Once upon a Time on the Web by Jean-Pierre Martinez

Once Upon a Time on the Web places professional relationships in a world where an employee’s value fluctuates according to the company’s interests. An idea that was dismissed as worthless suddenly becomes brilliant as soon as a prestigious client recognises its value; the employee who was about to be got rid of instantly becomes an indispensable member of the team. Management does not therefore recognise talent: it proclaims it after the event, according to the price the market seems willing to place on it.

The dismissal letter, a genuine ticking time bomb, turns this satire into a workplace vaudeville. Phone calls, contradictory contracts, seduction and blackmail continually reshuffle the balance of power between the five characters. Yet when Charlie turns the methods his employers taught him against them, his revenge does not challenge the system itself: it shows that, in this economy of appearances, success depends less on being competent than on persuading others to believe in the fiction of one’s own value.