“Good afternoon, Felicity, I appreciate your jumping on this last minute Zoom. My condolences for your recent loss of a parent, thoughts and prayers from all the staff,” said Douglas.

“Thank you, it was my dad actually. Things have been a bit hectic lately. It’s hard.”

“Best to keep busy that’s what I always say. Now I’m concerned about the Blaze account, they’re one of our largest clients and I don’t want us to miss our deadline,” Douglas said.

From the pulp magazine posters to the high heeled leg lamp, Felicity’s eyes flitted from item to item in her bedroom/office as she prayed for patience. Impatience was one of her stumbling blocks according to her therapists. Felicity thought insensitive dimwits, such as her coworker Douglas Blanchard, were her actual stumbling blocks. She remembered to smile as Douglas painstakingly explained to her why her client was important.

Annoyed by the everythingness of Felicity’s bedroom, Douglas struggled to concentrate. His own home office was a dedicated room carved out of his basement man cave. Beige eggshell walls fingerprint resistant, double matted framed diploma, and a state of the art ergonomic task chair, these furnishings showed Douglas’ professionalism. He wouldn’t even let Mandy add a family photo, too distracting.

“Working from home is still work. Maybe if you came into the office more often you would understand client relations. I’ll need to see that presentation soon,” Douglas said.

Felicity did a cartoon double take. Douglas rolled his eyes.

“I understand the importance of keeping clients happy and meeting deadlines. I have continued communications with my client after returning from my bereavement leave. My meeting with Sara and Tucker is scheduled for Monday afternoon. The presentation will be completed by Monday morning. No worries,” Felicity said. “This is my project.These are my clients.”

She took slow even breaths. Clenching his fists, Douglas struggled to maintain a calm contenance.

“If you didn’t waste hours blubbering in that hideous fuzzy green bathrobe. The presentation would have been completed by now,” Douglas grumbled.

“Green bathrobe!”

“Monday morning won’t work for me, Felicity. You see, I told Brenda that I was overseeing this project. I need time to review your presentation and add my senior copywriter input. Just finish the tonight and send it to me Saturday. This is teamwork.”

“No, this is taking credit for my work, my ideas. I met with the clients, researched the market. I haven’t gotten boo from you. You’re not my supervisor. Brenda is. I’m going to HR, creep. Are you watching me?”

Felicity was up and out of her chair pacing. Fingers tented, Douglas looked aghast at her reaction.

“Calm down,” Douglas said. “Cameras are commonplace in offices. All offices. How is management supposed to know if you’re actually working and not goofing off on company time. Send me your presentation, chippy, Saturday before noon.”

Frustrated, Douglas ended the Zoom meeting. He swiveled on his office chair and kicked his waste basket into his beige eggshell drywall. A gaping hole marred the pristine wall. Douglas sighed over the younger generation and swiveled back to his laptop. He played Solitaire until it was time to clock off.

“Dougie, I’m starting dinner. Chicken stir-fry or mini-meatloaves? What’s up with this hole, honey?”

Mandy’s voice called to him from behind his closed office door. Douglas was about to yell to his wife about not disturbing him during work when he heard a low chuckle come from his laptop speaker.