The Cubicle

 

I saw her in her cubicle in an adjacent building on a Friday and then out in the main hospital on a Monday.  They are connected by a hallway, an elevator, and then another hallway that passes by my office.  An image came to my mind unbidden: She is in a four-sided cubicle with high white walls that reach nearly to the paneled ceiling.

She works dutifully until the proper time arrives and a white door-sized panel slides upwards releasing her to enter the maze of the hospital.  She interacts with other employees and each time her job is done correctly another sliding door, smaller than the first, opens nearby to reveal a tasty snack.  This motivates her to continue.

And in this metaphor I see my own wanderings in the hospital up and down stairs, zigzagging through hallways, and in and out of rooms in what amounts to a fabulous gerbil city that confines me throughout the workday in its squared tunnels.  I smile and say “Hi” a lot because happy gerbils are productive gerbils (and vice versa).

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