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XERXES

Follow the regular updates of a not-nearly-paid-enough-for-this-shit fictional marketing intern at your beloved city's largest – also entirely fictional – independent superhero organization. xerxestogo goes out every other Friday, starting in January 2026.

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"Our bad," PR admits.

"Our bad," PR admits.(No one disagrees.) Dear fellow world savers Last week I had lunch with Shane. Not a common occurrence—the two of us don't exactly get on, which is at least 75% his fault, though it doesn't help that he is PR—but there is a big project we're going to be involved in, so we decided it makes sense. Also Yenna was sick and the rest of my team went out for lunch, while I was in the mood for curry. In the middle of the—silent—meal, Shane told me that the temporal echoes he's...

I hope you like curry. (If not you should work on that.) Dear fellow world savers What I wouldn't give for a little more time in my day. Every day. It's funny. When I first started working at XERXES, I had more time than I knew what to do with. Granted part of the reason for that was that my boss wasn't around and Building Security didn't have my access card ready but still. Now I've been here for almost three months. Not that long, sure, but that still means a fourth of my internship is...

It wasn't that bad. The building is still standing and everything. Dear fellow world savers I have discovered something groundbreaking: complaining works. Also if your caller rating gets tanked thanks to random vindictive supervillains who are taking their bad mood out on you until you are no longer among the best performers, suddenly your temporary supervisor puts up much less of a fight to let you go. That's right, friends (and Shane): I'm back where I belong. At Marketing. Right in time to...

Victory tastes sweet.And vindictive. But mostly sweet. Dear fellow world savers It is a beautiful day. The sun is shining. The phone is ringing. And I am so incredibly tired of answering it. The last time I did, I got screamed at for daring to say 'Hello'. Apparently that was very aggressive of me. Yeah, I'm done talking to people for the day. Too bad that my shift won't be over for another four hours. Tessa is amazing but I get why the help desk has one of the highest turnover rates in this...

New job, who dis? Dear fellow world savers Just kidding. As if I would leave you at the mercy of one of my well-meaning but not at all invested colleagues. No offense to them but I just don't think any of them have what it takes to keep this newsletter alive. And interesting. Like any motivation at all. The words 'waste of time' have been used more than once and while I have forgiven, I have definitely not forgotten. (I also haven't forgiven but Yenna told me I should try and be the bigger...

Definitely not a promotionWhen you do most things right and still get more work. Dear fellow world savers Wouldn't it be nice if evil machinations from the local supervillain population would be the only thing we have to watch out for? Instead we, all of us, are under a relentless attack. The culprits? The stomach bug that took down half of Marketing, a persistent cold that refuses to die because certain people—you know who you are—refuse to stay at home even when they look like they are...

A supervillain may have lied to us.Everyone is shocked. Dear fellow world savers Apologies for the lack of updates last week. I hope you are healthy, are doing well and that you have competent people to rely on when life throws unexpected curveballs your way. Not everyone is that lucky. Turns out when you call in sick on the day before V-Day, not only does no one take you seriously but unless you explicitly tell them to take care of a task for you, they will forget to do it. Like send out an...

We never liked that roof anyway. Dear fellow world savers Another Friday has come and gone and no one is hallucinating magic mushrooms. Not that I am aware of, at least. Although René has spent a lot of time crawling around under his desk. I have no clue what he is doing and no intention of asking. Am I the only one who feels an odd sense of existential horror every time I realize it is Friday? And a genuine wave of relief once Friday is over? Maybe it's just because I am used to Friday being...

Everything is an illusion.(Especially the top secret list that Building Security just released. You know the one.) Dear fellow world savers Life is full of surprises. Good and bad and both and everything in between. One moment you might be stuck at work, trying to figure out how to convince a certain PR department that you cannot "just put it on social" to make their new campaign go viral. (Still working on my arguments by the way. Suggestions are welcome.) The next second, the passage of...

This Friday never ends. (And I don't mean that in a good way.) Dear fellow world savers It is 10:43 am on Friday, the 23rd of January, as I type out our latest company newsletter. It will be 10:43 am on Friday, the 23rd of January when you receive the 'new message' notification. Perhaps you will click on it immediately. Perhaps you will ignore it. Perhaps you are in a meeting or out on a mission. Perhaps you are getting up from your seat now, tired of the silent judgement the 78 unread emails...