Prologue

Mary Ann

Parking Pecking Order

The Lunchtime Grab

Operation Early Bird

Solitaire

Baiting A Sloth

Instant Car-ma

My plan was simple. I had begun looking for a new job. Knowing I was leaving, I began to hoard all the work I could get, hoping that Mary Ann would be crushed under the workload I had been doing by myself after I left.

Having seniority meant that I knew how to do all of the jobs. If Mary Ann didn't ask for work to do, I didn't give her any. If she didn't ask to be trained on a new job, I didn't offer any training. And when Jean decided Mary Ann needed training on a new job, Mary Ann's own impatience provided frequent interruptions, such as sighing, complaining and even getting up and leaving the room in the middle of my sentences. Once training stopped, Mary Ann would find excuses and create delays to prevent it from starting again. I wouldn't push.

When we did share work, I would work twice as hard and through lunch to finish more than my share. This often resulted in my finishing most of the work in two days while she held up her small percentage for a week.

My plan took months to develop. My job search went slowly and while it lasted I had to work like mad to make it appear like there was not a lot for Mary Ann to do. She helped this along by never asking if there was anything she could do or volunteering to help us with any of the projects we were working on, even as she heard Jean and I discuss the enormous workload ahead of us. I really didn't want her incompetent help anyway. And I was comforted by the thought that when I left, there would be only one person who could pick up the slack.

Final Chapter: Instant Car-ma