The Office Curve

Calm Your Passports!

It's safe to say that most of my co-workers are pretty apathetic when it comes to wedding article assignments here on the job.  With most assignments being in the local area, there isn't much in the way of exotica.  Oh sure, I've been to a few places here in the city that I would have never visited previously because of the miniscule nature of my wallet, but once you know they are there, the novelty totally wears off.  So nothing surprises any of us anymore.  The only thing that unites the single and married here at work is our mutual lack of connection and interest when Ms. Bradley comes around with assignments.

Except, however, when a special assignment lands on Ms. Bradley's desk.  Then everyone clamors around the boss lady's office, jockeying for position and doing everything they can to get that little piece of paper that gets them out of this office and into a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Like that luxurious honeymoon trip to Paris, complete with a stay at the Four Seasons and trip up the Eiffel Tower.

Or that trip to Japan that married elegance and weirdness.  Oh sure, you got to stay at the Mandarin-Oriental, once of the swankiest hotels Tokyo, but you also got to visit restaurants that either had ninjas serving you, or a prisoners breaking out of prison and chasing you around the bar.

No, I didn't make that up.

And there there was that assignment to Cabos San Lucas that I didn't a chance to ask for because I'd just started working here.  Apparently, that one got really ugly.  A couple of women were just married around that time and they were willing to fight dirty for that one.  Never mind that their husbands couldn't come and that it was for work.  It was a luxurious honeymoon they wouldn't be able to afford otherwise - shit was going to go down.

There's still a bit of tension in the office years later because of that.  It was just that ugly.  The lucky lady who ended up getting that assignment never dared to show off her pictures at work because she valued her life more than office drama.

 Now, the office pride was in an uproar again because another special assignment landed in Ms. Bradley's lap and this one was would put the past three to shame.

I prayed that I would still have a job when all of this was over.

"Damn, those girls have no shame, do they?" Rachael asked as she walked up beside me.  "I mean, don't get me wrong, I want the assignment too, but damn it, I'm not going to get myself killed trying to get it."

"Assignment?"  I rolled my eyes.  "Oh, I get it now.  Ms. Bradley has another special assignment now?"

"Yeah, she got it yesterday.  Word on the street is that somebody in her network wants her to send someone over to this honeymoon resort in Thailand for publicity reasons."

"Thailand?" Now, I wasn't expecting that.  "Holy crap, I'm surprised they're not trying to kill each other."

"But wait, it gets even better!"  The sparkle in Rachael's eyes creeped me out a little.  "This isn't just any old honeymoon resort.  Everyone gets a their own little private island, and I don't have to tell you how beautiful Thailand is."

"Oh my gosh..."  I feared for my job and my life all at once.  "Wait, can our demographic even afford something like that?  Sounds like you could put a down payment on a house with all that money."

"Please, you're destined to be a city hall bride, remember?  I'm sure you can afford a house AND a private island, especially since you can get away with having loud, hot and raunchy sex on the former rather than the latter."

"It really is always sex with you, isn't it - "

"Sex?  Sounds like my kind of conversation."  I smiled as Kaim walked up beside me, butterflies fluttering in my stomach.  "Especially when it's with two beautiful ladies."