Watching for the Signs

Getting down to work with my diet pop and blueberry muffin at my side (dreaming of the days of not worrying about fat and carbs) I pick up the phone ….Shoot there’s no dial tone. I jiggled the wires, pressed the buttons, even remember to check the plug – everything looks fine.

Leaving my little office in search of someone to fix the phone, I overhear the lady working in the next office (accounting). Ease-dropping was easy since she was yelling at her clerk). She said in a mix of English and Taiwanese, “you tell boss, no phone no money – you mistake not me or you fired”. I assumed that the clerk had not paid the phone bill. I was WRONG. The accountant was hiding something… and threatening her clerk if she told. Quietly I went back in to my closet and pretended for rest of the day that I didn’t know the phone was down.

A few weeks have gone by and I noticed more and more things are not available anymore. I couldn’t get supplies, send out mail, and saw signs but didn’t realize what was to come. Stupid me, I mentioned things to my friend at the office. A nice woman, a little order than me, and liked to gossip like I did.