Challenge Declined

6:00 pm, Tuesday evening

“Chicagoan, you look tired.”

“Maybe that’s because I am.”

“Why? How many hours did you bill last month?”

“280.”

“Oh, well, once Partner X billed 433. That’s more than half of the hours that exist in any month!”

“That’s nice.”

“What? You aren’t striving for that?”

Filing that one away in the category of things I don’t need to hear after averaging 9 hours of substantive work for each day of the previous 31-day month.