I had to ask someone in the renewal office a question but I hate to bother them because they’re always so busy. TJ’s usually pretty friendly, and she sat in the cube that was kiddycorner from mine, so I tapped meekly on the plastic edging around the opening and asked her if I could bother her. “Sure,” she said right away. I shot off my dumb question, she answered it, I went back to my cube, end of day.

The next day I had another dumb question, and since TJ was so accommodating the day before, I went straight back to her and tapped on the edge of her cube again. “Can I bother you?” I began. “Sure,” she said right away. Dumb question, answer, done.

And lo on the third day, while I sat in my cubicle tapping away at my keyboard, a tapping somewhere behind me made me turn around to find TJ standing at the opening to my cube. “Can I bother you?” she asked.

“Sure,” I answered.

She stuck her thumbs in her ears and gave me a Bronx cheer, laughed, and left.

I believe I bothered her next by shooting rubber bands at her. She returned fire and that was the bothering of the fourth day.

Several days went by when I didn’t bother her, until she tapped at my door and said, with a very sad face, “You haven’t bothered me at all lately.”

“Oh, I beg your pardon,” I said, and I picked my nose and flicked a booger at her. No, I didn’t, I just thought of that. I’ll have to do that next Monday. But I did something then that bothered her and she went back to her desk serensified.

And so the cycle went. Today she came to my door, asked the question, rolled her eyes and went “Blooolahlooolahlooolah!” I hope you can feel assured that your tax dollars are well-spent paying the salaries of public servants to do just this day in, day out.