The slow day hum-drum of the office was quiet, phones ringing, quiet conversations between co-workers etc. This job meant nothing to Jim Halpert, it was just a job and a pretty boring one at that, selling paper. He decided that he would call his brother, he had nothing else to do and needed to find out what hobby his niece, Vanessa, was currently obsessed with so he could get her a birthday present. He absent-mindedly called his brother's house,in the middle of a workday, Marci, his sister-in-law, answered.

"Hello? Halpert residence, this is Marci speaking."
"Oh, hey Marci, it's Jim."
"Jim! It's so good to hear from you, you are coming to Vanessa's birthday party, right? It has been ages since we last saw you!"
"Yes. The reason I called was to check about what to get for her?"
"Good question. She is really enjoying her advanced art classes at school, so maybe some art supplies, you know colored pencils, nice pad of paper, or a painting set."
"Great, sounds good."
"Will you be bringing anyone along with you?"
"No, unless I meet someone in the next few days that could handle meeting my entire family so early."
"Alrighty then. Let me know if that happens. Good bye."
"See you Saturday. Bye!"
He hung up the phone and was immediately bombarded with questions from his desk mate, Dwight, all of which he ignored as he typed "art supply stores" into google, and found one fairly close to the office.

Jim had no work to do, so he decided to take an early lunch and get the birthday present shopping done. He took his coat from the coat rack and just left, his boss, Michael, would not notice, he did tell the receptionist, that he would be back in about an hour, just in case Michael did notice.
Inside the store he quickly found the section with colored pencils, but there were so many brands, and number of pencils, that he was immediately confused, he stood in the aisle, with a few options in his hands and staring at the wall, for almost 10 minutes when a sales associate walked up and asked, "Do you need some help?"
"Yes." He answered without shifting his gaze from the wall.
"Alright, why are you considering buying some colored pencils?"
"They are for my niece, she is turning 13 and a wonderfully talented artist, by my standards, I am no use when it comes to art and artistic projects."
"Okay, she will most likely appreciate a set with lots of colors and possibly watercolor, that's what I would have wanted at her age."
He broke his gaze from the wall, and noticed her name tag, Pamela, and nodded at her last comment.
"So, I'll take what you have, and find the perfect set." He handed her the sets he had been considering and set them on a shelf. She moved a little to the section of a nice brand and higher quantity, she picked up a set of 64 pencils and handed them to him.
"Would you like to buy paper, a paintbrush or any accessories, as well?"
"Ummm, whatever you think a blossoming artist would need." He trusted her to not sell him arbitrary items.