The Joys of an Empty Office

Of all the things Diane expected to greet her when she arrived at her desk this morning, the sight of Emma Collins, her co-worker perched there with a more than devious grin on her face was not high on that list.

Not than Diane disliked Emma, they got on well enough and were both accomplished in their own regard for the work they do. But Emma always seemed to have a disliking for her, what with dirty looks when she thought she wasn't looking or offhand comments when she thought she wasn't listening. So Diane was more than a little cautious when approaching the petite brunette, removing her black hooded jacket and placing it on the back of her chair.

"Hey Emma, didn't get the memo about social distancing huh? Diane asked, trying her best to keep her tone light-hearted and jokey, but the look Emma was giving her was unnerving to say the least. Their staff the past few weeks had really dwindled to probably about 20 people between the five-story office block their company inhabited. And on the fourth floor Diane, Emma and another of their co-workers were the only ones keeping their department afloat. So there was really no reason for Emma to be as close as she was.

"Oh I did Diane," There was something off with Emma's tone of voice, but Diane tried her best to ignore it, "But it's just us girls here, and besides I was just wondering if you had got the memo about the dress code?" Emma finished her sentence by raising her eyebrow, a sly smile making its way onto her lips.

"Dress code?" Diane was genuinely confused. Their office's dress code was practically non-existent. Diane was wearing her typical high waisted black pants, and a long-sleeved black top. Her black sneakers with a flame pattern on them that finished off her gothic attire were maybe a little unprofessional, but far from the worst she's ever seen in the office (seriously, David in accounting showed up in his boxers and dressing gown one day and didn't even get a verbal warning), and by all accounts she wasn't dressed any differently from any other day.

"Yeah Diane, I'm seeing a lot of violations right here." Emma stood up from where she was perched on the desk, coming face to face with the goth girl, eyeing her up and down. Diane only stood around 5'5 but Emma at a petite 5'3 was dwarfed even by her, though somehow Emma managed to look intimidating. Looking at Emma, she seemed to be wearing the same plaid shirt and worn jeans Diane saw her in every day as well, showing no evidence of any sort of drastic change to the dress code.

"What are you talking about, I'm dressed the same way I do every day? No one from management is even here, when could they possibly have changed this?" Diane was trying her best to remain calm, but the grin spreading across Emma's face was filling her with dread. Was she just messing with her? Was this some sort of build up to a joke at her expense? Emma had never been so forward with insulting her before.

"Well you see Diane..." Emma finally backed away from her, walking around their bank of desks to her own, her stride indicating to Diane that bad things were in store for her, "With all the managers off sick or isolating, I've been given a temporary promotion, overseeing things and making sure the workers we have left are doing their jobs."

That didn't really surprise the goth beauty, their company regularly temporarily promoted staff members to manager for a day or two to keep things running smoothly when managers were absent, and it doubled to give the employees a bit of perspective of what managers had to deal with. And Emma was a good employee, so it wasn't so far out of the realm of possibility that they'd give it to her, especially since their floor which usually seated up to 30 only had a tenth of that in these days.

"And as my first official act of temporary manager, I've decided to make a change to the dress code," Emma accentuated her decree by pointing to a new sign, freshly laminated hanging on the office wall behind their bank of desks. From where Diane was all she could make out was thick bold lettering (In comic sans! The hell was Emma smoking?) stating DRESS CODE, with smaller writing underneath, "And you seem to be violating it."