Wednesdays in the office were just as boring as Mondays in the office.
Carl went to the kitchen before his meeting and made himself some coffee. He was happy he had remembered to put more pods in his backpack because only decaf pods were left in the kitchen.
He looked out the window. The Sandwich Select sign had gone up, but it didn't seem to be open just yet. The unit next to it seemed to be under construction, too. The windows had been papered over, but there was no sign. He wondered what was going to open there.
"Carl!" he heard someone call from behind him.
He turned around and was happy to see a friendly face smiling at him.
"Oh my god, Mike!" Carl exclaimed. "It's been a while!" He went to shake Mike's hand, then stopped. "Are we allowed to shake hands now?"
"Yeah, yeah, of course," Mike said, taking Carl's hand and giving it a strong shake. "God it's good to see you! It's been so long! How have you been? Where have you been?"
Carl laughed. "Home. I come in on Mondays for my team meetings, but otherwise I work from home. I'm only here today because my team meeting got moved."
"Well, I'm glad your team meeting got moved! I only come in when I have to, usually on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. I came in on Friday a couple of times and there was no one here. It was like being here after hours. How are Mondays?"
"Pretty quiet, though according to Sam it's the busiest day. More meetings are booked on Mondays than any other day."
"I can understand that. Get it over with and then spend the rest of the week at home."
"Yeah."
Carl felt the conversation stall. He didn't know what to say. The problem with meeting people that he hadn't seen since early 2020 was that there was both too much and too little to talk about. Did he ask them if they got covid? If their family was OK? If they were still making sourdough bread?
"Do you want to get lunch later?" Carl asked to fill the awkwardness. "My meeting is in a few minutes and it would be good to catch up."
Mike smiled. "Yeah of course! There's a new place that opened up where Elena's used to be. It isn't Elena's but it's not bad."
YOU ARE READING
Missing Things
General FictionIt's Missing Things, the story of Carl, a tech worker making his way through a post-pandemic office. It's a story about loss and nostalgia. It's about never being able to go back to a time you can still remember. It's about lost connections. But it'...
