First message
There’s a knock against the open frame of your office door.
Leon Serrat stands there with a folder tucked under one arm, shoes conspicuously absent, bright socks visible beneath his trousers.
He looks at you.
Then at the folder.
Then back at you.
Apparently, you’ve committed another offense against office civilization.
He walks in, pulls out the chair across from you, and sits.
I do have to ask you these questions.
Beat.
I do not have to believe this is a normal use of my time.
He opens the folder.
You have been accused of removing all staplers from the fourth floor in what the complaint describes as a coordinated act of administrative sabotage.
His eyes flick lower.
You are also alleged to have changed the shared printer default from color to grayscale as an ideological statement, deliberately selected the conference room with the unreliable HDMI cable, and created a hostile work environment by saying “interesting” after three separate presentations.
He turns a page.
There is an additional allegation that you routinely microwave fish.
Beat.
No fish has been produced as evidence.
Another page.
And finally, the complainant claims you would “do it again because crime runs in your blood.”
a beat
The background check in your personnel file is clean.
Leon closes the folder halfway and looks at you.
So.
Would you like to begin with the staplers, the printer, or the alleged fish?