People started talking over each other, and the breakroom turned into a miniature internet comment section.
Boomers had it easy.
No they didn’t, interest rates were high.
Wages were lower.
Housing was cheaper.
Inflation vs wage stagnation.
Student debt.
Healthcare.
Tipping fatigue.
It was like everyone had been carrying this argument around in their pocket, waiting for an excuse to pull it out.
And there I was, holding my plain office coffee like a peace offering.
I could feel both sides of it tugging at me.
Because Frank wasn’t wrong about me bleeding money on convenience.
But my coworkers weren’t wrong about the world being different.
The problem was… people didn’t want a nuanced conversation.
They wanted a villain.
They wanted a winner.
They wanted a simple story where you could point at one thing and say, That’s why.
Jenna looked at me with this half-smile.
“So what are you doing now?” she asked.
I shrugged.
“I canceled some stuff,” I said. “Deleted some apps.”
Marcus clapped slowly.
“Look at you,” he said. “You’re cured. You’re gonna own a house by Friday.”
A couple people laughed.
I forced a smile, but it stung.