Today at work, while I was attempting to do something other than work, a task made much easier by the fact that my boss decided to cut out early to get a head start on her vacation next week (hooray for me), my new co-worker uttered the title phrase to me. She said it in a dramatic, sighing voice, with maximum flair. But it didn’t end there. She concluded with, “It’s supposed to be fun when the boss is gone.”

I didn’t bother to tell her that I was having a great time with the silence and the lack of interruption, writing five very good pages and getting that giddy little nerdy writer feeling.

The other day this same girl told me that she couldn’t believe that, on our first day working together, I didn’t tell her what time I took my breaks or ask her to go to lunch. Apparently, she would never have treated someone that way. That’s what she said.

Apparently, I am also slightly retarded, as I didn’t realize that not asking someone to spend the only personal time you have at work together constitutes “treatment”. Or that entertaining her was part of my job description.