Somehow I got into the habit of pulling open the top drawer of the office dishwasher and moving the glasses and cups around. I recently caught myself doing it and realized I'd been at it for a good long while. Sometimes daily for weeks on end. Twice a day some weeks. Just picking them up off the spindles and placing them into the interstices. What was I doing? Why was I doing it? To save space. To revel in my own strange behavior, and the minor cruelties of office life, the tiny victories through banality.

I acknowledge at last that I am the masochist; and the instance of masochism at my work is mine, and I thus acknowledge the simple joy (which is to say complicated self effacement) of making it all fit better. Over and over. To properly celebrate this discovery, I wrote a series of notes which I placed in the dishwasher.

What some people might not know is that cups--most cups anyway--can fit in the space between these rather than havin to be fitted over the upright spikes (like this note is). This is NOT just my OCD* speaking. It actually works and saves room. If you've ever wondered why I do it, this is why I rearrange glasses in the dishwasher.
-JonO

*obsessive compulsive disorder.

Late in the day yesterday, one of my coworkers came in and said "I agree with your notes completely."

I don't know if that makes me feel even more joy or a kind of existential horror.

Ahhhhh......sweet sweet torment.