Hello Heather,
Hehe. Your happy birthday e-mail made me laugh a stifled workplace-controlled laugh. Actually I guess it was more of a smile, but with laughter behind it. Well, I did the best I could. I wouldn't want anyone to use it as an *in* to ask questions, specifically the new copyeditor who sits in the cube opposite me. She hasn't gotten the hang yet of our department's devotion to silence.
For example, this morning when I walked in she asked me how my weekend was. That was okay, as cordiality (unlike genuine interest) is not outside the bounds of our policies. But then she asked a follow-up to my simple and deflective "Good." She asked, "What did you do?"
I could feel the tension springing off my other coworkers at this breach of etiquette. It was like making a holocaust joke at a bar mitzvah. The room would've been filled with stunned silence if silence weren't already the norm. I knew I had to put this down, and quickly. I gave a simple answer, "Family visit--Superman--Dinner," and then went to the bathroom to wipe my back with paper towels.
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