Devonne Brown

“It’s never been about what you can’t do, it’s about what you won’t do,” said Jack at the vending machine. He was buying a Snickers bar. “You’re very capable, but if you don’t want to do something, it just doesn’t happen.” He completed his purchase.

“Is that a compliment or a criticism?” asked Maggie. She couldn’t tell. He wasn’t her boss, so it didn’t matter one way or another to her. He didn’t sign her checks. They didn’t even work in the same department, so how would her work affect him?

“It just seems like you do whatever you want to do, you ignore a lot,” Jack told her.

“Does what I do or don’t do have any bearing on your job?” asked Maggie.

“No. That’s not the point. You’re just not a team player,” said Jack.

“When have we ever been on the same team? How do you know what I do and don’t do? You’re not in charge of my evaluations. What’s really going on here?” Maggie was curious about Jack’s interest in her job performance.

“It seems to me like you’re doing your own thing most of the time. I see you away from your station instead of at your desk where most of us stay. 

“Jack, I never thought of you as the old-woman-busy-body-type. You’re kind of a church lady. Could it be Satan making me do all the stuff that I do? Hmmmmm?” Maggie was done with Jack’s foolishness. 

“Well, I never,” Jack said, twirled, and huffed back to his desk. He looked up over his cubicle at Maggie who was still at the vending machine deciding whether or not to get a cookie to go with her coffee. She decided in favor of her waistline, declined the cookie, winked at Jack, and headed to her office, where she watered her plants. 

Jack fumed in his seat. Not only did she appear to do nothing, she had an office instead of a cubicle to do nothing in. It wasn’t fair. He called his friend Homer in HR to file a complaint.

“What do you mean I can’t file a complaint? She doesn’t do any work that I can see. She just wanders the building, talks to people, and waters plants. She takes two hour lunches. Homer, there has to be something I can do. What do you mean I can hope she doesn’t fire me for calling you? She’s my boss? She’s your boss too? Shouldn’t the owner of the company have a better office?”