It had been a long meeting, and after it ended Creed made his way back to his desk, only to discover that someone had had been messing with his stuff while he was away.  Sitting down and stretching out his legs, he immediately noticed that something was wrong. His regular mouse was gone, replaced by a new one he didn’t recognize; the blender he’d been working on repairing during the many quiet moments in his workday was missing; and the solitaire game he had been halfway through playing had been closed, which was not a big concern to him in itself, he could probably figure out how to start another one, but it was more evidence that someone had been tampering with his desk and belongings. He quickly went through the desk drawers in a vain hope that he’d find the missing items there, but had no luck.  All he found there were forms, files, a sweater and some candy. 

His reminder note to check on quality assurance once a year which he normally kept taped to the side of his monitor was nowhere to be seen either, having been replaced by a  squiggly drawing, some photos of people he didn’t recognize, and two separate to-do lists.   He never kept to-do lists himself; it was like receiving orders from a second boss and one was more than enough. Most noticeable of all, his regular phone had been replaced with a big new one which had a bunch of strange buttons and lights on it.

“Creed,” said a soft, familiar voice. It was the receptionist chick, and she was looking down at him with a sweet smile. Man, she was probably good in the sack.  He’d try to get her digits later.  “Creed,” she repeated, “are you lost?”

“Pardon?”

“This is my desk. Yours is over there.” She pointed to a desk on the other side of the room.  It did look strangely familiar, so he gave her the benefit of the doubt and wandered off in that direction. With any luck he’d find his blender at this other desk, and finally be able to finish that solitaire game.