Monday, December 14th, 2020

I almost miss tonight’s candle lighting at the office. As I head to the restroom, the boss is just starting to set the menorah up. I figure that I have plenty of time. When I get back, the lighting is already in progress. One of the programmers, another immigrant, is slowly working his way through the first of the blessings. He still has trouble reading Hebrew text, although he speaks it pretty fluently. Another programmer, with whom he works closely, guides him when he gets stuck. A few minutes later, the boss spaces out on a word in another paragraph that he always recites. We remind him, in unison. The harmonies are better than ever on the hymn that everybody knows. Afterward, the bosses’ son distributes donuts. I see that there’s a trick to having the powdered sugar stay on them: it actually comes in separate packets, and is sprinkled on the donuts just before we eat them. I take mine back to my desk. I have spent the day figuring out a bug in a process that we use to put screen images in manuals. I write a couple of pages of code to test possibilities. As I work things out, the code gets shorter. The solution fits on a single line. I show it to my boss. He has to head out. We’ll implement it tomorrow. I leave a little later. The candles have completely burned down. The donut box is still on the receptionist’s desk. I look inside. It’s empty. Freed from temptation, I put my mask on, clock out, and leave.