An Office Faux Paw

I suppose it's charming to know that like Anne of Green Gables I am not one to outgrow getting into scrapes -- though frankly I could desire that Miss Shirley keep them to herself.

Late last week one of the admins came around with a sympathy card to sign for someone on another team on my department. "He's in having minor surgery on his foot," she explained.

I'd noticed him going around in a foot brace for the last month or two, so I assumed that this was follow-through on a compound fracture or torn ligament or something. Looking at all the scrawls of "Get better soon!" and "Hope you feel better!" an irrational urge to write something that no one had yet written came over me, and I lamely punned, "Hope that better things are soon a-foot!" and signed my name.

Later that day I asked a team-mate of the guy, "When's he going to be back on his feet, so to speak?"

There was a pause and he replied, "I wouldn't use that phrase around him, if I were you. He's diabetic and they ended up having to amputate the foot. He's feeling pretty down about it."

Ooops.