The Spreadsheet Was Accurate

October 26th. Simone built a spreadsheet. I want to be clear that I did not ask her to do this, she arrived at the break room with it already open, organized by category, color-coded in a way that I can only describe as calm and slightly alarming. We had an hour before our next stretch of the shift, and the continuing education renewal deadline is the end of the month, which neither of us had said out loud until we were sitting down with the printed forms in front of us.

I added one column to the spreadsheet. She made a face that was not quite a sigh but was adjacent to one. I think the column was unnecessary. I stand by it.

At some point I looked at the total hours remaining and leaned back in my chair and put my hand over my eyes, which is not a thing I do at work, and Simone laughed, not meanly, just the specific laugh of someone who has already processed the information and is now watching you process it. I still had the pen in my other hand. I do not know why I note that detail except that it felt very accurate to the moment.

The spreadsheet told the truth and Elena did not want to hear it.

We got through most of it. The forms are signed. The spreadsheet has a column it did not need. The two coffee cups on the table did not make a meaningful difference. The deadline is in five days, which is enough time, and Simone already knows that, and I know it now too.