Hello, thank you for deciding to read. I hope you enjoy. It is a bit longer than other posts I've seen on here FYI.
The Appraisal
(Short Story)
Part 1: The Tootsie Incident
During his first term in office, John Mueller, the 47th President of the United States was set up to have a date with Russian supermodel Anastasia Petrovksi. They were seen together on Valentine's Day at the Russian Tea Room in New York, right next to Carnegie Hall. The following day the headline in the New York Daily News exposed “The Tootsie Incident” as referenced by the famous 80’s movie. Ms. Anastasia Petrovksi had once been Mr. Igor Smirnov. The youngest male ever recorded to have a sex change, Mr. Smirnov became Anastasia at the age of thirteen. In the Presidents defense, he claimed to have never known Ms. Petrovski was formerly a man. Regardless of that truth, the press had a field day that made Watergate seem like the latest TMZ gossip.
The outrage amongst citizens and paranoid politicians led to the formation of The Human Appraisal Committee (HAC), who now provided oversight over the general public and businesses alike. For those of you who don't know about the HAC, it is a government organization that ensures all of its citizens have accurate online profiles based on actual facts surrounding their identity.
After the "Tootsie Incident,” the government warned that misrepresentation with social media was a threat to national security. Petrovski was one of millions of misleading online profiles, and so in the best interests of the people, facebook and all other platforms were outlawed or at least ran through the HAC.
At the age of twenty-two years old, every citizen would enter the system, having their appraisal with objective facts, such as their education, ethnicity, net worth, and of course profile picture. The HAC was more than just a way to connect, it was an evaluation of your decisions and your assessed value as a citizen, your social ranking. In the beginning, the government’s aim was to make sure its people felt safe, though they quickly realized they could cash in on everyones obsessive nature with social media.
As Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh stated before enacting the legislation, “The American people deserve to know the truth!” And so now they could get that truth.
At the right price of course.
…..
This brings us to September 13, 2028, Chase McLeary’s 23rd birthday. He carefully placed the red sticker across the pocket of his new blue blazer. The sticker red Hello!, and underneath it read 6747 written in permanent marker. Tossing the sticker’s paper backing into a trash bin, Chase entered a large room that looked just like the DMV but was actually The Human Appraisal Committee’s office for his district of Minnetonka, a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Chase took an empty seat near a woman dressed in white and gold. She reminded him of a Greek Goddess with all her necklaces and bracelets. Like most people on the day of their appraisal, she was dressed to impress. Chase himself had spent over $150 dollars for a stylist to groom him for today, which was much more planned than last year where he wore his green satin suit from prom and mop top hair cut.
Leaning over to the woman, he inquired with a friendly whisper.
“Hey, hows it going today?”
In that moment, the woman was on her phone, scrolling online through the “newest and hottest seasonal wear for cats.” Chase had obviously interrupted, which was apparent by the sneer she gave him. With her drawn on eyebrow rising, she assessed Chase top to bottom like a stray dog. Accessing the HAC phone application, she pointed her camera at his face, to bring up his profile. After a quick read through, the woman stood up, and moved two seats away.
Chase was obviously of no interest to her.
This didn’t bother him too much though, most people these days would divide themselves based on their social ranking. Looking at the hundred or so seats available in the room, more than half the seats were available, and no one was sitting next to each other.
Twiddling his thumbs, Chase decided it might be better to keep to himself until after his appraisal to avoid any further embarrassment.
Focusing his attention on the hands of the large old circular clock at the front of the room, Chase supposed he had about an hour before he’d be out of there. Then as fate would have it, the most beautiful woman Chase had ever seen sat down right in front of him. Her tight black dress fit around her body like an extra layer of skin. Chase could feel that people behind him had already begun taking pictures of her as she walked, to bring up her profile.
Chase thought he might be in love.
Part 2: The Beautiful Gloria Dominguez
Moments of silence, interrupted only by the ticking of the old fashioned clock in the room made Chase McLeary feel anxious. He could not avoid the perfume from the woman he was head over heels for. First her beautiful physic, now her smell had caught his lust, like blood to a shark in the water. Getting up to get a drink from the metal fountain at the front of the room, Chase pulled his phone out at his hip and began taking picture surreptitiously in the woman’s direction. All he would need is one decent image, for the facial recognition technology to work.
After a dozen attempts, Chase felt confident that he got one good shot, and returned back to his seat to pull up her HAC profile. He successfully accessed her first page which showed the following:
Name: Gloria Dominguez:
Age: 28 years old,
Ethnicity: Italian & Spanish,
Hometown Minnetonka Minnesota
Education Level: Bachelors in Communications, University of Miami
Profile Picture: Gloria wearing a tight blue dress.
“Pay to Access More Information Here”
Reading the final words on her account meant one thing, Gloria ranked higher than Chase in value. Unless you were friends or family through the HAC, the government required an Evaluation Match between strangers to access more personal information such as her occupation, the city she currently lived in, and of course more pictures. Chase had never paid to access a persons profile before, so he decided he would approach Gloria the old fashioned way through face to face conversation.
…..
Then, just as he was contemplating his opening line, the voice of god entered the room which was actually the administrator working at the front of the building.
“6739, please come to room 101” projected out through the intercom.
It was for the woman in white and gold, as she stood up only a few feet away. She began her strut towards the door at the front of the room, directly in front of them both. Her jewelry must have weighed a lot, as with every step she took it seemed to take an inordinate amount of energy. Chase swore he heard a chuckle from Gloria, and saw this as an opportune moment.
“Who invited Cleopatra to the party?” he joked in Gloria’s direction a little too loudly.
Like a harpoon out of a spear gun, his words reached the old woman right as she was about to enter the Appraiser’s office. Instead of entering, she turned around, and scanned the crowd until she found her assailant who was ripening up like a tomato.
Melting away in his seat, Chase was unsure how to recover. He was holding his breath, waiting on Gloria’s response when his body produced a pocket of gas which had been held up in his stomach for the last half hour. The result was a loud croak that made Gloria jump from her seat.
“Ay dios mio” she said in Spanish or (“oh my god”)
With her hand over her heart, Gloria turned around and said something in Spanish to Chase that he didn’t understand. His head hanging low in embarrassment, retreated to his original idea of “keeping to himself.”
….
Defeated from his feeble attempts at conversation, Chase struggled to located a positive thought in his head. He reminded himself that very soon he would receive the good news of his new recorded value for the 2029 year.
Burying himself in his work, Chase exceeded the expectations of everyone in his office in 2028, making over $85,000 in his first year. Sacrificing his time was necessary as his mom had gotten sick, and his father was struggling to pay off his little sisters college tuition. Every month, Chase would wire $1,000 to the University of Minnesota to lessen the burden on everyone.
Though he felt empowered by helping, he sometimes compared and thought negatively when he saw people he went to school with receiving praise and recognition for they’re HAC rating. In one case, there was Stephen Oleander who barely graduated college, but still managed to be in the top 80% because of money his grandfather had left him.
In relation to the rest of the United States Chase was valued at 73%. This put him the Evaluation Bracket of anyone between 0-74%. Receiving that score post college made 2028 tough, underestimating the impact an HAC profile could have in certain social circles. It wasn’t easy to make or retain friends when before he had a chance to talk, someone was already judging him for his C-rating.
Chase pondered this, and began to wonder exactly how much higher Gloria might rank than him. Opening up the HAC application, his hand hovered over the “pay to access more information” button.
Taking a deep breath, he looked at the woman in front of him and decided that he would approach her after the appraisal. Hopefully after his increase, they would be a match after all?
Then, just as he was about to close his phone, a women tapped him on his shoulder, the result was a loud authoritative voice to projecting through his phone. He had clicked the button.
“Please say Yes or No, if you would like to pay to access Gloria Dominguez's HAC Profile"
Immediately Chase tried to exit out of the application, but accidentally turned the volume up and so the voice repeated in its automated response.
“Are you sure you would not like to access Gloria Dominguez’s profile, please say yes or no.”
There were giggles and whispers throughout the room, and Chase felt worse than he did earlier. Gloria only a few feet away had overheard the response, but was ignoring it. In truth, she was used to this kind of thing and learned it was better to just pay no mind than get in the middle of it. Also, her english was broken, so she willing to “play stupid” rather than force a conversation like she had done in previous incidences.
“I am so sorry sir.” Apologized the person who had caused the catastrophe.
At a glance, Chase noticed the woman over his shoulder. She was older and seemed a bit underdressed, wearing a white blouse, jeans, and flats. Her hair was blonde, with streaks of grey in parts. If Chase were not wearing his emotions on his sleeve in that moment, he would have saw that her blue eyes were friendly and sincere.
His angst and fear however had caused him to instead mumble weakly.
“It's okay, it's okay” half talking to her, and half to himself.
Then, the voice of god broke into the room again.
“6747, please come to room 109”
Chase stood up, and straightened himself out before walking towards the left side of the waiting room. The woman watched him move across the room from a distance, she felt quite horrible for what happened. If Chase were to have pulled out a picture of her HAC profile, he would have seen her name was Sasha. She was in the top 90% in the United States.
Part 3: Meet your future self
Opening the door, Chase walked into a room that was about the size of a two car garage. The walls were a cream color, and empty except for The Human Appraisal Committee logo and Minnesota State flag. The logo consisted of large block letters leading to a percentage symbol, sort of like this :
THE HUMAN APPRAISAL COMMITTEE%
Sitting down at the large desk, Chase folded his hands in his lap. There was the same model computer monitor from last year where he would see his score. Last year he remembered, seeing 0 net income, as well as the $20,000 he owed in student loans, now all paid for.
Across from him sat his appraiser for this year.
"Hello Chase, I'm Julie I'll be taking care of you today”
Julie just turned 30 years old. She had worked her way up through the HAC after college, and didn’t disappoint, given her background in sales, growing up working on a used car lot. On the shelf behind her, Chase saw a number of awards from 2025-2027, they each read Top Appraiser of the Year for Minnesota. These were in reference to the commission she would make by selling people back privileged information only the government had access to.
Her tactics were simple: Press on the insecurities of everyone in the most genuine empathetic way possible, and sell them back data behind their life problems.
“So would you like your pictures before or after the news, sweetheart?”
“Could we do after?” Chase answered with a smile.
Julie was attractive. She wore a denim dress and high heels. Her dark hair, green eyes, and pale skin and freckles gave her an authentic look. Chase wondered what her percentage might be.
“Not a problem Chase, we’ll get you taken care of right away” Julie began to run the most updated version of their algorithm, the HAC 4.0.
Within seconds the results were up on the screen.
“All right Chase, lets see here okay, the results are up on the screen. It looks like you are in the 73% for the 2029 year.”
……
“Chase?”
“I’m sorry can you please run the numbers again, that is my percentage from last year”
“Hmmm, let me see. You are Chase McLeary right?
“Mhm”
She continued.
“Did you get a chance to read our updated terms with the HAC 4.0, you should have received notice for it in the mail?”
Thinking back, Chase had received a large amount of mail over the last year. He moved home to help take care of his Mom. In retrospect, there was a chance Chase may have accidentally threw it away with a pile of credit card solicitation’s.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t get a chance to read it”
“Okay, well I can understand then why you are concerned then about your score. Our analysts have included more data and factors regarding you personal records, families records, credit card statements, spending habits, economic trends, and even your health records to give a proper diagnosis of your value. You know who we have doing these calculations right?
Chase nodded his head. He knew who it was the same people who predicted sports gambling in Vegas, they anticipated their results to be 98% accurate.
“Yeah its supposed to be very accurate. It just doesn’t make sense, if you saw the year I just had, you would be surprised by these results too.”
Reaching her arm across the desk, Julie took his hand, and locked in on his eyes.
“I understand this is tough. We see it all the time, and it's not always fair, but what we can do for you is help you better understand why you’re so lowly rated.”
Pulling his hands away, Chase felt the pitch coming and so prepared himself.
“How much is this going to cost?”
Not missing a beat, Julie responded
“I can get you a high level overview at a discounted rate for $500 today, and we can send you an updated version 6 months from now. If you want the full year, we can do it for $850 and of course there is tax.” Julie offered a friendly smile, reading his reaction.
Chase felt uncertain. In his heart, he wanted to leave the HAC and never come back. Another year of social inadequacy sounded unbearable. He calculated before today how much he would make in this next year with his trajectory which was more than $120,000.
“Lets just take the picture, and get this over with.”
Standing up, Chase walked over to where the camera was. He thought about Stephen Oleander and what his HAC experience might be like. He imagined him in the same seat as he was in the waiting room, and the type of interactions he may have had. Maybe Gloria would have preferred to talk to Stephen.
“Before taking your picture Chase, I want to run one more thing by you.”
Julie had trotted around the desk and was now literally in front of him. Her heels were 4 inches high which made her Chase’s height of 6”0. She had one final shot to reel Chase back in and so taking his hands in hers she began with a prayer.
“Dear lord, we don’t know why these things happen but they do and we must accept….”
Julie’s eyes were closed and Chase didn’t really know what to do. He hadn’t been to church in over 20 years, though majority of the community practiced regularly. Instead he tried not to focus on how sweaty his hands might feel to Julie.
After about one minute, she opened her eyes and gave Chase a hug.
“Hey, I know the new algorithm is brutal, but I think I have just the thing to help you increase your score for next year. It sounds like you might be interested to see your expected value appreciation over the next 10 years given your hard work this last year. Is that right?
“My expected appreciation?”
“Yup.”
She was not scooting back around to her desk.
“Based on market trends and your performance in the office, the HAC 4.0 considers your current path and where it might lead.”
“That actually sounds pretty cool. How much would that cost?
“Well, if you just wanted to do a single analysis for today, we can do one payment of $275, and you’ll have everything you need in the short term.”
Chase thought it over quickly. What he couldn’t get over were the giggles and laughs he had heard in the waiting room while he genuinely tried to connect with others.
"Okay run it”
“Okay, great!” After pressing a few buttons, Chase heard a ding on his phone for the charge.
“So Chase, you grossed over $85,000 last year, and have a current net worth of roughly $16,987 in savings, which is good. Hmmm it says however that you have over $60,000 owed back in student loans. So basically, your head really isn’t above water yet.
Taken back, Chase became furious. He had paid off his student loans. The ones they were referencing tied to his little sisters college tuition. He heard these words, which felt immoral. He was being judged for helping his sister now?
He didn’t know what to say or feel, because he knew couldn’t hold this against his sister or that because his Mom had gotten stomach cancer and had to quite working to start chemotherapy.
“So that mostly explains why your percentage didn’t go up. Does that make sense?”
“It does.”
Checking the time on the clock, Julie noticed they were approaching the 30 minute mark and she was satisfied that she had closed her deal.
“So Chase, we’ll just slide through the rest of this information and get you on your way”
Chase listened as Julie gave him the numbers which said the following:
In the next 10 years, he could at best be in the top 83% or below. These were all factored by his decisions, but considered heavily that his productivity in the specific market he worked in.
Even worse was his medical prognosis, which told him his life expectancy, 84 years old. In addition, based on his families medical records, Chase had a pre genetic disposition that within the next 5 years, his likelihood to begin balding was 20% dependent on stress levels, and that within 10 years he was 43% likely to be completely bald.”
“Thanks to his mother’s side," there was a good chance he would get diabetes between 35-50 years old depending on his diet and exercise. Also, because of his father’s history of heart problems, specifically of atrial fibrillation, the HAC recommended he look into natural and pharmaceutical enhancements he approached 40.
By the time Chase was propped in front of the camera, he looked as if he had been taken through the ringer. A nightmare of information which was now forever imbedded in his mind. The supposed truth of the future, all derived from an algorithm considered to be 98% accurate. It was an algorithm created by the same people who “used to” predict the results of sports gambling.
If Chase was a gambler, he would safe to put money down that by 45 years old, he’d be a bald middle class diabetic, one twinkie away from a heart attack.
The room was set at 68 degrees, though Chase had burned up to over one hundred. Sweat was beginning to build up around his forehead, and he was breathing irregularly. Small droplets of hair gel were making their way down his forehead into his eyes causing him to cry.
“Are you okay Chase?”
“Yes, its just... I did so much this last year, and I…”
“Here take a Kleenex” Julie responded cutting him off. The clock read 2:04pm, which was 4 minutes longer than Julie liked for a deal size less than $500.
“So how can I get into the top 83%?” responded Chase wiping his face.
“Just use the metrics in that overview, and work on the area’s that need fixing, okay? Thank you so much for coming”
Part 4 - An Unexpected Turn
Walking out of the HAC, Chase considered what the next step might be. He had a busy day at the office ahead of him, however in his depleted state, he considered just going home.
Taking a seat in the pick up area, he held his hands together and looked out to the clouds as they formed and separated in the sky. A light breeze from the North came through, which felt good on his forehead. Untucking his white dress shirt, he took off his jacket, and folded it across his lap which felt much better.
Pulling out his phone, he check out his new updated picture. His formerly groomed haircut was untamed, taking its natural curls. There were stains on the shoulders of his jacket from the expensive hair gel her purchased. Worst of all were his eyes, which looked lifeless and sucked in, like 2 marbles that had been left out in the sun for too long.
“Time to set some new goals” Chase thought, and so he began highlighting all of the area’s the HAC had pointed out. The thought of another of social isolated came to him again, and he wondered how his life could be so hard?
Then, as if on cue, Gloria Dominguez walked out of the HAC. She was now dressed in workout clothes, and seemed to have a heightened amount of energy. In truth, her HAC Profile had just increased 2% into 80% thanks to her husband. Chase didn’t know this, and couldn’t because they hadn’t spoken and he couldn’t access her profile.
With her headphones in, Gloria bopped around the ride share area as if ready to run out of a tunnel into a football stadium. Chase watched, intrigued by her physic, and confidence.
Pulling out his phone, he decided to do something out of character and snapped another picture of Gloria, and this time, with his headphones in. The same button appeared from last time. “Pay here to access more information.”
Chase clicked the button and within seconds he received a call from the HAC representative.
“Hello this is Mike with the HAC, am I talking to Mr. McLeary?”
“Yes, um yes hi”
“Great. How are you doing today?”
“Doing well.”
“Thats great to hear. I see you were inquiring for Ms. Gloria Dominguez. Is that correct?”
“Yes, I’d like to see what it would cost for more information.”
Mike was located in Boulder Colorado at a call center that strictly took inbounds like this. When he wasn’t at work, he spent his time snowboarding or mountain biking depending on the season. His goal was to eventually become an appraiser, so customer service was a step in the right direction for him.
“Certainly, and before we get into price… Was this for personal, professional, or emergency reasons”
“Um, Personal reasons I guess.”
“Oh alrighty then, well I am obligated to ask. Do you know or have any relations with Ms. Gloria Dominguez?”
“No, not really”
“Got it, well thats not a problem Chase, we can certainly share some more information with you, though it will be at an increased rate due to your non existent relationship with her, okay?”
Picking up his head, Chase saw that Gloria was still bopping around to her music. Shaking her hips left to right as if ready to hit the dance floor, Chase felt like such a creep. Behind her were a few older men sitting and staring.
“Oh, I'm sorry how much will that cost”
“Well considering your percentage of 73%, and hers of 80% let me run the numbers in our database.”
“Alright sir, thank you for your patience. Access to Ms. Gloria Dominguez’s personal profile is going to run you $200 for 1 hour, and since you’ve made a purchase with us today, we will also give you access to one phone call and an additional email sent through the HAC. How does that sound?”
“Oh, I’m sorry thats a bit high for me. Thank you though."
“Chase, Chase Chase, before you go”
Mike deepened his voice, and again Chase knew he was being pitched.
“Let me level with you before you go."
“Lets say you did take Gloria out on a date, how much would you expect to pay for the night.?
"I don't know maybe $100 or a little more depending on how it went."
“Exactly dude. I see girls ALL THE TIME, and they love to see when guys are willing to pay for this type of stuff. It makes them feel valuable, kind of a new age romantic gesture. Its damn near 2030, this is how we’ve got to do it these days. You know what I’m saying?”
“I’m sorry, I can’t.
“Alright, so the best I can do is a text message for $50 dollars, 20 words whatever you want.”
Chase closed his phone, and took a deep breath. The clouds overhead were now blocking the sun. And he decided that it would probably be better for him to go to work, rather than feel sorry for himself. He agreed that this year he would focus on making more money and fixing all of his problems. One day he would be in the 83%, and maybe happy eventually. In his phone he began typing out his goals for the year, when he received a tap on the shoulder.
…..
“Hello, I just wanted to apologize again for what happened earlier.”
It was the woman who had bummed into him earlier in the waiting room. Chase noticed now that she had very kind eyes and friendly smile.
“Thats okay, I don’t think I had much of a chance anyway.”
Chase said this and laughed though inside he felt uncomfortable.
Taking a seat next to him on the bench she continued.
“Oh yes, that girl over there is very pretty. Is that who you wanted to talk to?”
Chase looked and saw Gloria now bent over touching her toes showing her full figure to the masses.
“Yup, thats her.” Chase said embarrassingly.
“My late husband was a lot like that girl, in certain ways.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear of his passing.”
“Thank you, its quite all right though. He carried a lot of demons with him in his final days, I wish he were happier towards the end of it all.”
Chase was unsure how to move forward in the conversation. Most people preferred to stray away from people they didn’t know. Why was this woman opening up to him about her personal life? Strange he thought to himself, this woman must be really down in the dumps willing to talk to someone like me. Still her eyes seemed genuine, so Chase continued the conversation.
“I’m sorry, when did he pass away?”
“This last year, a week or two after new years. He had a heart attack.”
“How long were you two married? Almost 23 years, he was 52.
The wind blew again, and Chase sat there still. Contemplating what was appropriate or inappropriate to ask, then She broke the silence in a laugh.
“You sort of remind me of him. I heard your comment earlier about the woman with the all the jewelry, I swear some people go through such inconveniences in life.”
“Oh yeah” Chase smiled to himself.
“That may have been inappropriate” Chase said out loud.
“Oh it's all right. She has her own story which she tells herself and thats her deal. Still, it’s not right to treat people so poorly”
“Yeah.” Chase took a deep breath, and continued “But thats the point of the HAC, and having our appraisal’s, to keep everyone safe and understand what we contribute or bring to society?”
“Hmmm.”
She didn’t answer at first, and then continued.
“I think it is up to you to decide what you contribute to society. Like that woman Gloria, her husband of one year is twice her age and worth quite a bit, though I don’t believe the business he is in actually contributes positively to society.”
Chase wondered how this woman knew all of that information. She must be at least in the 80% or higher to have accessed Gloria’s profile, and to access even her husbands was privileged for the highest classes. Why wasn’t she at least dressed the part?
“My husband began working for a company, after we had our daughter. I didn’t know much about it, except that it brought us a lot of wealth. What happened in our relationship was an increasing distrust of each other. After the police showed up to our house a few days before Christmas, we found out that we would lose everything.”
Chase knew in that moment, exactly who she was. The newspapers had covered the story for almost 6 months, because it was such a scandal within the Minnetonka community. Engaged, he let her finish the story.
“My Henry had started lying to me for many years, and because of it I lost nearly everything except my Laura. When Henry passed, all the material items were taken away. The house, the cars, the jewelry, and savings all given back to the government. So yes, I’ve seen what can happen when we use the value of things to determine the worth of our lives. It can poison the mind and make you forget that other people have feelings to.”
Chase sat there, and digested everything she just said, and let these words settle.
“The question you might want to ask is: what is the most important thing in your life, if you lost everything today?”
“Are you, Henry Goldman’s wife.” Chase asked.
“Yes, I was once. My name is Sasha.”
The two of them shook hands, and for the first time that day Chase felt a little lighter than he had before. The calm breeze picked up again, giving him the chills.
“Mom, well that was fun. They clocked me in at 75%.”
Turning around, a girl a few years younger than Chase stood with her arms folded. Chewing a fresh stick of gum, she had her hair in pig tails and had the same friendly blue eyes as Sasha. Dressed in jeans, sandals, and a white Woodstock t shirt, she waited for her mothers inevitable introduction. She reminded Chase of Kate Hudson from the classic movie Almost Famous.
“Chase, this is my daughter Laura.”
“Hello.”
“How do you do Chase?”
“Not bad, just got told my whole life story. And you?”
“Meh, I don’t pay attention to the statistics, I prefer to think of myself as the sole author of my own story.”
Laughing at this, Sasha invited Chase over for lunch. He only had to call in his work to explain he would be taking a personal day. The three of them entered the autonomous driving car, and left for Sasha and Sophia’s house for a cup of coffee.
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