CTC: Cost To Company

A 2069 climate dystopia where salary is paid in days of drinkable water. Placement culture as speculative fiction.

CTC- Cost To Company

"In any moment of decision,

the best thing you can do is the right thing,

the next best thing is the wrong thing,

and the worst thing you can do is nothing."

—Theodore Roosevelt

13.06.2069, MANIT:

Dev Das couldn't believe his eyes, as he stared at the results in holoscreen in front of him. Mentally, he ran the calculations through his mind and came to the disappointing conclusion. 6.75 CGPA.

The number that was supposed to denote his 3 years of college education and skillset. Never mind that personal bias was a reason for poor results in quite a few of his subjects. Never kindle a professor's ire was one of the lessons he had learned pretty well by now.

Jeez, he was so screwed. Which company would let him sit for placements with these grades?

13.07.2069, MANIT:

"Aye Dev, call up the drummers! Arrange for bikes as well. Varde just got placed at Macrosoft!"

Dev gaped at Nilay's announcement that their buddy Varde had gotten placed. With a pointer like 9.43, it was guaranteed that he'd get placed. But to crack a Tier 1 company like Macrosoft? His life was as good as set.

The benefits would be good too. Dude might get enough water to take a bath 3 times a day if he wished to.

"What're you dawdling around for? C'mon Dev, it's time to party! Need to go score and get booze as well!", yelled Nilay, startling Dev out of his reverie and turning his mind to more immediate concerns; Partying, celebrating and getting sloshed. After all, your best friend getting placed is a joyous occasion and calls for one wasted night.

And that's how we find Dev and friends, hours later on the roof of H13; Extremely buzzed, celebrating (by enforcing the law of GPL), talking and reminiscing about the past and the memories they'd made.

For you see, time is a fickle tart and stood still for no one. Life and time blazed by so fast that it was just yesterday you entered college, all innocent eyed and full of resolutions and in the blink of an eyelid, you're in the endgame and spending your last year in college, vying with friends and rivals alike to get placed. All so that you don't have to die of thirst upon graduating. Literally.

Of this 14+ billion year old Universe, there has been only one planet we've known, that was and is capable of sustaining life. Yup, the one and only, Earth.

(To all those exclaiming otherwise, yes, NASA did discover those ring of Exoplanets a few 50-60 light years away. But reaching them is legit, years away and not relevant to this narration. Also, the colonies we've set up on the Moon and Mars do not count.)

Earth, our home and sustainer. It used to provide us with pure fresh air, crystal clear water and natural grown food. And what did we do to our benevolent benefactor? Poison her and in retrospect, poison ourselves.

For we polluted the air in numerous ways and made it the thick, smoglike hazard it is today. The little bit of fresh water we had( about 2.5 percent at one time), was made nearly indistinguishable from the gooey sludge that consists of the oceans of today. And organically grown food? So badly was the land poisoned, that all food has been grown in food labs since the Drought of 2025.

All these warning signs and you'd think that we'd have noticed right? We did, albeit too little effort to make a change. Global Warming became a phenomenon during the decade of 2010, with Climate Crisis being announced during the end of that decade.

And for a while, it almost seemed as if things could get better. Almost.

Alas, this was a classic case of too little, too late. By the year 2032, most of the above mentioned resources were no longer freely available to the general population. It wasn't just a matter of cost, but a matter of regulation. And thus, that's how the Employee Utilities Regulation got passed worldwide.

"Boss, could you tell me more about what CTC means?"

Dev had been nursing his drink and contemplating about life in general, when his 2nd Year junior, Raj, had asked him this question.

"You want to know about CTC?"

"Yes Boss. Also how this placements scene works in general. It all seems so confusing to me. Like the Tiers and benefits wala thingy."

Dev pondered for a moment, formulating his response to a topic that was already plaguing his mind, all while trying to filter the sounds of the party. Deep talks, alcohol and parties are like the holy combo.

"Alright, so basically, before EUR got passed, companies used to provide cash and at times housing benefits. That's how the scene used to be a couple of decades back. Packages back then meant more about how much cash you got per annum in CTC. You asked what CTC meant na? It stands for Cost to Company. Basically how much you'll be costing the company to keep you employed. Your salary, your food, your transport, even at times rent for the very cubicle you worked in. "

"Woah Boss! Paying for working in the office? That's pretty harsh! But what's all these Tiers about in the current scene?"

"Haan, so basically, after EUR got passed, all companies were divided into Tiers, based on their annual turnover. Since it's no longer feasible to buy drinkable water or neutralized air, companies were allocated these amenities to be used as payment for employee services. This is where the Tier system comes into play.

A Tier 1 company, while tough to get into, gives you a lot of benefits. For instance, Macrosoft gave Varde a package of 313 days of water, housing with air neutralizers, meals and cash bonus. As the Tier decreases, so does the benefits they provide."

"Alright Boss! Got it now!"

With that talk, he was given some respite from the juniors. The party was going on in full swing, with a drunken Varde distributing knowledge to a captivated audience on how to crack interviews and what to study, etc etc. Your basic placement scenes. Dev wondered if he'd get a chance like this as well. His own placement party. And the relief that comes with that.

13.08.2069, MANIT:

Silverman Sacks:-

Eligibility- 6.5+

CTC- Water- 213 days

Housing- Level 3 Air Neutralizer

Others- 6 LPA

Wateronix:-

Eligibility- None

CTC- Water- 100 days

Housing- Level 1 Air Neutralizer

Others- 4 LPA

Staring at the two options available to him, Dev had no idea which one to apply for.

Having attended the PPTs for both companies, he understood that both of them were worlds apart in every sense.

Silverman was a Tier 3 mass recruiter while Wateronix was an upcoming Tier 4 startup.

His seniors who worked at Silverman had told him that career progress was minimal to nil there. He'd have a desk job guaranteed to bore him to death. But the security it gave was quite significant. 213 days and L3 neutralizer was a sweet and uncommon deal to get these days.

Wateronix on the other hand, had come for the first time this year. And while their package was dangerously low, from their PPT he'd understood that working there would be fun. Wateronix had a lot of scope and could become Tier 2 maybe Tier 1 someday. Or that was just wishful thinking on his part.

Personally he didn't want to be stuck with some boring ass job that offered him no future progress. After all, there is a difference between living and surviving. And he had a strong feeling that working at Wateronix would be akin living while Silverman would be just surviving.

His parents were telling him to go with the safer option, Silverman. They valued security and comfort over anything else.

(Plus the fact that had he "studied better", he'd have had the option to choose security and fun at some Tier 1 company. A fact that his Dad threw at his face, which had left quite a sting.)

Honestly, he was at a complete dilemma.

Job security vs Job progress. Comfort vs Satisfaction. Personally, he'd have tried for both and let the Universe decide it out for him. Unfortunately, both companies were scheduled on the same day and he could only apply for one. Hence the dilemma.

Silverman was the logical option while Wateronix was where his interests currently lay.

Ugh, why was life like this? If only his predecessors had done something to save this dying planet. He could have been worrying about trivial things like how much cash was he making instead of whether he had water to drink or air he could breath.

When you know something is wrong, why wait till it's broken instead of fixing it when you had the chance?

Why were his generation and the ones to follow him suffering for the sins and negligence of his forefathers?

13.09.2069, MANIT:

Dev Das couldn't believe his eyes, as he stared at the results in holoscreen in front of him. Mentally, he'd been prepared to be rejected when he'd made his choice on which company to apply for. But his long shot had paid off and he could feel this huge burden just lifting off his chest. All that pressure, tension and aspirations had been weighing him down in some sense. Comfort vs Satisfaction. He had to make a call and sacrifice one for the other, all in order to get a chance. In the end, it all paid off.

As he heard the drum rolls and cheers of his friends approaching towards him, Dev allowed himself the first real smile he had had in months.