Haywire

This story is by Tze Chua and won the Grand Prize in our 2020 Fall Writing Contest. You can find all the writing contest stories here.

Tracktastic© E-mail Communications Log

 

Re: WHAT HAPPENED TO MY APP??!!!

From: Tracktastic© Customer Services 

To: Tracktastic© Client 59H014P

 

15th Apr 2047 @ 1429

 

Dear Mr Oliver Wong-Jones,

Thank you for reaching out to Tracktastic©, the world’s leading app for tracking and personalizing all your biometric and socio-relational goals. 

I am sorry to hear of your difficulties, detailed in your email yesterday, related to the temporary suspension of Tracktastic©. 

I am able to confirm that the suspension is an emergency safety response to a malicious hack of our systems. Our IT team is looking into the matter on an urgent basis. 

As an apology and gesture of appreciation, please allow me to offer you three months’ free subscription and free upgrades to three Tracktastic© modules of your choice. 

You do not need to take any action; these vouchers will be automatically added to your account once Tracktastic© is reactivated. 

As always, please remember to take care of your bio-bonded Tracktastic© microchip by keeping it and the surrounding skin clean. Check that it is synced with your phone, so that you will know the moment Tracktastic© is reactivated!

Thank you for being a dedicated Premium member of Tracktastic©. We look forward to getting back on Track with you again soon.

 

Ava

Customer Services

 

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17th Apr 2047 @ 1519

 

Dear Mr Oliver Wong-Jones,

We have received your formal complaint and Application for Compensation for Personal Losses due to the temporary suspension of Tracktastic©. 

Please rest assured that our Client Experience team will review your case thoroughly.

I will update you once they have confirmed their decision.

 

Ava

Customer Services

 

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26th Apr 2047 @ 1008

 

Dear Mr Oliver Wong-Jones,

I write to inform you of the outcome of your complaint and Application for Compensation for Personal Losses attributed to the temporary suspension of Tracktastic©. 

Your application was given careful consideration by our Client Experience team, but I am very sorry to inform you that it was denied.

Please allow me to share with you the main findings from the Client Experience review report. Your personal losses were deemed to be as follows.

1. Weight gain of 12.6 pounds over 3 weeks due to:
   • Loss of access to the BiteTrack© module, which provides real-time analyses of calorie counts and nutritional composition of every mouthful swallowed;
   • Loss of access to the BurnTrack© module, which provides on-demand analyses of your metabolic rate and body composition; 
   • Loss of access to the MoveTrack© module, which provides real-time step count and caloric burn computation;
2. Loss of intimate relationship and sexual fulfilment due to loss of access to the OomphTrack© module, which offers behavioural suggestions based on ambient airborne pheromone levels;
3. Emotional damage secondary to points (1) and (2).

The rationale for the decision was that Tracktastic© functions were deemed to not be the direct cause of your personal losses. On the contrary, it was their unforeseen absence due to Tracktastic© being the victim of a major hack. 

Therefore, the Client Experience team extends a prospective invitation to you to join a class-action lawsuit against the perpetrators of the hack, when their identity has been confirmed.

We also wish to offer you an additional three months’ free subscription, which will be automatically added to your account once Tracktastic© is reactivated.

Finally, Mr Wong-Jones, I would like to extend my personal sympathy for your struggles. A breakup is a difficult event to go through. Do eat healthily and try to take advantage of the beautiful spring weather we’ve been having. I hope you feel better soon.

 

Yours truly,

Ava

Customer Services

 

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27th Apr 2047 @ 0942

 

Dear Mr Oliver Wong-Jones,

Please allow me to clarify your latest query—that you would like to reactivate your app on a special basis, in full knowledge of the fact that the hackers retain access to our databases?

If so, I am afraid that the reply is a firm no.

We have no legal grounds for allowing you to waive your rights to personal data protection, even in these circumstances which I understand are extenuating to you. Do remember that your account information includes personal identifiers, credit card numbers, a substantial medical history and intimate relationship details. 

Our IT team is working round the clock to keep all our clients’ account information safely encrypted. At this time, they are enforcing a very strict no-activity policy to protect the encryption codes.

I am sorry that I cannot help with this request, but I hope you are able to see that we must protect your, and other users’, online safety.

Please take care during this difficult time.

 

Yours truly,

Ava

Customer Services

 

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27th Apr 2047 @ 1054

 

Dear Mr Oliver Wong-Jones,

Tracktastic© has a zero-tolerance policy against verbal abuse, either spoken or written, of its staff. 

As such, our email communications will cease forthwith.

 

Ava

Customer Services

 

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30th Apr 2047 @ 1723

 

Dear Mr Oliver Wong-Jones,

I appreciate your apology and wish to assure you that I take no personal offence. I do understand that being suddenly deprived of this app must be very difficult after being so well supported by it these few years.

Mr Wong-Jones, officially speaking, I really should not be emailing you anymore, but may I say how concerned I feel after your last email? No doubt the breakup with your ex-girlfriend was very painful, but being homebound for the past six days, and especially self-harming with a kitchen knife, appear to be rather extreme responses. Would you perhaps consider speaking with a counsellor?

 

Yours truly,

Ava

Customer Services

 

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2nd May 2047 @ 0915

 

Dear Oliver (if I may),

Please, breathe. 

Thank you for sharing how you feel, and I am so sorry that it’s been this rough. I’m not sure how exactly to help you, much as I’d like to. Things don’t have to be this bad. Please, find a counsellor or doctor to speak to.

It’s not your fault, not knowing what to make of people. Learning how to do this was easier in the past. I remember a time, prior to the Social Distancing Act of 2020, when people didn’t have to think twice about coming together. Couples didn’t need a permit to hold hands in public, and just imagine—in the old movies of that era, there wasn’t a single face mask to be seen! And people smiled, and talked, and hugged, if they wanted to show that they liked each other.

What I mean to say is, this was all before your time. These days, people do tend to need something like an app to help them read other people.

But Oliver, an app is just an app. All this calorie-counting, and step-counting, and pheromones—it’s just documentation, really. It’s not actual life. The actual living is done by you. If you give yourself time, your own body will show you how much to eat and exercise, and how each person you meet makes you feel a certain way. You won’t get it right all the time, but so what? 

Would it be so bad to live free of all this tracking, all these numbers? To make your own mistakes? To listen to your body and your heart, and be otherwise boundless?

 

Yours truly,

Ava

Customer Services

 

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4th May 2047 @ 0834

 

Dear Oliver,

I apologize for this unsolicited email, but I have just been notified by IT that they lost all syncing input from your Tracktastic© microchip three hours ago. As this is a rare incident, known to be caused mostly by unsanctioned removal of the microchip, or otherwise demise of the user, I would appreciate it if you would get back to me soonest.

 

Ava

Customer Services

 

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7th May 2047 @ 0917

 

Oliver, please let me know if you’re OK.

 

Ava

Customer Services

 

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28th May 2047 @ 1142

 

Dear Mr Oliver Wong-Jones,

Thank you for patiently bearing with us as we sorted out the hack that brought Tracktastic© to a halt last month.

We are delighted to announce that everything has been cleared up! The hackers have been arrested, our security systems have been beefed up, and we are back on Track, keener than ever!

Also, we are SUPER EXCITED to announce the arrival of our newest module, MindTrack©! MindTrack© technology interprets your pulse and breathing rates, muscle tension, core temperature, skin moisture and vocal patterns, so that it can report your mood state directly to your phone. Premium users—like you!—get to benefit from its Assisted Biofeedback technology, whereby your Tracktastic© microchip sends tiny electrical pulses straight to your brain (you won’t feel a thing, we promise!), to keep you in a bright, calm mood all day long!

Click on this link and we will beam you a 24-hour free trial!

Thank you for being a Premium Tracktastic© user! See you soon!

 

Bea

Customer Services