the badge.

every contractor receives a temporary badge. yellow plastic. lanyard. expiration date. "TEMPORARY — 90 DAYS" printed in bold caps.

on day 91, the badge is supposed to expire and be replaced. on day 91, the intern's badge did not expire. it had not been issued by anyone in particular, so there was nobody to renew it.

the intern filed a ticket. ticket number 17. ticket 17 was forwarded to the appropriate team. the appropriate team forwarded it back. the appropriate team is HR. HR is an auto-reply.

the badge says TEMPORARY. it has said TEMPORARY for 847 days. the plastic has yellowed slightly. the lanyard cannot be removed. attempts to remove the lanyard cause the lanyard to extend.