looks blended in with the office furnishings.
“Katie, are you busy?” Bill asked nonchalantly, as if he was going to ask her to fax something or make some copies.
“Just a moment. I have to wrap something up,” she replied, continuing to finish a posting to her friends full of smiley faces and exclamation points and hardly any subject at all. Bill waited patiently. The other three employees in the marketing agency were ostensibly busy at their desks. Bill could see all of them, because the office had no cubicles or walls. It was one big room.
“OK. What is it?” she said, after hitting the send button.
“Do you have time to take my picture with the office camera?” Bill asked.
“We already have business pics on the server. I can send you the link,” she replied. Bill often had trouble finding files on the shared drives, Katie knew. She had seen that his own files were a mass of disorganization.
“For the proposal I’m working on, I’d like something a bit more casual,” Bill explained. Since he was the office’s new businessperson, he was frequently preparing proposals for new business. The rare success of his proposals probably stemmed from his philosophy of sales, which he explained to his coworkers from time to time. A new client would join them for two reasons, he would say. First, the client recognizes that we have the necessary skills. Second, and more importantly, the client feels that we are a good emotional match. In accordance with his philosophical strategy, Bill spent most of his time wining, dining, and shooting the breeze with potential clients, especially if they were men. Consequently, it appeared to both his contacts and his coworkers that Bill worked harder at having a good time than selling his company’s services.
Claire, the office boss, immediately looked up from her desk when she heard Bill. She thought his sales philosophy made some sense, but at the moment he didn’t seem to be engaged in company business to her. “Doesn’t sound like a business proposal to me,” she remarked cleverly. “Whom are you proposing to?” A stylish dresser in her late thirties, Claire was full of conceit over the professional success she had achieved and how good she still looked. To Bill, however, she had never looked good enough.
The copywriter, Debbie, also in her late thirties, who was heavily overweight and self-absorbed, stopped nibbling on a cookie to chime in, “Are you finally going to make the big leap from Linda?” Everyone in the office knew of Bill’s stop-and-start dating with Linda. He shared more details when it was going well, but he said enough when it wasn’t for all of his coworkers to get the big picture.
“She must have stuck too many needles in you,” Claire added.
Shaking with laughter at that joke, Debbie said, “It’s about time. She poked you more than a pincushion.” Despite her uncontrolled laughing, Debbie would have liked someone to poke her once in a while. She was a victim of the chronic single syndrome.
Matt leaned back in his chair. Thirty-four years old and a graphic designer, he was the image of downtown cool with messy hair, unshaven face, ripped jeans, wrinkled shirt, and scuffed tennis shoes. Outside of New York City, someone might have thought he was a poor farm hand, but New Yorkers knew better. He couldn’t let Claire and Debbie have all the fun at Bill’s expense without getting in a wise crack, too. He confidently proclaimed, “Fifty dollars he boomerangs back to her within a week. Anyone want to lay some money down?”
“No way,” Debbie shot back. “He’s a masochist. And she’s a sadist. They were only apart for a full week once before, that I ever heard about. Most of the time they run back to each other within a couple of days, tops.”
Bill stood his ground, not reacting to what his coworkers said. To no one in particular he remarked, “She’s been emailing me all day, but I haven’t responded.”
With that bit of information, all of the women assumed that the breach between the broken hearts of Bill and Linda would soon be patched up with a Band-Aid. They knew there were no other women trying to get his attention. Bill would have said so, if there was such a person. Such joyous news he couldn’t keep a secret. It was also highly unlikely, they all thought, that another of their sex would appear in the near or far future with the level of personal interest in