8:01 AM: The girl who started working here yesterday shares a cubicle wall with Mrs. O’Leary. This morning, Mrs. O’Leary began her reign of terror by sternly knocking on the cubicle wall to get Alyssa’s attention. Alyssa didn’t know where the sound was coming from, so she ignored it. Mrs. O’Leary knocked again, louder this time.
Mrs. O’Leary: Excuse me… Hello… Hi…
Alyssa: Oh, hi!
Mrs. O’Leary:Good morning. I’m Mrs. O’Leary.
Alyssa: Oh, hi! I’m Alyssa.
Mrs. O’Leary: It’s nice to meet you.
Then Mrs. O’Leary promptly ended the conversation by sitting down.
8:24 AM: Grace has joined us late again with another whispered, “Hello.” But this morning she’s wearing what appears to be new, dark red lipstick. It’s paired with her grayscale leopard-print vest over a black long-sleeve t-shirt.
8:59 AM: The new girl’s supervisor was talking to her about one of her assignments and then…
Supervisor: Oh, before I leave, when is your birthday?
Alyssa: February 5th.
Supervisor: Okay, well, me, Steve, Eric and the other people on our team decorate each others’ desks and bring in treats for each other on our birthdays.
Alyssa: Oh, nice!
Supervisor: So you’ll have to let me know if you’re allergic to anything…
Alyssa: Nope! Nothing.
Supervisor: Okay, good. It’s just a little something extra we do. It’s nice.
Alyssa: That is nice.
That is nice.
3:36 PM: Grace popped into Phil Dunphy’s Lame Cousin’s office…
Grace: Do you have a minute to talk about our media video?
Phil Dunphy’s Lame Cousin: Yes.
Grace: First off, I wanted to talk about the Annual Report Presentation… I have everything done and I’ve proofread it, so now I am just waiting for the list of Board actions from…
Phil Dunphy’s Lame Cousin: No, I sent that already?
Grace: Oh, you did?
Phil Dunphy’s Lame Cousin: Yes, around noon.
Grace: Okay, then I must have just missed it… Okay, so for this media video… I haven’t done this since last year and I’ve forgotten quite a bit….
Let’s not kid ourselves, Grace. There’s not much from last week that you remember how to do, much less last year.
