💼 The Boss & The New Employee

Who plays who

• A — The Boss: you run the department, you set the rules, and in this story your word is final.
• B — The New Employee: first week, still learning where the light switches are, and you take special instructions seriously.
• A leads Acts 1–3. B leads Act 4, because the new hire decides when the shift actually ends.

What you need

• A desk, and a chair you can sit behind like it means something
• One notebook and a pen for the "instructions"
• A tie, a lanyard or anything else that reads as workwear
• A door you can close, and a phone you both agree to ignore
• Water for both of you — this one runs long

Act 1 — 🕯️ Setup

It is after hours and the floor is empty. A stays behind the desk with the lamp still on; B is called back in for "a quick word" and closes the door without being asked. The building is empty and the lighting is deliberately unflattering. From here the job is the excuse and the instructions are the script.

Beats

• Stay in the office fiction. A is the boss until the scene says otherwise.
• A does not explain the special instructions yet — the first act is only about the delay.
• B does the new-hire thing: notepad out, pen ready, waiting to be told how to stand.

Lines to say

• "Close the door. Sit. I'll tell you when to write."
• "You're new, so I'll say this once. Everything I say after hours is a special instruction."
• "Don't take notes yet. Just listen."

Act 2 — 🔥 Build

The instructions arrive one line at a time and they are all about posture, distance and tone of voice. A has a reason for every single one and the reasons are frankly ridiculous. You both keep straight faces because that is the game. B writes them down and follows them exactly as written.

Beats

• Every instruction is delivered as a work procedure and obeyed as one.
• B writes each one into the notebook before doing it. The paperwork makes it worse.
• Nothing happens fast. These instructions are about arrangement, not contact.

Lines to say

• "Step one: stand where I can see you. Step two: don't look at the floor."
• "Read it back to me. I want to hear it in your voice."
• "You're hesitating. That goes in the notes."

Act 3 — ⚡ Escalate

The instructions stop being about posture. A moves the meeting somewhere with a lock on the door and the tie comes off, which is technically a dress-code exemption. The new hire is now on the desk rather than at it. The power dynamic is doing exactly what it promised, and you are both enjoying the paperwork.

Beats

• Move the scene to the desk or the wall. The office furniture is the plot now.
• A gives one instruction that cannot be obeyed without breaking the dress code.
• B loses the notebook on purpose, and neither of you picks it up.

Lines to say

• "That's a dress-code violation. Take it off."
• "Say it like you're asking permission. I like the version where you have to ask."
• "You stopped writing, so the meeting is now practical."

Act 4 — 💥 Climax

No more instructions. The desk and the lamplight fall away and there is nothing left but the two of you and what you both already agreed to. Stay inside the characters until the very last second.

Beats

• Stop talking like a boss. One command maximum, and mean it.
• Use whatever Act 3 put in place — the position, the exemption, the desk.
• Let it finish the way your body wants, not the way the org chart says.

Lines to say

• "Look at me. Not the door, not the clock."
• "That's it. Stay exactly there."

Act 5 — 🤍 Aftercare

The office is just an office again. Clock out out loud, use each other's real names, and let the boss be the one who fetches the water. The characters leave the building first; the two of you leave afterwards.

Beats

• Say out loud that the shift is over and who you actually are.
• Get water and sit somewhere that is not the desk.
• One sentence each about what the instructions were really like to receive.

Lines to say

• "The job's done. I'm not your boss, I'm your partner."
• "You were very good at taking notes."

Aftercare

Clock out properly. Say out loud that the job is over and that the two of you are just the two of you again.,Water, something to eat, and the boss does the fetching for once — no reports, no notes, no desk.,One honest sentence each about what the "special instructions" were actually like to carry out.

Ground rules and consent

• The safeword outranks the boss. "Meridian" ends the whole meeting in one second, with no explanation and no follow-up.
• Neither of you actually has power over the other. The reviews, the salary and the contract are not real and they are not in this room.
• No real workplace pressure. Nothing that happened at work today gets settled at home tonight.
• Late nights and closed doors are the fiction. You are both here because you chose to be, and either of you can end the shift by standing up.

If the idea is new to either of you, Questions that go deeper walks through it before you try it with a partner.

Frequently asked