Greetings

Greetings is the story of Trish, a shy newbie in an office that’s big on birthdays. After struggling over what to write in a coworker’s birthday card, Trish discovers that whatever she writes comes true. At first this goes really great, but when her coworkers accidentally forget her own birthday, things...take a turn.

This is based off of my personal experience working in an office. No, I do not possess the ability to control the world through birthday messages to coworkers. But for a number of years, I worked in a department that was big on birthdays. Like, banners and tiaras big. Even if you didn't tell our supervisors the date, they would find out. Even if you'd only been there for a week, everyone got an over-the-top celebration. Everyone, that is, except me. But I’m fine. Seriously.

Nothing sets my teeth on edge quite like a person describing their office like a family. It's been my experience that the more "fun" the office is, the worse the culture is. The more they try to ply you with deep-fried Oreos, the longer they want you to work. And if you ever see a ping-pong table in the conference room, I can all but guarantee that your boss is a nightmare human.

If this pandemic has thrown anything into relief, it's that our relationship to our jobs has to change. As many of us start back to our offices, I hope Greetings serves as a reminder of the more toxic aspects of work culture in the hope that we can reshape it.