finery but having Googled them… HOW MUCH???
I have to admit some of the designs are quite stunning and worth it.
Not sure I’d EVER pay what they ask for them… no matter how stunning, but indeed: The finest!
I never did like that nymph with the toad’s tool. Glad she’s Skyping it now.
Loved that punchline. Fantastic 😀
Al, that’s an imposter, the lovely Skype would ne’er do such a thing. (Note use of poetic “ne’er”)
This has got to be one of the best this week. So absolutely clever. And it made me laugh. So a good one on all counts. Congrats! The Punch line was amazing!
Thank you, Lindaura. I love that fact I’ve made people laugh.
A sign of the times…witty…and funny.
Truth be known the ancient gods should have restructured years ago : )
Boom, boom!
Thank you, AnElephantCant, for your acoustic comment.
Loved this! Very funny!
Thank you, Jan.
Kerching! Well played…. 🙂
I thank you. And for my next trick…
Funny on so many levels, very good!
Thanks, Draliman. Appreciated.
Hi Mike,
Hilarious take. I think I’ve dealt with Hermes in trying to solve my computer problems, which is why I still have computer problems. Ron
Thanks, Ron. It’s all Greek to me too!
Extremely clever. Windows support had my busting a seam.
Thanks, Dana. The seam damage was an unforeseen side-effect.
No worries I’m great with a needle and thread.
GROAN! Great story but defintely groan-worthy!
Thanks, Lizy. Glad it’s groan on you : )
Oh, after spending 4.5 hours with Windows support today and still not getting an answer to my simple question of how do I remove Windows 8 and all it’s junk from my laptop? I understand! BTW the one I talked to was named “Jude”… I should have seen the writing on the screen for that one.
From what I hear you have to be a black belt expert in delicate touch to master Windows 8 or else deactivate all the touchscreen extras. Apparently you either love it or hate it. I’ll stick to Mac for now.
The punchline was awesome. Yes, I laughed out loud. Luckily, I’m on a Chromebook, so I don’t care whether I offend the Windows gods. 😉
Thanks, Cherry. Not sure who oversees Chromebook but I do know they and the Windows gods all work in the same building and gossip at the water cooler. So the rumour goes : )
Down to the bottom… but I thought Skype would be integrated with Windows… so maybe there will all be replaced by that little bird tweeting.
Yes, I suppose it will all boil down to one. Eventually.
I do believe you are right! Now this is funny. 🙂
Thank you, Jackie.
A cracking read! This is one of those tales where it seems impossible to have so few words yet so good a story. Now, if only you’d write a continuation of ‘The Gods – where are they now?’.
Thank you kindly.
Cute. I love it.
Thank you.