Gemotions

It had been a slow day, but the information hit me like a shot of adrenaline. I walked into the office kitchen and overheard the conversation. I learned the junior staff, was being paid more than me. My hands clenched around my travel mug, the ceramic suddenly feeling cold and slick.

I avoided the new hire, and was reluctant to even be in the same room. I started taking my lunch at my desk, the quiet solitude a stark contrast to the casual chatter that once filled the office.

I found myself deliberately taking longer breaks, stretching out the time away from my desk. When I did work, I worked slowly, the energy drained, the drive to excel diminished.

I started making more frequent, and more extended, personal phone calls, the conversations a way to escape the suffocating atmosphere of the office. The day ended with an exhausted sigh, and the feeling that I had been cheated.