Work in the warehouse was uneventful. Donkey One Seventeen felt like he had been doing it for years. The warehouse staff started him off with something nice and easy, but thanks to his corporate training One Seventeen already knew everything he need to keep Paper Corp’s loading docks working smoothly and efficiently.
During lulls in his work, One Seventeen did his best to try and remember his name. He still couldn’t believe he was just a number now!
He couldn’t dwell on it too much though. Distracted donkeys made mistakes, and his training helped him focus fully on the task at hand. Still, he couldn’t help but think about going and seeing his old coworkers for help remembering his name. Or-
The slip of paper! Five had told him to write his name down! Of course!
After his shift, One Seventeen clipped triumphantly back to… it was the next to last locker, right? He stuck his hand towards the back, feeling around for a slip of paper.
Jackpot! He pulled the slip out and quickly unfolded it.
“Eric.”
Her haw! Right! His name was Eric! Eric…! Eric let out a nice long sigh of relief. He might have trouble remembering his name on his own, but as long as he held onto this slip of paper, he’d have that little bit of extra foundation for who he really was.
Eric was a nice name. Short and sweet. Eric wagged his tail happily as he slid his paper back into the locker and… heard a crunching noise?
Eric tried standing on the tips of his hooves. When that didn’t work, he found a step stool. He dragged it over to the lockers, peering up on the top shelf. It was absolutely littered with over a dozen small slips of paper.
“Allen,” “Zach,” “Larry”, “Nate,” “Walter.” Hee haw! These were all people’s names!
Eric moved the steps tool over one locker. The top shelf was again littered with hastily stored scraps of paper.
He- He- Hee haw! He wasn’t actually “Eric”, was he? One Seventeen had no idea which of these sheets were his! Why had everyone tried to hide their names in the same place!?
One Seventeen saw a few donkeys enter the locker room. They were all the same short donkeys as he was. They all looked alike, talked alike, and… they clearly all thought the same way. Even during his first few days of changes, One Seventeen had thought to hide his name in the same place as everyone else.
Haw! He… he wasn’t going to be getting his name back any time soon. Hopefully Paper Corp would remind him after his contract was over?
One Seventeen slumped his shoulders, returning the step stool and hanging up his jumpsuit. He followed the crowd and joined the rest of the short donkeys for dinner. As he got in line behind his fellow beasts, he realized he was finally looking at the back of their heads. He was just as short as they were…!
He spent the evening hanging out with the group of short donkeys. The camaraderie was a nice distraction, and honestly he still felt pretty good after a long productive day in the warehouse. Some part of him knew the loss of his name should have been bugging him more, but One Seventeen tried not to fret about it too much. The workout felt good, and he didn’t have any trouble falling asleep that night.
He woke up the next morning to another notification on his wrist.
"Attribute Modified: Donkey Fur (75%)“
Haw! The changes were really coming along now! He felt fur over every point in his body now. It was just really short in a few places.
Today he was assigned to the plumbing detail. Before he could start fixing pipes though, he had to sit down for another corporate training. It still felt nice and pleasant, and he came away knowing everything he needed about working with pipes. He also came away with a huge boner, but he had to tend to himself today.
Work on the plumbing corps was fun. He got to shadow a few low number donkeys, and there was a lot of fun downtime in some of the more deserted corners of the corporate complex. He ended up playing cards with them that evening, before waking up to another notification.
"Attribute Modified: Donkey Fur (100%)“
Hee haw! He had a proper coat of fur now! One Seventeen was so close to becoming a full donkey. He had the hooves, the tail, the fur, just about the only part of his body that was still human was his face.
Even then, he had two bestial donkey eyes looking back at him when he started in the mirror. His donkey ears twitched sheepishly at his current state. Even his hair had been replaced by a pitch black donkey mane. He had just enough humanity showing to remind people that he was a man who had signed up for this life.
One Seventeen was hoping his muzzle would come in soon, so naturally his fur coat was the last change he got for at least a week.
During that time he was trained on a variety of new jobs. His owners were clearly looking to wrap up his training as soon as possible. The time flew by with every work crew getting a good chuckle out of the nearly-donkeyed newbie.
“Haw, you’ve been doing a good job One Seventeen,” Five showed his buck teeth one morning. He was dangling the training headset from a hoof tip, “Just one last training module for you to take.”
One Seventeen’s ears perked up, “I thought I tried all the jobs by now sir?”
“Almost all of them,” Five nodded, “There’s just one last role: Supervisor!”
“Haw!” One Seventeen’s eyes went wide, “But you’re a supervisor sir! Aren’t I still a newbie?”
“Not for long,” Five handed him the headset, “They’re downsizing the advertising department this week. We’ve been told to expect a few new recruits. You’ll be helping train a few of them.”
“Oh wow,” One Seventeen plopped down on the sofa, “Looking forward to it sir.”
One Seventeen slid the headset back on. The straps still didn’t fit his face perfectly, but his ears helped hold it up to the right level.
“Welcome back One Seventeen!” The announcer greeted him as usual.
“Haw…!” One Seventeen brayed softly, slumping over in the sofa.
“Let me check today’s schedule,” the voice chimed, “It looks like you’re ready for supervisor training.”
A progress bar started to fill the screen. One Seventeen had to squint to read, “Downloading Supervisor Training…”
“Good donkey look after their herd,” the voice reminded him, “Good donkeys help their fellow beasts follow the rules and be good donkeys.”
The voice filled One Seventeen’s thoughts, but it was just telling him things he already knew. One Seventeen wanted to be a good donkey, and he had been following Five’s lead for a while now.
The training seemed to be taking a while. One Seventeen tried to focus on the progress bar floating in front of him. It finally filled up, but rather than vanishing like usual, a new progress bar appeared and started to fill up.
Now it simply read, “Formatting Personality: Paper Corp Donkey 1.7b”
Haw? What skill was that? One Seventeen tried to focus on each individual word, but it was hard with the headset talking in his ear. The bar was filling up quickly, so One Seventeen wasn’t going to have to worry about it for long. He started to zone out, letting his thoughts settle as his leg kicked contentedly.
“All done One Seventeen!” The voice chirped.
Haw finally! One Seventeen sat up on the sofa. Hee haw, man, he was drenched in sweat. He’d have to be a good donkey and go get cleaned up soon.
One Seventeen reached up to pull the headset off, when he suddenly realized… it was snug. He shimmied the device off his head and immediately went cross-eyed.
Resting in the bottom of his field of vision was a large blunt muzzle. One Seventeen almost dropped the headset in surprise, but he was always respectful of corporate property. He set the training gear down and immediately started to rub his face.
Hee haw! It was finally here! He had a proper muzzle! He was a true donkey now! One Seventeen’s tailed swished back and forth happily as he checked his watch.
"Attribute Modified: Donkey Muzzle“
"Mental Adjustment: Corporate Brainwashing (Full)”
"Personality Reset: Paper Corp Donkey 1.7b”
Haw! It was a while since he got a buzz from Owen. One Seventeen tried to parse the words in front of him. There was his new muzzle, and… there was a message about him finishing his corporate training. That’s all he could understand.
One Seventeen scratched his ear. Owen only buzzed him about big changes. He felt fine though? Well, he was swinging around a big muzzle on the front of his face, but he otherwise felt like himself? What had changed?
He didn’t have much time to think about it. Five came over and immediately wrapped his arms around One Seventeen.
“Haw! Look at you!” The older donkey ruffled One Seventeen’s muzzle, “That’s a proper snout if I’ve ever seen one.”
One Seventeen blinked, “It’s identical to yours.”
“Haw! I know! I’ve a very good judge of these things.” Five smiled proudly, “I still can’t believe your training’s all finished.”
One Seventeen couldn’t help but wag, “I had a good teacher.
Five playfully nudged him in the arm, “Hey, the headset did most of the work.”
One Seventeen blinked, “That’s not what I-“
“I know what you meant.” Five grinned, “Look, I wish we could celebrate, but duty calls. Most of the work crews are already started,” Five slid him a waste cart, “Go clean up. You’re on trash duty again.”
“Right, sounds good.” One Seventeen caught the cart.
Five perked an ear, “Hey wait… Come here.”
One Seventeen clopped over. Five started running his hooves over him. Adjusting his muzzle, lifting his arm. The lower number donkey even rubbed their paunches together.
“You’re really finished,” He observed.
“Haw! I think so.” One Seventeen put his hoof on his head, running it out parallel to the two to confirm that they were indeed the same height.
“It’s going to be odd having to keep more of an eye out for you,” Five flicked One Seventeen’s ear tag for emphasis. “You don’t stand out from a crowd anymore.”
“Haw, a good donkey is supposed to be discrete and productive,” One Seventeen reminded Five.
His former supervisor just laughed, “Haw, right you are.” He ruffled One Seventeen’s mane, “Aren’t you a good corporate citizen.”
One Seventeen’s eyes lit up, “Just doing my best!” He wagged.
Five nodded, “It’d good to see.” He bent down, picking up the headset, “I could probably use a refresher too to be honest.” He plopped down on the sofa, “Good luck with trash duty!”
One Seventeen gave him an eager bray as he went and got ready for his shift. It was kind of fun seeing another donkey be the one slumped over on the sofa for once. He had a brief thought of going over there and having some fun with his (former?) supervisor, but he had work to do!
It had been a few weeks since One Seventeen was last on trash duty. It wasn’t until he entered his old building that it dawned on the donkey that his previous coworkers might be able to tell him his old name.
Haw, of course... they probably wouldn’t recognize him. He had told them his number though! He’d just have to get someone’s attention. Or… something. This plan didn’t seem to be coming together in his head for some reason. He pushed his cart around the floor, and sure enough, there Clint was goofing off in the break room. Taking a deep breath, One Seventeen made his way over…
…and quickly emptied the break room trash can. He could feel himself already start to clop away. Donkeys were to be quick and efficient. He- He didn’t have time to make small talk with Paper Corp’s employees.
Haw! Asking about his original name wasn’t small talk, but… One Seventeen didn’t speak to his superiors unless he was spoken to first.
One Seventeen felt his heart race for a moment. He was torn between his job training and wanting his name back. He had almost finished cleaning up the floor without anyone so much as glancing in his direction.
Discrete and productive. This floor was a job well done. One Seventeen felt accomplished as he headed over towards the elevator. Asking for his name wasn’t that important. He could feel the desire get pushed to the back of his mind as he pushed the button on the wall.
The more distance he got from the humans, the less important it felt. He didn’t need a name. He had a corporate identifier. He was One Seventeen. That’s all he needed to care about.
With a soft ding, the elevator doors opened. One Seventeen pushed his cart inside and continued with his rounds.