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​Day 3: I Got Caught Using AI

Please note: Whoever is banging bin lids outside my bedsit at 5am can they please stop.

Recap: In Day 2, I discovered how easy it was to create articles using ChatGPT.
Day 3.

Woke up extra early — 11:15 a.m. Eager to hear what Theo thought about the articles I mailed yesterday.

Email from Janice. Urgent meeting — 14:00 with Theo.

Brilliant news! He will have checked those twenty articles and wants to congratulate me. Probably give me an advance as well.

I put on some fairly clean clothes. No need for matching socks, he can’t see them from behind the desk.

​Got the bus over. Bought a cat treat to sweeten the moment. On cloud 9.
“Hi Janice,” I said casually as I strode into the office. Made a note to buy a writing jacket to enhance my general appearance.

“Mark!” called Theo from behind the cubicle. He stood up to greet me, shook me warmly by the hand, and beckoned me into his office.

The cat was on the visitor chair. I went to offer it a treat, but Theo said, “No need for that, Mark,” picked it up, and threw it out of the window. “Sit down,” he said and made a show of brushing the chair for me.

Oh man. This was beyond my wildest dreams. I was part of the club. A writer. My name would be in…
“Mark!” Theo barked at me. He has a loud voice, very precise, alarming until you get used to it. He pointed to the pile of articles, printed and laid neatly on his desk. He sat down and looked at me.

​“Janice!” he boomed. “Get our gifted writer a coffee, will you?” I went to protest to Janice, but she gave me an odd look. A be-quiet-and-go-with-it sort of look.
Theo shuffled the pile of articles and started reading them. “My, oh my,” he chuckled, and “Well, I never.” He was in a very good mood.

“A lot of animal articles here, Mark. You must be quite the student of zoology.” I agreed that I did have an interest, what with the park being near my bedsit.

“That must be it,” he chuckled. “Many aardvarks up there?”

Janice gave me my coffee. She returned to the other side of the cubicle. I threw her a querying look, she shook her head slightly.

“You wrote all these yesterday?” Theo asked, not waiting for an answer. I opened my mouth to speak, but he waved it closed again. “Do you know how many of my other writers could do this?” he asked, and then looked at me. Directly. Straight into the eyes.

I tried to look humble in the way someone sure of their talents might look, not wishing to cast doubt on other lesser writers. The back of my neck was turning red.

Theo didn’t wait for a response. “And the quality,” he laughed, loudly. “It is as if I have found the motherlode.” There was a pause between mother and lode.

“What to do with your great talents, Mark?” he said. “Twenty masterpieces in a single day.”

Theo continued in this vein, enjoying himself mightily at my expense. As I got redder and redder, he redoubled his efforts. It was an impressive dressing down.

It was only stopped when, in response to a particularly cutting comment, Janice murmured, “Theo,” in gentle admonishment. He seemed to remember where he was and came back to earth quickly.

“You will hear from me tomorrow,” he said and waved me away.

​As I left, I thought now was not a good time to ask for an advance.
Will I get fired? Will Theo make me an offer I can’t refuse? Is anyone reading this? Find out in the next installment on Day 4.