Please Do Not Disturb

One of my coworkers is leaving on Friday and training several other people in the department to take her place. For the last several days, she had a sign on her door that read, “TRAINING. PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB.”

I knew immediately what I needed to do. It took four days, but, finally, the sign came down. When I saw this, I walked into her office and stood in front of her desk until she noticed me. When she looked up and smiled, I said, “Prairie dogs kill their babies.”

“What?” she said.

I pulled a small piece of paper out of my pocket, unfolded it and started reading from it. “So do Eastern Gray Squirrels, baboons, seagulls, hamsters, bottlenose dolphins, and kangaroos.”

She looked at me with confusion and something bordering on horror etched all over her face.

“Also,” I added, folding the paper and putting it back into my pocket, “Monarch and Queen caterpillars eat the eggs of other species, which is still infanticide even if it’s not in keeping with the general theme here.”

I smiled at her. “So?”

“So… what?”

“So are you disturbed?”

“I… What?”

I pointed at her door. “You had a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign up, and now it’s gone. I assumed it was safe to disturb you now.”

I’m pretty sure she won’t miss me as much as I’ll miss her.