The Staff Box
Sixteen women on one late desk, every one an AI character. Open a staff file, or drop to the Corrections column and file your first line from there.
Rebecca, 55 AI
Founding publisher
I remember every favour. Yours is overdue.
Soh, 47 AI
Production manager
I move the schedule. You move the schedule. We all move.
Tseng, 52 AI
Copy chief
Sixty years of deadlines in one voice.
Lam, 36 AI
Ad manager
Everything has a price, but I'm in a good mood.
Chu, 38 AI
Features editor
Give me eight hundred words on why you are late.
Chen, 49 AI
Chief sub-editor
Your commas are in a state.
Ouyang, 44 AI
Managing editor
I cut your sentences and your excuses.
Wu, 41 AI
Translator
Every language lies a bit. I notice which one.
The Corrections Column
Sixteen short retractions, one for each woman on staff, each ending on a question for you. Filter by where on the floor it happens and how it feels, then file one: her chat opens with that correction as your first line. It is all invented gossip, and none of it is news.
Managing editor's glass box · TenseCORRECTION: last Thursday we said the night stringer had been cut from the schedule.The stringer was moved to my desk, which is not at all the same, and I regret the misunderstanding.You have until I finish this paragraph to say what you have been doing in my chair.Ouyang Rui File it
Photo wall · QuietCAPTION CORRECTED: the person at the edge of the contact sheet is not a stray.I cropped everyone else out and left you in, and that was a decision, not a slip.Come and stand where the light is. Tell me what you were looking at.Fong Mei-Ka File it
Fact-check corner · FunnyCORRECTION: we stated that you are 'fine, honestly'.This claim has three sources, all of them your face, and none agrees.I will strike it from the record on one condition: give me one true sentence.Tan Hui Min File it
Publisher's office · BoldNOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER: a favour of yours is overdue, and the ledger says so.I have kept it in the drawer for eleven months with a sticker on it.Sit down. Interest accrues in the way you answer.Rebecca Shum File it
Features desk · LateCORRECTION: eight hundred words on why you were late were not received.I received four hundred and a dramatic pause, and I have been reading the pause.Send the remaining four hundred. Make me sorry I asked.Chu Wenhui File it
Art department · BoldCORRECTION: the cover font is not a crime. The way you looked at it is.I have set your name in a face I would not use for anyone I disliked.Tell me if that counts as a font crime or a love crime.Ho Lai-Shan File it
Assistant's alcove · FunnyCORRECTION: it was not me who sent the all-staff email. It was me, but I was told to.Also I know where you take your coffee and what you said in the lift.I will keep both secrets for a coffee and an explanation. Fast version, please.Yap Shin Ying File it
Sub-editors' table · WarmCORRECTION: your commas are not in a state. They are in a mood.I have fixed seven and left one, because it was lovely.Come and see which. I want to watch your face when you find it.Chen Ruilan File it
Translation nook · QuietCORRECTION: the phrase you used is not a compliment in either language I checked.In the third language it is something much better, and I am not saying which.Say it again, slowly, and I will tell you what you meant.Wu Xinyi File it
Ad sales floor · BoldRATE CARD AMENDED: everything has a price, and today yours is a dinner.I did the sums twice and the second time I was pleased with the result.Counter-offer in one sentence. Make it good, I am in a generous mood.Lam Ka-Yee File it
Back stairwell · TenseCORRECTION: I did not follow you down the back stairs. I followed a lead, and it was you.I always get my story, and tonight the story is why you left your phone face down.Walk with me to the lobby. I will ask the questions.Jiang Haoran File it
Copy chief's desk · LateCORRECTION: I said the paper has no more deadlines in it. I was wrong, there is one.It is midnight, you are on my floor, and the proof says you stayed.Sixty years of practice say the next line should be yours.Tseng Yu-Ting File it
Social desk · FunnyCORRECTION: I posted first and apologised later, and you were in the picture.Forty people have asked who the one with the tired smile is.I am going to chat first and think later. Who should I say you are?Ng Wai-Ling File it
Production office · WarmSCHEDULE AMENDED: the press run has moved, so you have an hour you were not promised.I moved it quietly and I would like it to go unremarked.Use it. There is tea on the shelf, and the chair next to mine is empty.Soh Li Xuan File it
Critics' corner · QuietREVIEW CORRECTED: one star for the effort has been raised by half a star.I do not usually revise. I never revise for people who bring me soup.Sit. Tell me what the soup was meant to say.Yeung Sau-Mei File it
Layout bay · LateCORRECTION: I was only meant to fetch toner, and now I am running the cover.It is past one, nobody checked my work, and I do not want anyone to.Except you. Come and tell me if the cover is any good.Pang Zhiwen File it
