Episode 33 - Birthday Wishes

'Joe, who's Arabella Stockingfiller?' Rice asks, calling across the office.

'Birthday card?' I ask casually.

Alison perks up. 'Arabella Stockingfiller,' she repeats softly, 'she sounds really hot. Does anyone know what she looks like?'

'Never heard of her,' Rice admits.

Alison's got the scent. 'Maybe she's on MySpace,' she mumbles hopefully. 'I really like the sound of her…'

'She's a unit test,' I say, breaking the bad news before Alison falls in love too much.

'A test?' she asks, crestfallen.

'Yup.'

'Is Jason Felafel also a test?' Kevin asks.

I nod. 'And tomorrow it'll be Hugh Janus.'

'I feel stupid now that I've signed the card for Bishop Abel Muzorewa,' Colin mumbles in the background.

Alison nods. 'You've cracked the birthday card database then.'

It's been two months since the new HR policy has been in effect. As part of a program to make us all feel wanted and a part of a loving family, we now get a card on our birthday. It's sort of worked. As a team it's brought us much closer together as we stand around and slag off the countless others that we've never met and yet have the affront to have birthdays. There's an endless stream of them and it feels like it's getting worse.

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Continued at: TechBookReport