Single mom Lena returns from maternity leave, dumps mountains of work onto coworker Daria, who finally goes to HR when the workload becomes too much: ‘It became full accounts with notes saying "Daria will handle."’

The small billing department turns into a one-person group project when one coworker returns from maternity leave and slowly starts treating flexibility like free labor. At first the extra help feels normal. A few invoices here, some statements there, the kind of thing you do when someone is exhausted and trying to keep a baby and a job alive at the same time. Then the favors quietly evolve into full accounts landing on one desk with neat little notes saying who will handle them, and spoiler, it is never the person who is supposed to own the work.

Weeks go by and the pattern sticks. One person is staying late, making more mistakes, feeling their brain get foggier and foggier. The other is still technically meeting targets, because the supervisor only looks at the department totals and not who is actually slogging through the mess. Every time the imbalance comes up, the same lines appear. You are better with details anyway. Being a single mom is hard. Office banter turns the situation into a joke about being the work wife who keeps everything together, which is a cute way of saying unpaid assistant.

Author image for Etai Eshet Etai Eshet
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