Co-worker fancies herself my mum.

Quits when I correct her delusion.

When I, 38 years old non-binary, was in my early 30s, I used to work in the office of an

apartment complex for university students.

Our front office staff had a ridiculous turnover rate, to the point that for over half my

four years there, I was the only full-time front staff.

Management hired a new full-time person, Emily.

Emily was a few years younger than me.

Multilingual, had a degree in hospitality and sales, and had just moved to my state.

Two important things about me.

My mum had recently passed away, and I am overweight. Part of my job

involved lots of lifting and carrying heavy packages up the long, steep hill that our complex

was situated over, so I'm fairly muscular and rather fit under my extra fluff, which I'm very

proud of. By contrast, my mum never got above 110 pounds in her whole life. She meant well,

but almost 30 years of her picking at me about my weight had made it a sore subject. Things went

well for a while, and then Emily's obsession with healthy eating started. I mentioned a restaurant,

and she pulled up a menu to tell me what to order with a comment

about being my mum now. I shut it down and told her about the loss of my family. She brought meals for me

and then got offended I didn't want them. She saw my soda and told me not to drink those anymore.

Not recommended, she told me. I had a snack and she opened a

bag of trail mix and crossed to my desk with her. I saw what was about to happen in slow motion.

I flung both hands over my snack to shield my food and she upended the entire bag onto my play.

...