t’s seven in the morning on a Tuesday morning, and Eileen was already on her way to her cushy desk job at a local packing company, handling customer issues and insurance claims. She didn’t have to be there until nine, but the struggles of not having a vehicle forced her to leave a lot earlier and get home a lot later in the afternoons. Sitting on the bus watching the city whiz by, she sighed, looking at the other cars on the road with people sitting comfortably in their cocoons, enjoying their morning ride. More than an hour later, she got off and rushed into the building, wanting to get a few things done before the weekly meeting. Ever since she’d started at this company, she’d always tried to make a good impression on the higher ups, a move that pushed her up the ranks to manager today. As she strode over to her desk, she saw one of the other managers, Rick. Ignoring him, she walked by, until he held out his arm to block her.“Eileen!” he cried out with fake cheeriness. “I knew that was you coming down the hall… nobody else runs quite like you do! It sounded like a stampede coming,” he guffawed loudly. “But why don’t you have a seat? I’m sure running around public transportation all morning must be exhausting.” His eyes glittered with poorly disguised malice and Eileen felt her stomach clench into a tight knot.“Get a life, Rick. Or better yet, get yourself some ass. You seem frustrated. Scrape together twenty bucks in your little piggy bank and you might be able to do it,” she replied dryly, without even looking at him. He was caught off guard for a moment, then smirked and walked away. Though she hid it well, her whole body was trembling in anger. Rick was one of those guys who always had to knock somebody else down a peg or two in order to make himself feel better. She knew it wasn’t personal, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.
