New short story! This one is about two administrative professionals having epic disagreements about file organization.

The main character is not like me in most ways–she’s more aggressive, a little less compassionate, and gay–but we share the experience of working in a male-dominated field in an administrative capacity and being secretly queer at work. Her opposite–an outgoing employee who trains her before leaving THE FILES in her capable hands–is not based on anyone I know, and struggles with some mental health issues.

The story itself is not autobiographical, but nearly all of the examples of workplace bullshittery are things that really happened to me. I made the guys geotechnical engineers instead of the transportation engineers I work with, but there’s a lot of overlap.

It’s a little on the long side at 6,000 words (NO ONE HERE IS SURPRISED), but its length shouldn’t be too prohibitive in finding a place for it to live. I’ll start sending it out tomorrow.