In the know

Today I drove my coworker R to an office farewell lunch. When we walked in, her (soon to be) ex-husband M was already sitting at the table. One of our co-workers, apparently ignorant of their changing marital status, offered to move so she could sit next to M. There was an awkward moment for those of us "in the know" while she refused and our co-worker said, "Oh, I guess you can sit next to him anytime."

It seemed we were past the difficult situations until our coworker asked R what she and M had done for New Year's. She gave the misleading but factually-accurate reply of, "Nothing really."

Driving home after lunch, we discussed how she could get the info out to our still-ignorant co-workers. One possibility was an email--and I suggested that she put it in the form of a quiz.

1. R and M's marital status is:

a) married

b) divorced

c) separated

2. M did not attend the company Christmas party with R because:

a) R preferred to bring her parents

b) M preferred to stay home and play video games

c) M and R are no longer married

3. Over the past year, R's commute has:

a) decreased

b) remained the same

c) increased

If you answered all "c"s, you're in the know. If you didn't, R and M are getting a divorce. Now you're in the know as well.

We got a good giggle out of it. Hope you did too.