Vasilich and the Video Message from the Boss

by Boris Bakhmetyev

In my previous story, I mentioned the New Year’s message to the office staff from Cactus Vasilich, who was temporarily substituting for the chief boss during his untimely absence. The message was read out by the boss’s secretary, Iskrina Romanovna, with Vasilich silently approving.

As you may recall, the team’s reaction to the message was mixed. Amid a general sense of uncertainty, it sparked vague speculations about possible changes in the office’s leadership and even some fears of an uncontrolled power vacuum.

Vasilich was deeply worried about this. After all, his intention had been quite the opposite — he wanted to instill confidence in his colleagues about the future and inspire them to new professional achievements.

Then Iskrina came up with a bold new proposal. She suggested creating a video message from the absent chief boss using artificial intelligence. Since no one really knew where the boss actually was… Iskrina explained that her daughter Liza had been doing such tricks on the computer for a long time and was perfectly capable of producing such a video. As for the text of the message, Iskrina herself would prepare it based on the boss’s previous speeches.

Cactus Vasilich quickly approved the idea. He always appreciated bold thinking in his employees and was also a strong advocate of cutting-edge technologies in management, including digitalization and artificial intelligence.

By New Year’s Eve, the video featuring a person resembling the chief boss was ready. To maximize the positive impact and emphasize the grandeur of the upcoming plans and prospects, the message was “recorded” against the backdrop of the Himalayas. It was sent to the corporate chat exactly five minutes before midnight.

Admittedly, the employees’ reactions — as seen in their comments — were once again mixed. Few people were really interested in the content of the message. To be honest, Iskrina Romanovna Kiskova had never been particularly eloquent, and sometimes she even spouted nonsense…

Strangely enough, many people were bothered by the fact that the message didn’t mention how difficult the outgoing year had been or how even harder the coming year would be…

Mostly, however, the employees suspected the involvement of artificial intelligence. The facial expressions didn’t always match the words, and the head seemed to move separately from the body. Moreover, the person in the video resembled not the chief boss but rather Evgeny Vasilyevich — a modest office employee who had fallen into a coma after drinking a cup of chamomile tea from the special cafeteria. Evgeny Vasilyevich’s spirit resided within Cactus Vasilich.

Evgeny Vasilyevich had once been quite proud of his resemblance to the chief boss. However, the similarity was far from perfect. Vasilich had a more delicate bridge of the nose and jawline, while also having broader cheekbones and temporal areas, and an overall more “square” skull shape. The employees simply didn’t know that Liza Kiskova, who created the video, had wanted to do something nice for Cactus Vasilich…

In short, once again, as they say, questions hung in the air… And with the arrival of the New Year, anxiety in the office only grew…

January 2, 2026