My owner, Duro, was the type who demanded hard work from her pets. She never
hesitated to give us treats if we deserved them, but she asked us to always
work for what we wanted, and never let it be handed to us on a silver platter.
My brother and sister, Arbiet and Gia, took this notion to heart right from
the beginning, always willing to go the extra mile. But I never really saw the
need to, and never felt the impetus to, work.
But now Duro was making all of us find a job that would sustain us, because
she had just gotten paranoid that one day she would be hacked, and we'd be left
on our own. Gia and Arbiet quickly found jobs, but I put it off for as long
as I could. She nagged me for a long time, and finally I broke down and said
I would visit the Job Agency that day.
So there I was, standing in front of the big purple and yellow castle inside
the Faerieland city, trying to act like I knew what I was doing. Inside, I was
grumbling. Why did she want me to work? What was the point? Why slave away doing
some silly job when you could be outside, enjoying the Neopian weather, having
fun?
I steadied myself and walked inside, finding it surprisingly empty. Maybe
other owners weren't like Duro and didn't make their pets do work; that just
made it doubly unfair.
The Krawk at the counter beckoned to me, and I walked over. "Want a job?"
she said.
"Yes."
"Then you came to the right place! Okay, I'm gonna need your name, your species,
and your job coupon."
"I'm Solo, a Lupe, and what's a job coupon?"
"A job coupon. You know, something that lets you do jobs of a certain level.
What, you don't have one?"
"No... I never knew I needed one," I said, hoping that if I didn't have one,
I couldn't get a job.
"Well, you can take Basic Jobs until you have enough money for a coupon, I
guess. Okay, I made an entry for you in the database. You need to go down that
hallway, and to your left there will be a door, with a sign saying Basic Jobs.
That's where you want to go."
"Thanks," I told her, and walked down the hallway until I found the correct
door. The other doors all said stuff like Red Job Coupon: Super Jobs, and it
sounded as if they had better rewards than Basic Jobs.
The room was incredibly crowded, a major difference from the lobby. Pets,
and even some humans of every species milled around... they all looked like
they were waiting for something. I waded through the crowd, saying, "Excuse
me," every chance I got, and finally I reached the counter.
"Hello," I said to the very bored-looking Elephante who sat there. "I'm Solo
and I need a Basic Job."
"Don't we all," she replied, punching in the information in her computer.
"Okay, says you haven't taken any jobs right now. That means you get more priority
than those who have taken dozens. Let's see, could you buy something?"
"No, I don't have any NP."
"Are you good at Meerca Chase?"
"Pretty good, yeah."
"Okay, if you score above 600 on it, this person will give you 20,000 Neopoints."
"Wow! Sure!"
"Here." She handed me a small piece of parchment. "Take this to the folks
who run the game, and they will give you your payment once you've done it. Good
luck."
I took the paper and ran out. Then I read it. It said: "This person/Neopet
is on a job. Job is: (the rest was handwritten, and 'Neopet' was circled) win
600+ np at Meerca Chase for 20,000." Apparently, they would know to give me
that much. Wow! This was easier than I thought.
I stepped up to the local Meerca Chase game station and handed the paper to
the person in charge. Then I stepped into the ring and began directing the Meerca
around and around towards Neggs, and around the red ones, back and forth...
spinning, as its tail was getting longer and longer...and finally I got too
dizzy and had to stop. That's when I walked out and saw my score:
605 NP! I'd made it by five Neopoints!
The person handed me a sack. "20,000 NP," he said, "counted exactly. Good
job!"
"Thanks," I said, and ran back to the job agency, feeling on top of the world.
That hadn't been too hard, had it?
I walked back into the Basic Jobs section (going through the crowds much more
confidently) and said to the Elephante, "OK, I got 20,000 NP! I don't wanna
waste it though. You got any more jobs where I can play games?"
And so I worked. I did the games over and over, earning points like crazy.
Some games were especially difficult; I worked for hours on Cheat! to earn the
required amount, for example. But I enjoyed it a lot, especially the feeling
I got when I emerged and saw the score, then realized I had beaten the game
once again!
I proudly lugged home a whopping 100,000 Neopoints, amazing Duro, Gia and
Arbiet. "That's unbelieveable, Solo!" said Duro. "You worked all day?! Great
job!"
I grinned. The following day, I had a room the size of Arbiet's built, and
got myself some iron bars, plush carpeting, fashion lamps, electric radiators,
royal wallpaper and Peophin platinum insurance. I wasn't about to work that
hard and then have all of my stuff stolen, after all! While Gia and Arbiet soon
stopped working once they had everything they needed, I continued to do work
daily, and I found I had never been happier. To be earning money for myself
was a great feeling, and to be doing things for others was equally great. I'll
never be so lazy again. | 
