The less of them there is, the more of us they can become.
Item#: 7483
Level2
Containment Class:
euclid
Secondary Class:
none
Disruption Class:
vlam
Risk Class:
warning
Assigned Site
Site-08
Site Director
Dr. Nathan Reed
Research Head
Dr. Caroline Palmer
Assigned MTF
Rho-3 "Infernal Revenue Service"
Assigned Site
Site-08
Site Director
Dr. Nathan Reed
Research Head
Dr. Caroline Palmer
Assigned MTF
Rho-3 "Infernal Revenue Service"
SCP-7483-1 instances prior to containment
Special Containment Procedures:
Instances of SCP-7483-1 are to be contained within standard group humanoid cells at Site-08, with no more than 4 individuals per cell. Instances of SCP-7483-2 are to be reported to senior staff and not engaged in conversation. If 4 or more instances of SCP-7483-2 manifest at one time, staff is to initiate Protocol-443-Somnus.
Foundation webcrawlers will monitor publicly released corporate reports for drastic shifts in the productivity and budget allocation of their customer service programs. Upon confirmation of SCP-7483 activity, Mobile Task Force Rho-3 ("Infernal Revenue Service") will secure and recover any SCP-7483-1 instances, transporting them to Site-08.
The affected customer service department is to be restructured according to Procedure-224 to prevent the spread of SCP-7483, with all remaining employees amnesticized and implanted with memories of the Procedure-224 structure being standard operating procedure.
Description:
SCP-7483 is an egregore believed to have been created by a corporate cult between 1950 and 1960 that has infected more than 800 individual minds. Its primary method of self-propagation is through the infiltration of customer service organizations and their employees.
It first poses as a representative of a legitimate company, contacting the target corporation with services appropriate to its serviced clientele. SCP-7483 promises to reduce costs and increase the productivity of their customer service departments, with projected results often shown through infographics. If its services are accepted, it provides anomalous polices and procedures that are, in reality, a disguised ritual. SCP-7483 will direct corporate leadership to mandate that employees follow these procedures, causing them to be subsumed into the egregore. Once subsumed, they are transformed into entities with no internal sense of, or external indicators of, personal identity. These entities are referred to as instances of SCP-7483-1.
When spoken to, instances of SCP-7483-1 project an identity that matches the speaker's expectations of how a good customer service employee should look, sound, and behave like. They present a cheery and friendly disposition, but exhibit a level of desperation to provide assistance to the person engaging them.
At any time, an instance of SCP-7483-1 can become an instance of SCP-7483-2. SCP-7483-2 is understood to be the collective will of the egregore taking direct control of one of its constituent bodies, and is how SCP-7483 spreads to new corporations. SCP-7483 can create and control multiple instances of SCP-7483-2 at a time. SCP-7483-2 will always project an identity that matches its primary target's perception of a corporate executive.
Both SCP-7483-1 and SCP-7483-2 instances otherwise display normal human biology, a fact exploited by Protocol-443-Somnus.
Discovery:
SCP-7483 was discovered when the Foundation's Pactwatch Program flagged ████████ Inc. for possible occult activity. Foundation agents equipped to measure Elan-Vital Energy intensity were dispatched and registered readings over 1 kilocasper at a warehouse owned by the corporation under investigation. MTF-Rho-3 was given approval to enter the site and perform reconnaissance. The first instances of SCP-7483-1 were discovered and brought into containment. (See Debrief Transcript Rho.3.7483 for details.)
Addendum 7483.1:
Attached is a log of experiments that refined Foundation understanding of the properties of SCP-7483-1 instances. SCP-7483-2 instances have thus far not been available for similar testing, but recorded interactions support the hypothesis that they share similar anomalous properties with the SCP-7483-1 instances.
VIDEO SURVEILLANCE TEST #1
Subject
SCP-7483-1 Instance
Protocol
SCP-7483-1 instance placed in a solitary confinement cell and observed via video surveillance.
Results
Camera was unable to make out details of the SCP-7483-1 instance. The subject appeared as a hazy, indistinct humanoid form.
VIDEO SURVEILLANCE TEST #2
Subject
SCP-7483-1 Instance
Protocol
SCP-7483-1 instance placed in a solitary confinement cell and observed via video surveillance. A researcher spoke with the instance over intercom.
Results
Upon engaging with the researcher, the camera resolved the image of a human female of indeterminate European descent with curly brown hair. This matched the description the instance provided of its appearance when prompted by the researcher.
VIDEO SURVEILLANCE TEST #3
Subject
SCP-7483-1 Instance
Protocol
SCP-7483-1 instance placed in a solitary confinement cell and observed via video surveillance. A researcher spoke with the instance over intercom, then a second researcher spoke with it.
Results
Upon engaging with the same researcher as the previous test, the camera resolved the image of a woman with curly brown hair, as before. When the conversation concluded, the camera was once again unable to resolve details. When the second researcher engaged in conversation, the camera resolved the image of a man of African descent with close-cropped hair.
GROUP PERCEPTION TEST #1
Subject
SCP-7483-1 Instance
Protocol
SCP-7483-1 instance placed in an interview room. A researcher entered and engaged the instance in conversation. While the conversation was in progress, a second researcher entered the room.
Results
The second researcher perceived the instance to match the one described by the first researcher. It appears that SCP-7483-1 instances will maintain a single identity when encountering groups.
Conclusions:
SCP-7483-1 instances are hypothesized to exist in an anti-memetic state unless engaged with an individual. The evidence also suggests that their identity projection ability manifests differently for different people, and is based on the targeted individual's preconceptions about what a customer service employee should look like.
Addendum 7483.2:
On ██/██/██, an SCP-7483-2 instance manifested from one of the SCP-7483-1 instances contained at Site-08 and requested to speak with the facility leadership. The interview log is attached below.
Interviewed: SCP-7483-2 instance (hereafter referred to as 7483-2A)
Interviewer: Dr. Caroline Palmer, Head Researcher
Foreword: Interview was held in a Site-08 Bulk Humanoid Containment Facility interrogation room. SCP-7483-2A voluntarily submitted to restraints.
<Begin Log, ██:██:██>
Dr. Palmer: Hello, 7483. You requested to speak with someone in charge. What do you have to say for yourself?
7483-2A: I'm so glad to meet you, Dr. Palmer. Don't worry, I'm not a mind reader. Just a name-tag reader. Dr. Palmer, we have a very profitable relationship with ████████, Inc. We could have just as profitable a relationship with your Foundation. You've already acquired such a large workforce of our enhanced employees that we could be up and running in no time!
Dr. Palmer: I see…
Dr. Palmer pauses briefly before speaking again.
Dr. Palmer: I'm interested, but I'll have to ask you some questions before we can get into specifics.
7483-2A: Ask away, good doctor!
Dr. Palmer: Where did you come from?
7483-2A: We were… incorporated several decades ago by a group of people with unparalleled foresight and dedication to growth and profit. We have humble roots in the small town of ██████, ██. We bring that dedication and small town quality to the modern era in everything we do.
Dr. Palmer: Where are your… founders today?
7483-2A: Oh, they are the guiding principle behind everything we do. Those that aren't with us in body are… still with us in spirit.
Dr. Palmer: And is this how you typically get new clients? Meetings like this?
7483-2A: Yes, we believe the personal touch makes all the difference.
Dr. Palmer: 7483, what can you tell me about your 'methods'?
7483-2A: Oh, it's all quite simple in concept. We provide new policies for your employees to follow, which will increase their productivity and reduce your costs. As the employees follow the new process, they are enhanced, the effectiveness of which you have already verified for yourselves.
Dr. Palmer: Can you give me an example of how you would structure this process? What sorts of changes would you make?
7483-2A: Absolutely, Dr. Palmer. In the case of ████████, Inc., the location you most recently, ah, recovered our assets from, new processes included call scripts that, when spoken, attuned the employees to us. We also had them re-arrange the office space to match that of the proper ritual geometry. From there, it's a simple matter of introducing policies that de-personalize the employees, which will already start to save you costs. The less of them there is, the more of us they can become.
Dr. Palmer: And can you let me know how this reduces costs for us?
7483-2A: It's quite simple, Doctor. The enhanced employees no longer need to be paid market wages. It's much cheaper to keep them in bulk housing and provide them minimum sustenance. Look at it this way- you're already paying their rent and their grocery bills for them. This way, you get to streamline that and pocket the savings.
[The interview is interrupted by a junior assistant bringing a folder to Dr. Palmer, who glances over it for a moment]
Dr. Palmer: 7483, I don't believe I got your name when we began. How rude of me.
7483-2A: Not a problem, Dr. Palmer. I'm Xander Valentine.
Dr. Palmer: Mr. Valentine, I'd like to know a bit more about you, specifically, before we proceed with bargaining. Tell me about yourself.
7483-2A: Well, I'm a big basketball fan. Played in high school, even. Helps being as tall as I am. Do you follow basketball, Dr. Palmer?
Dr. Palmer: I don't. Where did you go to high school?
7483-2A: ████, ██, just across state lines. This was back in '██, though.
Dr. Palmer: Does the name Henry ██████ mean anything to you?
7483-2A: I can't say I know that name, no.
Dr. Palmer: That's surprising to me. Take a look at this report. You'll note it's a confirmation of DNA identification of Henry ██████. We got the DNA from you when we restrained you in here. You're using his body.
7483-2A: Dr. Palmer, how silly. I can assure you, there is no such person as Henry ██████.
Dr. Palmer: Let's see, he was 5'9', never played basketball as far as records we've recovered show, or any sports, really. Recent computer science graduate before he vanished. I take it the host body's former identity has no bearing on the persona you project?
7483-2A Doctor, this is really getting quite ridiculous. I am Xander Valentine, a man here to assist you and the organization you represent in streamlining-
Dr. Palmer: Can I speak to Henry?
7483-2A: Doctor, need I repeat myself again?
Dr. Palmer: I see. Then we're done here. Return this 7483-2 instance to its cell.
7483-2A: Tsk tsk. What a shame. I hope we'll chat again soon, Dr. Palmer.
<End Log, ██:██:██>
Closing Statement: After the interview concluded, all contained SCP-7483-1 instances converted to SCP-7483-2 instances and attempted to breach containment. Protocol-443-Somnus was initiated and the breach attempt was successfully halted.
NOTE FROM HEAD RESEARCHER PALMER:
To reiterate: it is NOT permissible for staff members to utilize SCP-7483-1 instances to perform tasks the staff member is too lazy to do. To remind staff that these were once people, I'm attaching the recovered journal entries and the discovery log.
Addendum 7483.3:
Attached are scans of journal entries recovered from an instance of SCP-7483-1. The journal was discovered at a desk belonging to an employee named Henry ███████. Testing of genetic samples taken from SCP-7483-1 instances during processing confirms the journal's author is among those contained at Site-08. This individual is noted as a primary test subject for possible reversal of the SCP-7483-1 transformation.
January 13, 2025
Today was the first day of training at my new job. It's a customer service call center, which isn't what I expected to wind up in right after graduation. But after, like, hundreds of ignored applications and rejection emails, it'll have to do. Maybe my CS degree will open up some options for promotion down the line, I think this company has an app for at least one of its products?
The place itself seems very corpo. They've got a BIG open plan office with clusters of desks where the employees take calls. But we didn't get to that today beyond just a tour. We mostly just set up logins to the company systems. Honestly it was kind of a blur.
There was a cute guy in my training class, though. Found out his name when the trainer had us do one of those corny introduction games: Matt. He's got this cool tattoo of a d20, and I asked him about it during the lunch break. Turns out he also likes TTRPGs! I'm hoping over the next couple of weeks I can get to know him better, maybe invite him to game night with the guys. They've been telling me to get out of my shell.
I keep telling myself this is temporary, just a placeholder to pay the bills. I don't want to end up stuck in this job. But it's been months since I got my degree and not even a single interview. I guess it's nice to have somewhere to be, at least.
January 27, 2025
As far as work, today was the first day they had us on the phones. Even with the two week training, I did not feel prepared at all. I got paired up with Matt, which was somehow great and not-so-great at the same time. He's nice and helpful, but I still get a bit flustered around him. Still, we made it through. The call types we were fielding were the easy ones, thankfully. It still took me WAY longer than it should have to finish out the call. If I'm being honest, I get the feeling that it's more important to just get the customer off the phone than to actually resolve their issue. Like, the trainer says that's not true but from what I've seen…
Anyways, enough downers. While we were taking calls, I made a dumb joke about "rolling a nat one" with one of the harder calls, and cringed as soon as I said it. But Matt actually laughed at it! Definitely put a bit of shine on the day. Still, I'm already tired so I'm going to turn in early tonight. Hopefully some sleep will clear my head of all the company buzzwords.
Feb. 10th, 2025
Game night was tonight but I didn't really feel present. There's been a bunch of changes at work, and it's a lot to get used to. I was just barely getting used to what we learned in training. They rolled out new phrasing they want us to use on calls. It feels a bit over the top. Like, opening the call with "Thank you for calling, I'm your humble servant Henry, how can I help you?"
Ugh. Look! I wanted to write about game night but it just turned into work stuff! I feel like I can't escape it lately. I kept checking my phone even though I wasn't expecting anything. I just couldn't stop thinking about calls and being weirdly anxious about my productivity stats. I just hate how it's following me home now.
Feb 24, 2025
This whole week has been a struggle. I realized today that it's been days since I spoke to anyone who wasn't a customer. I wonder if I open my mouth, would I even hear my own voice any more, or just that dumb chipper happy employee voice I use on the phones? God, I don't feel real I don't feel like a person, lately. To the customers, I'm just a voice for this company they're trying to deal with. To the company, I'm just a warm body to throw in front of the hordes of complaints. I just wish these people would show us some decency. I am a person.
3/13/2025
I really can't stop thinking about work. It's constantly on my mind, now.
They started timing our bathroom breaks. You have to scan your badge on the way in and the way out. It's a whole stat that can affect your payscale like the other performance metrics. On top of that they started a program where you can give up some of your lunch hours to earn "Bucks", which you can redeem for company swag. They've got this whole leaderboard of the top "Buck-illionaires" on display now. I remember feeling like it was the stupidest thing a while ago, but now I find myself trying to shave off a few more minutes of my lunch break to earn those Bucks. Why do I want to be on that leaderboard so bad?
I thought about asking Matt to come to game night, like I said I'd do forever ago. I almost did, during one of the brief pauses in calls, but then it was back-to-back for the rest of the day. I'll do it tomorrow for sure.
3/14/25
Didn't ask Matt. I had the chance and I was just hit with this… lethargy. Why would I? It's not like game night really matters. Probably a waste of both of our times. I'm sure Matt is just as busy with the job as I am. Everything outside of work just feels small now. There's a kind of zen with the way things are now.
I'm pretty tired after the overtime I did. I think I'm just gonna go to bed early and not go to game night. Need my sleep so I can be at my best at work.
I'm not real not real not real I'm not real not real I'm not real not real not real I'm not real
The voice I use on the phones might not be me, but it's easier to be that. That's what everyone expects me to be.
03/27/25
Work metrics are up. My handle time is greatly improved. I've been able to forgo my lunch break to max out my Bucks by using a meal replacement shake between calls. The game night crew finally stopped calling me, what a relief. Less distractions. Saw that Mark guy. Or was it Matt? Doesn't seem to matter now. I think he's been called for a special project by Human Resources, and I think I want that for me. I've been working plenty of overtime. Just gotta get more efficient and they'll be sure to recognize me.
04/04/2025
Will be getting promoted today. Don't think I'll need this journal anymore. Too much "me" in it.
Addendum.7483.4
The discovery log has been attached to this document on the orders of Head Researcher Palmer.
Mobile Task Force Rho-3 "Infernal Revenue Service" — Recording of Post-op Debrief
Speaker: Gavin Carter, Squad Leader
Operation Designation: Pactwatch Recon Op #53
Date: [REDACTED]
Location: [REDACTED], Indiana
Excerpt From Audio Recorded During Post-Op Debrief:
You got the mic on, sir? Alright, I'll get into it.
The warehouse looked pretty standard, comparable to the intel we had on other locations owned by ████████. We thought it was a bust until the Kant counters went off near the east loading bay. Vega was the first to notice the hidden door to the access corridor. It led down to a substructure that didn't match anything our intel had shown on the zoning or architectural records.
When we reached the bottom of the access stairs, the first thing I noticed was the smell. Worse than any locker room, it reeked of sweat and unwashed bodies. The air was thick with it and it clung to your face. And the heat of that place made it worse. The room wasn't as big as expected, but packed to the brim with narrow rows of cubicles pressed together down its entire length, shoved so close together we could barely pass through them single-file. The lighting was harsh, coming from some industrial fluorescent light fixtures on the ceiling. We could see only one lavatory, which lacked a door and only housed a single toilet and sink. It clearly hadn't been cleaned in some time.
And then we saw these… people. They occupied almost all of these cubicles, working at old computers and talking into the cheap headsets they wore. The din of their voices sounded… unnatural, like there was a sort of, uh, harmony when you listened to all the voices together. There had to be over a hundred of these folks packed in here.
I directed the squad to split up and sweep the room. We immediately realized these folks couldn't care less about the armed squad in their workplace. They were just… unnaturally absorbed in what they were doing on their computers. I had Mirnov grab one for questioning, and she just gave us this sappy smile and asked how she could help us out today, even with a goddamn gun in her face. We pulled off the headset she was wearing and I swear to God, some skin peeled off with it. She'd worn it so long it was starting to meld to her face. And not a scream, not a whimper, not a word from her even though we'd accidentally ripped off a chunk of scalp.
The other group found a section of cubicles where the workers were sleeping. You heard me right, sleeping in their cubicles. Just directly on the concrete floor with that little wooden chair shoved out of the way. You should check the video log for this part, captured the sleeping ones all out of focus. That's how the team saw them, too.
Right after they found the sleeping ones, we heard an artificial voice come over some loudspeakers in the ceiling, announcing a shift change. Right in front of the second group, the entities woke up and suddenly, we could see 'em as people. As they stood up, Vega pointed out the floor where they had been lying had bloodstains as if they had been sleeping on open wounds. When questioned, they were that same creepy kind of friendly but acted real distressed about being kept from their work.
The next part was one of the more disturbing for me, personally, even considering what we found after. The voice announced that all employees should prepare for feeding. I guess I should back up a bit, here. See, each cubicle had this… faucet, I guess. Like those big, tall kitchen sink ones. When the voice made that announcement, all the employees stuck their heads under it and opened their mouths just in time for this, well, slop, to come out. You ever been to a pig farm during feeding time, sir? It sounded like that but without the squealing, which was almost worse. And the gulps were so damn loud, 'cause they were trying to keep up with the flow of slop and not waste any of it. I'm shocked none of them choked. And quick as it started, it was back to work, like nothing had happened.
When we reached the end of that row, we finally got a break from the sweat stench, but it wasn't pleasant. Nah, it was that sickly smell of death. In one of the cubicles, Carter found a corpse. It was collapsed at its computer, all bloated and purple. The decay made it look like its face was melting into the keyboard, and it was oozing all over the desk. We asked one of the nearby workers about it, and they just said "The janitor will tidy up the mess when they come through!" Vega pointed out that there wasn't any of that feeding slop built up under the faucet, so clearly whoever dispensed it had known this fellow didn't need any more, but they'd just left him there to rot. I found out from the coroner's report that he'd died of sepsis from infected bedsores. Makes sense to me, I think all those people there must've had sores from sitting in those wooden chairs for so many hours.
Near the end of the op, there was the "Vice President" guy. After we had finished the sweep and were about to call in the containment specialists, a guy in a suit showed up. He looked like some hotshot like you'd see on TV in a boardroom. Let's see, what did he call himself? Ah, right. "Vice President of Client Solutions." I had Carter check the records again and guess what? No such position. When we questioned him on it, he said he represented a “customer-focused growth initiative.” What a load of bullshit. When I ordered the squad to cuff him, he just sighed. After the hand-off to the containment team, I heard he vanished and they found the cuffs on one of the, uh, regular employees in the truck we'd put him in. Same headcount and everything, too. Must've been some kinda regular Houdini.