Job Job: The Pieces Wouldn’t Fit

To whom it may apply,

It’s been a wild year, right? At the time of this writing I’m taking a break in between jobs, but I’ve been getting myself out there as of late, and ready to get back into working again. I’ve spent a lot of time playing Job Job in the new “Jack” party collection Jackbox Party Pack with my friends, and it’s put a lot of things into perspective for me, while also being just a damn good time.

I first met Job Job a few months ago when I was asked to take part in streaming it for a well known game website, and it was love at first sight. Once the game starts, you meet with a group of talking corporate instruments saying to you that you are in a trial for a job. Players then answer fake work questions, and then are asked to answer more questions using the pieces in the response given by other players. Every single time I’ve played this with people this year has been an absolute blast, but something about it hit me way more than I expected.

A few months back, I was having a really difficult time at work, and made the difficult choice to drop my job and take a mental health break. I was thankful for the blessings I had at the time: a boss that had my back, family and friends to help me out, and enough money to survive a few months. 

Getting back into the job-seeking process was more difficult than I thought it would be. Hours were spent working on each different letter, having to adjust them exactly to each and every position– only to see pass after pass. It hit hard. I learned a hard truth; It’s possible to do everything right and still fail for things entirely out of your control. I became exhausted.

Job Job does a great job of making light about everything that sucks about working and trying to find a job in the corporate world. It’s pretty likely that the texts you get from other players aren’t anything that you can piece together well, which reflects that painful truth I learned about job hunting. In fact, the first place player’s score at the end of the game is shown as their wage, showing that even how much the business rewards you for your time is something that feels left to chance. Everyone else “does not get the job” and you are back to the beginning, even after going through all the demanding challenges that potential places of employment seek from you.

I know that Job Job is satire and all in good fun, but that bittersweet vibe exhausted me. But not enough to stop playing the game, mind you, it’s given me some of my favorite memories of any game made by this team. There is something amazingly cathartic to me about having some good, distinctly goofy fun with something I’ve struggled a lot with this year. This communal solidarity I’ve found with my friends making wacky, disfigured statements and laughing at awkward corporate messages really helps keep me going through the whole process. I’m not doing as well as I could be, but I’ve got good friends to help me through this time and that’s not nothing.

Attached are pages including my work history and information on those referring me here. If there are any questions, please feel free to reach out. Looking forward to speaking with you soon.

Best,

Kam Konek

This letter was crafted out of the words used in the following letters from the Uppercut Year in Review 2020 Letter Series:

Blaseball: Half as Long, Twice as Bright by Riley Hopkins

If Found: Making Peace With the Past by Anthony McGlynn

Streets of Rage 4: The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same by Monti Velez

Destiny 2 Beyond Light: We Don’t Have To Be Ruled By Our Darkness by Glenn Battishill

FUSER: Finding Connection Through the Loneliness by Sam Greszes

Mixolumia and Comfort by Jeffrey Rousseau

Hades: An Ode to Family Trauma by Jessica Howard

Going Under: Fighting Capitalism With Humanity by Henry Ewins