Digging your own grave

It was probably the poppy seed muffin that loosened mom’s tongue at the matinal team meeting.

“What values do you hold dear?” asked the boss, as part of a team building exercise.

A few people picked up their pens, while others stared into the distance.

“Honesty,” answered the guy seated across the table.
“My family,” said a woman, setting down her coffee mug.
“Integrity,” said somebody else from the far corner of the room.

"I value happiness,” said mom, just to sound different.

As her co-workers directed quizzical looks at her, mom decided to fill the awkward pause that followed by elaborating on her interpretation of happiness.

In what is sure to go down in the annals of “Corporate hara-kiri,” mom declared that she’s not very ambitious.

“Really, I’m happy with what I have,” she blabbered, ignoring the hushed silence in the room and the barely perceptible frown that crossed her boss’s brow.

It was only later when her boss cleared his throat and thanked mom for her “interesting perspective” did she realize that her performance scorecard would be crossing his desk very soon.

Mom had jumped off the bridge, as usual, without knowing how to swim.