Hee hee dandylife, very amusing topic.
The law firm was moving from a prestigious address to an even more prestigious address. Moving day finally came and went and then the Partner wondered 'where is my umbrella? The special one I ordered in London? It must still be in my closet in the old building.' He couldn't stop thinking about it. He couldn't stop talking about it. He called the Office Administrator. He pestered his secretary endlessly. He called the managers, HR and Facilities to talk about his special, unique, incredibly expensive missing umbrella which must be, had to be, still in the closet in the old building. Soon workers would come and the new Tenant would take over and this precious treasure would be lost forever!
But there was a problem on top of this problem. The Partner could not possibly go to the old building and get the umbrella himself. No. Impossible. Why? Because it's impossible, that's why. Never mind that he is spending his whole day, his whole week, all his hours billable or otherwise, obsessing upon the umbrella. A trip up 5 blocks to the old building on his own two feet to put an end to his torment and his time wasting - is an outrageous suggestion.
Finally, the Office Administrator, a personnel manager and a couple of people from facilities went to the old building to look over the space for lost objects in general. That was the story, but of course it was all about the umbrella or any of the Partner's special personal paper clips and post-its (whatever!). But there was no umbrella there.
It was in his closet at home the whole time.
