[ WP ] A man is slowly going insane as he performs the same mundane task over and over until he finally snaps .

Click. 
 
 That's the 15,598th time I've heard the sound. I spend my day sitting in a plain grey room at a desk with nothing but a notepad, a pen, and the machine. Every morning I come to work and punch in, collect my cup of coffee and begin my day. My day consists of sitting at this desk and noting down every time the machine clicks. The problem is, and believe me I've tried many times to work it out, the machine is irregular. I've tried to calculate the pattern. If I knew the pattern I could easily fill my tally chart to the right amount and zone out until I ’ m finished. But I ca n't. The clicks are irregular and my notebook is checked every day by one of the scientists in charge of the machine. If I were to cheat the numbers I would n't get paid. 
 
 Click. 
 
 The machine sits in the corner of the desk. It produces a small constant humming sound but doesn ’ t have any wires coming out of it. I've tried to investigate the machine in the past but I'm afraid of tampering with it incase it were to break. I have filled many notebooks, I've lost count of how many but I know I ’ ve worked here for 2 years. 
 
 When I ’ m finished for the day, I hand my book in and leave. When I arrive in the morning, the pages I filled the previous day have been torn out and I start again. They don ’ t know this but I keep my own daily tally, that ’ s why I know how many I ’ ve counted overall. 
 
 It ’ s easy money really, I should be grateful. Come in and sit at a desk and count a clicking machine? It ’ s the easiest job in the world! I couldn ’ t believe my luck when I saw the ad in the paper and contacted them about it. The food isn ’ t bad either. At lunch time I get a different meal every day brought to me and they turn the machine off while I eat. After lunch, the plate is collected and back on it goes. I ’ m not supposed to talk to anyone about the machine. I live alone so it doesn ’ t really matter that much. I don ’ t think anyone would be interested in my job either anyway. 
 
 This job gives me a lot of time to think about things. I can ’ t fall asleep as I may miss a click and I can ’ t listen to music or anything like that. I think about the machine and how stupid it is. Sometimes I hate it. Actually most of the time I hate it. But the machine keeps me paid and there ’ s much worse things I could be doing. 
 
 Click. 
 
 Other times I think of what I could do with the money I earn. I don ’ t go out much and don ’ t have that many costs so my money just slowly increases. Maybe it ’ s not so great, this job. I ’ ve never actually said anything about not wanting to continue. I ’ ve never even had a day off. I work 5 days a week and have the weekend but I ’ ve never taken a sick day. 
 
 Click. 
 
 What do the clicks mean? Maybe they count how many people are born in the world. No that would be more much more frequent. It could click every time a team scores in a sporting event or each time a plane lands at a specific airport. How could this possibly help anyone to do anything? What would be gained from this knowledge? 
 
 Suddenly the buzzing stopped. It ’ s never done this before so I was unsure what to do. I carefully lifted the machine off the desk, and turned it round to look at it ’ s underside. It didn ’ t have any visible wires and I couldn ’ t understand how it was powered. There was a small cover on the back that I thought I may be able to pry loose with my pen and picked up my pen to try to open it. The pen slipped in my hand and I watched in horror as the machine tumbled towards the tiled floor. 
 
 I watched in slow motion as the machine broke into hundreds of pieces upon impact. I didn ’ t have time to react before the door opened and a Scientist walked in. 
 
 “ Thank you Mr Smith, you have completed our test. I ’ m sure you are wondering what this test was all about? You have been our longest test subject. Normally people don ’ t last very long at all, a week or two, maybe a month at the most. But you, you have worked here for nearly 2 years. What do you think the purpose of our study is Mr Smith? We are not testing this machine. This machine is simply a machine that clicks. It does nothing more and never did. No, what you were really testing Mr Smith is yourself. We wanted to see how long a person could do the same mundane task if they thought: 1 ) The job was important for some reason, it needed to be done and they thought they were helping. 2 ) They had an incentive, you were being paid. 
 
 You sat in this room for nearly 2 years and every time you heard this machine click you added a mark to your notebook and counted it. Why did you do that? ” 
 
 “ I thought it was important, it ’ s a job, I take it seriously. ” I said. 
 
 “ But why, Mr Smith. Why did you never question your situation? Why did you never tamper with the machine before? Why did you come back to work every day? ” 
 
 “ You were paying me, I needed the money and it was easy. ” 
 
 “ No. The real reason is because you needed the machine to mean something. All our other subjects gave up out of boredom but you needed the machine. You needed the machine more than we needed the machine. The machine gave you something, a purpose, a reason to come back, a job to do. That ’ s what we were really testing. Motivation. Why we do the things we do. You don ’ t have much in your life so this was something you did have. And now, I ’ m sorry to tell you, but our test is finally over. Please collect your things, you can leave the notebook. ” 
 
 I was shocked, and unsure of what had just happened but I followed the scientist out of the room. I turned back to look at the room I had worked in for 2 years and saw the crumbled remains of the machine. My notebook on the desk full of todays tally. What for? For nothing? The scientist was silent as he reached for the light switch and turned it off. 
 
 Click.
