"It's an illustrative example of how Marisa almost revels in her discomfort and apathy, which stems primarily from her well-paid job as a "creative" at an ad agency, creating ad campaigns for makeup and personal grooming products. She ruminates day in and day out on how pointless and occasionally damaging her job is, but entertains no real possibilities of leaving it, except for the dream of getting in a serious-but-not-life-threatening accident on the way to work and living out her life on workers' comp."
"When Marisa's boss asks for her help choosing a speaker for their upcoming offsite, the options he presents are "a divinity coach" who was a priest, but fell in love, left the priesthood, joined a company, "then realized that his religious training was equally valid for corporate culture"; "an Olympic medalist in track in field, but then he lost his legs in an accident"; a "third one [who] doesn't have legs either"; and "a sixty-five-year old man who, after an entire life devoted to one thing, left it all behind and created a successful food-delivery app.""
Marisa works in a well-paid creative role at an ad agency producing campaigns for makeup and personal grooming. She experiences persistent apathy and discomfort and repeatedly reflects on the pointlessness and occasional harm of her work. She imagines a non-fatal accident that would allow her to live on workers' comp rather than quit. Corporate rituals and colleagues embody performative reinvention and absurdity, underscoring cynicism and malaise. Her anxiety disorder intensifies at times and sometimes co-occurs with thoughts about the presumed suicide of a close colleague. Occasional genuine human connection interrupts the bleakness.
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