Chapter 80: Average Joes
All of the participants stood by their worktables waiting for the statistics to be announced. During the tests there were tantrums thrown by many participants who went into full panic mode, others had an incompetent partner, it was a world of chaos as many of them were instantly cast out. One would think this would cause all the ruckus to end but it only worsened with time as some participants visible ran mad as they noticed they were not going to pass in time.
The examiner in charge of the test Justin McClaire had simply said a few words to silence them. "Despair, wail, you only have your own incompetence to blame. If you thought that getting the chance to perform in front of the silver seats with such mediocre abilities was a given, dream on you Average Joes. You might have been praised as talents in whatever shit hole you crawled out from but in the eyes of the world you are dust."
His words stunned some, his words angered others but the more he spoke the more it gave everyone things to ponder about.
"Those of you who have something to say against me have no place here. It is true that a mech designer must have pride in his work but when it gets in the way of your growth you can go fuck off." Justin McClaire continued. "Would you actthat way to your customer when faced with such levels of criticism, you should be glad that you came to realise that your much cherished talents are worth shit here. Despair and return back to you useless world with your egos crushed, bury your dreams and quit being a scum to the name of mech designers."
Alto had banged his fist on the table at this time surprising his partner, he spoke loudly. "It’s okay, we get it alright!"
This caused a few gasps and mumures within the room, it was not that no one had spoken out of turn against the examiner, only that no one had ever challenged him so openly. Those that tried had gotten sent out of the room.
Priscilla mouthed to Alto. "What the fuck did you just do?" She knew how important this was to her family name and she was not so keen on going home as a failure. In her head she was thinking up lies to say in her defense against this maniac that was going to cost her her career before it even kicked off.
Alto noticed all eyes on him and it made him uncomfortable, he stared directly at Justin McClaire and said. "You’re making it hard to focus on our work. We should be able to work with our full concentration if this is an official test, if we fail because of your ramblings what will the higher up say? Or is this how your tests are always conducted?"
Alto’s words hit hard causing Justin’s eyes to widen, Alto had not meant to say a lot but the words happened to come out of him when he least expected it. Deep down he did not regret his actions only that he did not want to lose because of it. Alto was not used to working in a noisy environment which made it hard for him to concentrate.
"Ramblings?" Justin scoffed and looked at the young man who had just made fun of him, he looked at the work they had on their table and back at him. He smiled and said, "Oh my bad, I got carried away by the convolution of idiocy in the room that I crossed the guidelines, thank you for bringing that to my attention mister--?"
Priscilla bumped her shoulder into him. "I think he wants to know your name?"