Belinda Manners is Managing By Mike Hickman
Her reminders ping to multiple CCs; to her, all are subordinate.
She administers the stationery; she admonishes those misusing it.
She oversees the office; she officiates at disputes.
She punishes with impunity, no crime is too minute.
If they complain that she is petty, that there is more to life than this,
She’ll remind them of her authority; that their presence won’t be missed.
But when she comes home at eight
After watching in the car park,
As the last one out locks the gate –
Regrets another day ending after dark,
She’ll have the first of many (Casillero Del Diablo)
As she circles the intention to let her consciousness slide to shadow.
But the words that will still come to her,
When she slides back on the sofa,
Are the ones she’s heard from waking up,
Each day since the post was offered to her.
They’re the words she hears in everything,
That the staff would know, too:
Belinda Manners is managing
So, at some level, that must be true.
Sometimes Doctor, always writer, Mike Hickman (@MikeHicWriter) is from York, England. He has written for Off the Rock Productions (stage and audio) and has has been published in Agapanthus (Best of the Net nominated), EllipsisZine, Daily Drunk, and Red Fez. As a wise man once said: comedy is tragedy in long shot.