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An office worker holds up a collapsing ceiling with both arms while a hand from off frame offers him a slice of cake that says THANKS.

The deckThe Figures12 of 24

Employee of the Month

Usefulness, the cake, and what happens if you put it down.

Figure
The one who holds it all up and gets a cake for it.
Pattern
Usefulness as identity.
What it protects
Nobody asks the pillar how it is.
What it costs
If you step away and nothing falls, what were you.
The move
Put it down for an hour. Measure the damage.
ON FILE
A slice of cake, in lieu of a ceiling.

In each position

  1. HOW IT STARTED

    You became the one who holds it up. They noticed. They sent a cake.

  2. HOW IT'S GOING

    You are holding it up. Nobody has asked how you are. You have arranged it that way.

  3. HOW IT ENDS, ALLEGEDLY

    You will say they could not manage without you. You are afraid to find out.

Three questions

  1. What would fall if you stepped away for an hour?
  2. When did someone last ask how you are, rather than what you can do?
  3. What is the cake standing in for?

A sample file

A sample file

This office is in possession of one slice of cake, iced with a thank you, offered while you held up the ceiling with both arms. The cake was the receipt. You are very good at holding it up, and it has quietly become the only line on the form. Nobody asks the person holding the ceiling how they are, and you arranged it that way. xx xxx xxxxxxx xxxx xxx xxxxxxx xxxxx xxx xxxxx xxxx xx xxxx xxx xxxx xxx xxxx xxxx xxx xxxx xx xxx xxx xxxxx xx xxx xxxxxxxx xxx xxxx xxx xxxxx The office has not taken a day off since it was built and calls this reliability. The office has a form for putting it down for one hour, unused. The ceiling has never been tested without you, and you have seen to it.

EXHIBITS

  1. A. A slice of cake, in lieu of a ceiling.
  2. B. Thirty-one requests for permission, unrequired.
  3. C. The script, annotated in red, never used.

APPROVEDload bearing, unpaid

Every file is written for the person who pulled it. This one was written for nobody, so it is the only one you get to read without pulling. One sentence is sealed on every public copy, this one included.

On file in cotton

The shirt

The cake was the receipt.

Thanks! from $30
Pull your file

Once a day. Three cards, one finding, a status. How it works.