My Bosses

“Monon Shop 1” by Molly Phalan

Management moved me to the 25th floor so now I work for another team of attorneys. It’s not that different. The usual demands, requests, etc. We have this one fifth-year associate named Arthur but he goes by Art. I like doing jobs for him, for two reasons: (1) he’s affable and doesn’t yell too much, but more so, (2) I like saying things like, “I have to turn my attention to Art” or “can’t talk – Art needs me right now.” Well, so, all was going along same as ever until the week when one of our Baltimore partners set up shop in a guest office and needed assistance as well. She was a real pill, and I don’t mean one of those easy-to-swallow gel-caps; I mean the kind that’s hard to get down your throat and makes you want to crack open a single-serving cup of yogurt to assist you. Needy, I guess, is another way of phrasing it. Her name’s Sadie, but everyone calls her Sad. The result, of course, was that this made my daily struggle at the office a direct correlation to my ever ongoing internal one: Art wants my attention but Sad is being demanding. I’m trying to please Art but Sad won’t leave me alone. And then there’s James, who goes by Jim, down the hall, wondering where the hell I am. It’s true, I’ve been ignoring Jim for months – I need to work on that. The interesting thing is that James and Sadie don’t get along, I guess because of some chest-thumping about billable hours at the latest corporate retreat, or something else like that, something about which I neither know nor care – I mean, I’m just trying to get through the day! But the outcome of all this was that the more I went to Jim, the more Sad left me alone. And Art, who sits right near Jim, was thrilled to have me around. So Art is happy when I go to Jim, and wouldn’t you know, soon enough, Sad’s gone altogether. There’s a lesson here, I’m sure of it.

Josh Lefkowitz received an Avery Hopwood Award for Poetry at the University of Michigan. His poems and essays have been published in The New York Times, Washington Square Review, Electric Literature, The Millions, The Rumpus, and many other places. Additionally, his poems have been read aloud on All Things Considered and WNYC.