Plot

Sault has fallen on hard times since she lost her job. While she waits to hear about money for a proposal she submitted for a business venture, she is forced to take a temp job at Strategic Consolidated to make ends meet, despite that it is a mindless job for a mindless company. There she meets Perry Sound, a graphic novelist who is working at Strategic Consolidated just to earn a living. In many respects, he is a male version of Sault: cynical, brash, and someone who takes the easy way in life. As an example, he eats tuna and coffee sandwiches for lunch to give himself bad breath so that people at the office won't talk to and therefore bother him. Sault and Perry are sympatico in almost every respect, and they quickly end up as a twosome in their personal lives. She even feels comfortable enough to tell him about her alopecia, which he thinks is sexy. When she finds out that her proposal was rejected, Perry talks her into working permanently at the mindless factory called Strategic Consolidated. Geoff doesn't like the fact that in doing so, Sault would give up on her work dreams. Even Stanley, who still doesn't like Sault, thinks she is selling out. Eventually, Sault thinks that another "her" in the form of Perry is too much of a good thing, and decides that she really does need some work, and as a result personal happiness in her life and leaves Perry and Consolidated. Perhaps she can find the Mary Tyler Moore "Mary Richards" brand of happiness.—Huggo