This is for Katie, obviously.
The customer is the immediate jewel of our souls.
Him we flatter, him we feast, compliment, vote for, and will not contradict.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
oOoOoOo
The receptionist catches Winry returning from lunch. "Mrs. Hart called," she sing-songs, waving a folded note and shrugging maliciously as Winry groans.
Everyone in the firm has worked on Mrs. Hart's leg. She attaches herself like a leech to new hires and sucks the life from them with passive-aggressive complaints: It's such a nuisance, but I don't suppose you can do anything about the ankle sticking ... Don't worry about the noise the knee makes; it only throws my balance off a trifle ...
Winry pins the latest message to her corkboard with a scraper, three punches and a knife.