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Fourth Floor · Episode 1

Who Approves This

Dana booked the flights before asking for the time off. Turns out there is nobody left who can actually approve it.

Open-plan office in the morning. Dana leans back daydreaming about vacation. Kevin, still typing: “Did you get it approved?” Dana: “…I bought the tickets.”
Dana stares flatly at her phone. The auto-reply reads: “Out of office until the 15th. For anything urgent, contact Ivan.” Dana: “Ivan wrote this.”
Dana throws up her hands at Marina: “My manager is on vacation.” Marina, unbothered: “Then his manager's.”
CEO office with an old photo of five people on the wall. Mr. Vaughn spreads his arms: “Dana! Of course you go! We're a family here!” Dana: “And where does that get recorded?”
Corridor. Lena points at her laptop screen: “An approval doesn't count if it isn't in the system.” Dana, head down: “He said it out loud.”
Greg types in headphones without turning around. Dana: “Greg, can someone put it in the system?” Greg: “Someone can. Not me.”
Office kitchen. Adam with a mug: “Wait, you have to get vacation approved? In March I just didn't show up.” Kevin: “And?” Dana watches in silence.
Ross walks past with a laptop: “So we have a blocker on the vacation? Let's capture that.” Dana, resigned: “Let's.”
Nobody ever came back to it.
Sasha waves from a video call: “Isn't there a spreadsheet for this?” Dana, stunned: “What spreadsheet?”
Nancy arranges flowers without looking up. Dana: “Nancy, there's apparently a spreadsheet…” Nancy: “The 15th through the 30th? Already marked you down.”
High view of the open-plan office: everyone works at their monitors while Dana sits alone thinking: “What if Nancy got sick?”
Nancy's empty desk with a dead plant. In the doorway Mr. Vaughn: “Does anyone know where Nancy's spreadsheet is?” Marina: “Are we sure it was a spreadsheet?”
Two weeks later.