Prologue

Mary Ann

Parking Pecking Order

The Lunchtime Grab

Operation Early Bird

Solitaire

Baiting A Sloth

Instant Car-ma

I looked for ways to pay Mary Ann back for the aggravation she had caused me. Mary Ann's own habits made this much easier to accomplish. Working late one night I checked the counter on Mary Ann's solitaire game. It stood at an amazing 476 games played, over 30 hours of solitaire. Amazing, considering we only worked 35 hour weeks and only had the game for about 2 months, leaving Mary Ann playing solitaire almost 11% of the time she was sitting down.

Everyone is familiar with the even-spaced mouse clicks that accompany a game of solitaire. Equally familiar is the audible keyboard toggle used to hide your little card playing secret from others. Our office could be covered end to end in about six steps and Mary Ann's desk sat near the office door. Any time Mary Ann heard a chair move, suggesting someone was coming toward her desk, the toggle sound was heard followed by a shifting of Mary Ann's own very expensive chair.

Playing on this I began to regularly move my own chair around whenever I heard the mouse clicks begin. All it took was a quick backward roll and all card playing would cease. I never tired of this game, often letting her resume only to interrupt whenever my eyes needed a break from the screen.

At one point Pam quit. A little later Megan was hired. For a while now Mary Ann had been parking in my old spot, (although I took it from time to time just to irk her). On Megan's first day she parked right in Mary Ann's spot. I was already at work and upon entering the office Megan asked me if it was all right to park there. I promptly told her she could park wherever she liked as there were no "assigned" spots. Mary Ann showed up late that day and by the end of the day had asked Megan not to park in that spot as it was "her" spot.

I had underestimated my opponent again. I didn't think she would go right to verbal confrontation, as she had never confronted me. Megan agreed to park somewhere else. The hypocrisy was too much. After all, I parked there for weeks on end and it had never stopped Mary Ann from taking my spot; even on a day when I stepped out for lunch. It was time to up the ante again.

Next: Baiting A Sloth