Ted was your cliche workaholic. He worked full time as CEO of a large manufacturing company. He would get to work on the phone with someone about work and often left work hours past five talking on the phone about work. Ted worked so much that he dreamt that he was at work. He rarely spent time with anyone besides coworkers, but he never stopped to create a bond with any of them. Ted had no real friends and once again he would be spending his upcoming birthday with a full day of work followed by a lonely tv dinner and the news. 

On his birthday he went to get his mail from his apartment mailbox like he did everyday only to be greeted by a small birthday cake. This is weird he thought. He didn’t have any friends who would send him a cake. He looked around for a note, but was unable to find a trace of one. Ted decided it wasn't worth the time to figure out who it was from and he threw it away when he got to his apartment without eating it because he worried someone might have done something to it. He made his tv dinner and typed a couple work emails while watching the news before heading to bed. 

He dreamt about what he had at work that week, but was abruptly awoken by a weird sound coming from the hall. Tap. Tap. Tap. it sounded like someone repeatedly tapping on a counter. Ted got up and went to investigate. He saw a glow coming from around the corner like a light from a candle. He slowly crept to the kitchen to see this light was coming from inside the trash. Something was trying to get out. He used a spatula to slowly open the lid when a genie flew out. He thought he was having a nightmare, but when he felt his pinch he knew that somehow this was real. The genie said, “I am your birthday genie; you get three wishes.” Ted was baffled and didn’t want to deal with this because he had an important meeting early the next morning. He laughed and said, “I want to be the richest man alive, have a lambo, and never have to work again.” The genie nodded his head and returned to the trash. Ted rolled his eyes thinking that this was all a weird scam and must've been some stupid hologram and went back to bed. 

The next day Ted woke up in a huge mansion that he had never been to before. He was very perplexed thinking about how he got here and why his alarm didn’t go off. He looked at the clock on the oak nightstand next to him before he realized the time. It was 10:00. He missed his meeting with trading partners in Singapore and believed he was surely going to be fired. He rushed to get ready and when he went out the door he couldn’t find his Subaru anywhere. He entered the garage and saw a white lamborghini just like the one he has wanted since he was a kid. He decided it wouldn’t hurt to take it especially because someone else had clearly taken his car.

Ted put in his work address and began his drive to work only to be stared at like he was a fish out of water. He went to his office but someone else's name was on the desk. Ted went to ask his boss why someone by the name of Steve was now in his office. His boss, confused why Ted was there, told him, “you are the richest man alive and that you believed you didn’t need to work anymore so you quit months ago.” Ted was so confused and was certain this was all a dream because he would never quit. There was no way that genie was real and that this was his life now. 

He returned back to his mansion and fell asleep hoping that tomorrow would be back to normal. Only it wasn’t. He was in the same house with the same car and the same life. This was his new normal.