Category: Office Design

When Maphira woke up, she found herself in what appeared to be a conference room. It wasn’t just any conference room,  though. This was a special conference room. It was the conference room from that famous sitcom, The Paper Company Office. She’d loved that show as a kid, watching it with her mum in the lounge room of their small home. Rylee had always wanted to join in, but she’d been too young to understand any of the jokes.

Since The Paper Company Office was just a television show, it didn’t really make sense how she’d found herself in its conference room. Perhaps she was dreaming, or maybe the Conclave of Mechanists had brought her to the set of the show for whatever nefarious purposes they had.

Was it possible that they had this kind of office design near Melbourne, somewhere? She considered it unlikely, but not impossible. Either way, this certainly didn’t seem to be the new Conclave of Mechanists base located in Carnegie.

As Maphira lifted herself off the ground, she wondered where Vai could be. Not at all sure what was going on, Maphira headed out of the conference room, into the main office area. 

It was empty now, but she could picture it well – the myriad of scenes she’d once watched and laughed at. James putting Dirk’s stapler in custard, the boss Mitchel Scarn making a fool of himself, the romance blossoming between Pearl and James.

Perhaps there was a business offering office fitouts close to Melbourne that matched the style of that famous show, Maphira thought. It certainly wasn’t impossible, especially now that all the millennials who loved the show were working in similar offices.

Deciding to explore a little bit, Maphira headed toward the break room, hoping she’d find Vai somewhere. She’d stay on her guard since this was probably some sort of Mechanist plot. They weren’t just going to put her in an office and call it a day. So the question was, what was their game?

‘I hate it!’ I heard a screech from outside my office door. With a sigh, I slowly closed my laptop, mentally blocking out the next hour from my schedule.

The door burst open, and a small woman in a gigantic fur coat stormed in.

‘Harold, darling,’ she greeted me. ‘We need to talk!’

‘Hello, Doris,’ I sighed again, quickly sweeping some breakable items off my desk and into a drawer where they’d be safe. ‘How was your drive in?’

‘Oh, darling,’ she rolled her eyes. ‘Like I’d be caught in this peak hour traffic? I took the chopper.’

‘It’s one o’clock,’ I frowned. ‘And we don’t have a helipad.’

‘No, but the hospital down the street are happy to let you land on theirs,’ she said with a sly grin. ‘Once you tell them it’s a medical emergency, of course.’

‘What can I do for you, Doris?’ I said, massaging my temples and practicing my breathing exercises.

‘This office,’ she barked. ‘It has to change.’

‘To change?’

‘Yes, it simply cannot stay the way it is.’

‘Are you talking… layoffs?’

‘What?’ she looked shocked. ‘Layoffs? No, nothing like that. Although, now you mention it—’

‘What’s bothering you about the office?’ I quickly cut her off, before she had time to finish having the thought.

‘Ah, yes,’ she shook her head clear. ‘I’m sending you the name of an office space design expert, near Melbourne.’

‘What’s wrong with our office design?’

She let out a short, shrill laugh and clicked her fingers. A burly man in a suit opened my door and handed me a piece of paper with a name and number.

‘You’ll be in good hands,’ she assured me. ‘Just do everything they say.’

‘Isn’t this a fashion company?’ I frowned.

‘Yes, they designed my gala dress, darling.’

‘So shouldn’t we hire the best commercial office design company around Melbourne?’

‘I just did,’ Doris frowned. ‘Did you forget your coffee this morning, Harold?’

I sighed again, as she stood, bundling her coat behind her.