Norman Takes a Personal Day

Norman realized something was amiss shortly after arriving to work. For the life of him, Norman could not remember if he locked the door before leaving for work today. All morning Norman debated if the deadbolt had been locked. So many things could go wrong if he had forgotten. Norman hated being so distracted while on company time. With most the morning wasted from worry, Norman finally decided to do the near unthinkable; he would ask to use personal leave without giving prior notice.

At 9:15 am, Norman nervously made his way down the hall to his Supervisor’s office. After some slight stammering, Norman made his request.

“No problem, Norman,” his Supervisor cheerfully replied. “You never make these requests, so make sure you only put in for a half-day of personal time. Hope everything is alright.”

With that unpleasantness out of the way, Norman hurriedly, but politely, made his way home. His pace quickened with each terrible scenario of the door being unlocked that played through his mind.

“What if someone burglarizes my home? What if they take the television? It’s a new CSI tonight!”

Suddenly, Norman had a terrible thought about Norman.

“What if someone burglarizes my home, takes the television, leaves the door open, AND Norman gets out? What if Norman gets….”

With that final thought a flushed Norman reached his front door and reached for the doorknob. The doorknob greeted him without movement. Norman breathed a sigh of relief, put his key into the doorknob, and gave a slight twist of the key. He then put his other key into the deadbolt, gave another slight twist, and entered his home.

Norman was fast asleep on the couch. Norman gave Norman an extra affectionate scratch behind the ear and did a quick scan of the room. Everything was in place. It was quite a bit of time until lunch.

A reassured Norman soon returned to work unnoticed and finished up the workday, albeit still slightly distracted. He was almost too excited to get back home that evening to watch the new CSI episode with Norman by his side. It was the best full personal day Norman ever took.