The Circle

okay?”
    “Okay.”
    “Great. Do you know why you’re here?”
    “I think so.”
    “You’re here because your opinions are valued. They’re so valued that the world needs
     to know them—your opinions on just about everything. Isn’t that flattering?”
    Mae smiled. “It is.”
    “Okay, you see this headset I have on?”
    He pointed to the assembly on his head. A hair-thin arm, a microphone at its end,
     followed his cheekbone.
    “I’m going to hook you up with the same sweet setup. Sound good?” Mae smiled, but
     Pete wasn’t waiting for answers. He arranged an identical headset over her hair and
     adjusted the microphone.
    “Can you say something so I can check the levels?”
    He had no tablet or screen visible, so Mae assumed he was fully retinal—the first
     one she’d met.
    “Just tell me what you ate for breakfast.”
    “A banana, granola,” she said.
    “Great. Let’s decide first on a sound. Do you have a preferred one for your notices?
     Like a chirp or tri-tone or something?”
    “Maybe a standard chirp?”
    “This is the chirp,” he said, and she heard it through her headphones.
    “That’s fine.”
    “It should be better than fine. You’ll be hearing it a lot. You want to be sure. Try
     a few more.”
    They ran through a dozen more options, finally settling on the sound of a tiny bell,
     distant and with an intriguing reverb, as if it had been rung in some faraway church.
    “Great,” Pete said. “Now let me explain how it works. The idea is to take the pulse
     of a chosen sampling of Circle members. This job is important. You’ve been chosen
     because your opinions are crucial to us, and to our clients. The answers you provide
     will help us in tailoring our services to their needs. Okay?”
    Mae began to respond but he was already talking again.
    “So every time you hear the bell, you’ll nod, and the headset will register your nod,
     and the question will be heard through your headphone. You’ll answer the question
     in standard English. In many cases you’ll be asked a question that’s structured to
     receive one of the standard two answers,
smile
and
frown
. The voice rec is exquisitely attuned to these two answers, so you don’t have to
     worry about mumbling oranything. And of course you shouldn’t have trouble with any answer if you enunciate.
     You want to try one?”
    Mae nodded, and at the sound of the bell, she nodded, and a question arrived through
     the earpiece: “How do you feel about shoes?”
    Mae smiled, then said, “Smile.”
    Pete winked at her. “Easy one.”
    The voice asked, “How do you feel about dressy shoes?”
    Mae said, “Smile.”
    Pete raised his hand in pause. “Now of course the majority of the questions won’t
     be subject to one of the three standard answers:
smile, frown
, or
meh
. You can answer any question with more detail. The next one will require more. Here
     goes.”
    “How often do you buy new shoes?”
    Mae answered “Once every two months,” and there was the sound of a tiny bell.
    “I heard a bell. Is that good?”
    “Yeah, sorry,” he said. “I just activated the bell, which will mean your answer was
     heard and recorded, and that the next question is ready. Then you can nod again, which
     will bring on your next question, or you can wait for the prompt.”
    “What’s the difference again?”
    “Well, you have a certain, well, I don’t want to say
quota
, but there’s a number of questions that would be ideal and expected for you to answer
     in a given workday. Let’s call it five hundred, but it might be more, might be less.
     You can either get through them on your own pace, by powering through, or by spreading
     them throughout the workday. Most people can do five hundred in an hour, so it’s nottoo stressful. Or you can wait for the prompts, which will occur if the program thinks
     you should pick up the pace. Have you ever done one of those online traffic court
     programs?”
    Mae had. There had been two hundred questions, and it was estimated that it should
     take two hours to complete. She’d done it in twenty-five minutes. “Yes,” she said.
    “This is just like that. I’m sure you can get through the day’s questions in no time.
     Of course, we can increase the pace if you really get going. Good?”
    “Great,” she said.
    “And then, so if you happen to get busy, after a while, there’ll be a second signal,
     that reminds you to get back to the questions. This signal should be