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Ever workplace has someone like Elmo! They are publicly lauded as being 'indispensable to the team' or 'trustworthy' or even 'generous to a fault'. But this only allows work mates to overburden them with favors. When someone in the clerical department had a difficult problem, they got Elmo to solve it for them. This meant that he often had to work back late to finish his own work. When it was convenient to do so, these same work mates would ignore Elmo's own pleas for some assistance. Finally, they would think nothing of making a joke about Elmo to amuse their own friends.
Elmo was not unaware of this parasitic behavior. He was a highly intelligent man. The fact that he had no high level tertiary degree allowed others to act superior in his presence. But Elmo did not care. Since arriving in this new country he now called home, Elmo had suppressed his own ego. Never voicing an opinion about anything, Elmo was mistaking labelled as introverted. In fact, he had withdrawn to avoid detection. Elmo did not want his past to catch up with him. So he kept his recent 'lawyer experience' to himself. When one work mate on Monday morning asked him,
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That night was one of the worse nights Elmo could remember since coming to this new country. He just could not get to sleep. All sorts of 'failure scenarios' sprang to mind. When his alarm finally rang Elmo almost kissed his smartphone. Routine helped, but not much. Elmo made it into the office even earlier than normal. Logging on was no relief because his new appointment was now officially logged in the staff daily activities bulletin. Everyone he worked with would eventually read his name on that list with his task represented as "Temporary Negotiator".
His morning was ghastly. People kept coming up to pat him on the back. They gave 'nothing phrases' away like confetti after a wedding. No one noticed that Elmo flinched ever time he was approached. Then he groaned every time another platitude washed over him with its false sentimentality. He put up with things like,
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