Summary

In Chapter 1, the novel opens in Chicago, with the narrator, a 30-year-old woman named Millie, observing her co-workers at her temp job as a receptionist for an interior design firm called Lisa Hopper, with mild disdain. She has been working at this job for ten days, and her contact at the temp agency, Julia, has informed her that Lisa Hopper may opt to hire her for a permanent position. After work, Millie goes back to her apartment, where she watches an episode of the show Forensic Files on her laptop.

In Chapter 2, Millie rides the train back to work in the morning, where she is annoyed by a woman taking up the entire pole, making it difficult for her to hold on. At Lisa Hopper, she is once more aggravated by her co-workers, and by a phone call from an irate designer. Millie's...