Sitting in the conference room, Janelle, and Jamie were waiting for their boss for the monthly budget meeting.

Janelle, 15 years Jamie’s junior, was wearing an ensemble that was more appropriate for a Taylor Swift concert than the corporate world, pulled out her iPhone and checked her latest notifications on TikTok. She failed to hear Jaime ask her a question.

“Do you want to message Greg since you have your phone? Remind him? Mine is back at my cubicle.”

Jamie, you see, was very different than Janelle. He never brought an electronic device into a meeting. The focus was the topic on hand, with pen and paper, at hand.

15 minutes have passed. “Did he respond?”

Janelle, without looking up from her phone: “Huh?”

Jamie: “Did he respond to your message, about our meeting?”

Janelle stared at Jamie blankly. “He’s always in meetings. Maybe his 9am went long.” She returned to her phone, scrolling away.

But Jamie knew better. He’d been with the company for so long, reporting to Greg for so long. Much longer than Janelle. “He would’ve messaged us if he had a meeting run late. This isn’t like him,” Jamie tried to tell Janelle, but the comment just echoed around the four walls of the room.

“I’m going to see if I can find him,” Jamie said as he stood up and walked out the door. He wasn’t sure if Janelle even noticed.