Another Day, Another Dollar

You head into the bathroom and take a good look at yourself in the mirror. Henry Dunsany, you're a good-looking guy, you tell yourself as you shave off another line of stubble. It's just too bad the hot water in your building isn't great, of getting ready for work might almost be pleasant.

A short while later, you're dressed in regular office attire: a plain button-down shirt, a simple-patterned tie, and a nice pair of pants, and you're in the car on your way to work. After an uneventful commute, you park your car and head to the elevator. You hit the button for floor six, Kuranes Digital Services.

Thank God it's Friday, you think to yourself as the elevator doors open and you step into the office for another boring workday.

You managed to reach the office a few minutes early, so you decide to check in with Tara, the receptionist, on your way in. Her smiling face and cheerful demeanor are always a great way to start the day. And, in all honesty, she's one of your better-looking coworkers, between her silky blonde hair, deep blue eyes and ample cleavage which was often fairly well-displayed by the low-cut tops she typically wore around the office. Occasionally other staff members would comment that top management picked her for the receptionist job so any visitors to the office would see someone attractive when they first walked in, but anyone who had interacted with her for more than five minutes knew that it was more of a matter of her great attitude and positive outlook that made her the great receptionist she was.

"How's my favorite data analyst?" she beams as you approach the front desk. "Ready for another exciting day of... whatever it is a data analyst does?"

You chuckle at her remark. Admittedly, it isn't always easy to explain the day-to-day aspects of your job, and whenever you try, you just end up either boring or confusing the other person. You have a brief but enjoyable chat with Tara while more of Kuranes' employees trickle in for the day shift. A few other staff members say hi to you or Tara as they walk by, but your full attention is on your conversation.

"... anyway," Tara says, wrapping up some anecdote about the last couple of days. "that's why I haven't been sleeping so well these days."

"Sorry to hear about that," you reply. "I slept like a log last night. Strange dreams, though."

You are cut off by the realization that someone is standing behind you, a vague sense that someone pretty imposing is looming over you.

"Geez, don't you two do any work around here?" a deep voice rumbles from behind you. You turn around and see the towering figure of Ben, Tara's boyfriend and an old pal of yours from college. "I guess you aren't real go-getters like us over in Sales."

"No, it's not like that at all," you comment as you turn around to faceyour old friend. "I just work hard enough that I have extra time around here to do other things. Like start my day by trying to steal your girlfriend."

Ben and Tara both laugh. You've known them both for years, and while there were obviously times when you may have been a little jealous of Ben's relationship with a bombshell like Tara, they were two of your closest friends and you'd never even imagine trying to drive a wedge between them.

"Ben's right, though," Tara sighs. "We should probably get to work. It's almost 9:00."

"Yeah, I suppose we should actually do the job they pay us to do," you quip. "I'll catch up with you two later. Have a great day."

"Hey, maybe we can grab a beer this weekend," Ben calls as you walk away. You shoot him a thumbs-up, not wanting to yell back across the front office.

You head through the rest of the office, through the already-full call center cubicles, past the sales offices, past management, past HR, past IT, all the way to the far end of the building. You never knew why the data analysts of the company got stuck in the furthest possible reaches of the office, but being relatively far removed from the rest of your coworkers did have its advantages. You and your office mates had a much more relaxed, casual atmosphere without any managers breathing down your necks all day, for example. Walk into your shared office and take a seat at your desk.

"Karen's out sick again," Johan, one of your office mates says from behind his computer screen. "Three days now. I hope it's nothing serious."

You look across the office at Karen's empty desk. The hard-working, middle-aged woman you had known for a few years indeed was not in today, leaving just you and Johan holding down the fort today.

"By the way," Johan adds, scratching at his tidy, dark beard. "I can't remember if I mentioned this the other day, but I have to hit the road a little early today."

You distantly recall Johan mentioning that, heading up to his father-in-law's cottage for the weekend, or something.

"I suppose I'll have the office to myself, then," you say. "It'll be a good day to get lots done. No distractions."

"I don't know how much of a distraction Karen and I are," Johan remarks with a chuckle. "She mostly just sits over there doing her own thing, and I mostly just sit here doing mine."

Johan was half-right. Karen, while fairly good at her job and easy to get along with, did tend to zero in on her tasks more than you and Johan did. While every interaction you'd ever had with her had been professional and pleasant, there were honestly times when you wouldn't notice her at her desk, other than the clicking of her keyboard and mouse. Johan, on the other hand, had a similar attitude to you most days: work hard when you have a task at hand, get it done, and then spend the rest of the day doing whatever else you wanted to do. In his case, that was often falling asleep under his desk.

"Either way, I bet I'll get lots done," you say, turning your attention to your monitor and the day's work.

The rest of the morning passes about as uneventfully as any other, until at lunchtime Johan says goodbye for the day and heads out, leaving you in the office alone. You're actually pretty caught up on what you wanted to get done for the day, and now that you have the office to yourself, you think about how you should spend the rest of your time.