The Pent Umbrage of the Tempy, Part XXXV

You were powwowing with some of your ex-employee’s co-workers down in the mailroom—these are employees of THE FIRM for which you also have supervisory responsibilities. Though you supervise them, you rarely talk to them, and you don’t even remember the last time you talked to them face to face.

You almost don’t remember the last time You were down in the mailroom. You don’t know why you don’t go down there more often. There’s something nice about it down there.

You had your meeting with the employees, and then you just started hanging around for awhile. Maybe two or three hours. It was nice. Everything was in order down there, but it is an informal order. THE FIRM has never invested in upgrades down there the way it has everywhere else. Maybe you're just experiencing the pleasure of a change of pace, but once again you are nagged by the thought things were so much better before, back then.

When you got back to your office, you wrote a nice report about your observations and discussions, and filed it away in folder 696969 in cabinet 131313. It was then you noticed something, or thought you noticed something. (You aren’t sure.) You were uncomfortable again. You notice the discomfort isn’t something entirely vague or abstract: it is associated with dryness of the skin around your nostrils and mouth. There’s that scratchiness again. It had gone away at some point while you were down in the mailroom.