"Hey!" A startled hedgehog awakens from his regular habits of daydreaming while at work. "No one has taken care of Table 4 yet!" says a rather stout alligator. "I'm on it sir!" replies the cyan hedgehog as he rushes to the task. After several hours of labor, the first shift employees take their lunch breaks.
"Hey Chester! Come sit with us!" says a group of the his fellow employees. The hedgehog complies with his coworkers and sits down with them upon collecting his lunch bag. "What is it? We hardly ever sit together." says the confused animal. "I'll tell you.." replies a snake sitting across from Chester, "..I think we all are at least a little tired of working at this burger joint, there aren't any real opportunities for a better life because of the economy of the area and our income."
Chester looks at his coworkers agreeingly, "Yes but we're unskilled, unintelligent, high school graduates with no goals or direction in life. It makes perfect sense that we are stuck in a financial rut." The snake playfully nods his head in disagreement, "The way I see it, if we keep working here, we'll die before our time in a ditch with our bodies becoming vessels for drugs and cancer. However if we do end up being the luckiest people in the universe and live out the rest of our lives at least partially healthy, we die penniless with no friends or family to grieve our loss." "Probably in a ditch too!" interjects a squirrel, "Exactly" replies the snake.
"I don't think I quite follow your encouraging life expectations." Says Chester, "Is there a point to what you're saying other than to depress everybody?" The snake grins as he readies himself to speak, "As I said, we only have death as an option unless we do something about it, we've worked here for 8 years and none of our lives have improved in any significant manner- "We get it!" the entire table interrupts.
"Okay okay, my point is.." continues the snake, "If our lives can only lead in an unfavorable direction, maybe we should take some risks that can only bode well for us." The rest of the table appears simultaneously puzzled and intrigued, "What do you suggest we do?" asks Chester, as if to speak for everyone there. The snake looks at all of his coworkers and collects his thoughts for a few moments before finally answering them, "We join the federation army." The alarm goes off, alerting everyone to return to work. Without speaking a word, everyone leaves the table and gets ready for the next shift. The future is uncertain for these fellows.