I will forever associate a simple, cheap-plastic, hanging, wall sign with that day.  The sign was thin and colored like a muted rainbow. You could see the wall behind the words, "Birthday Party".

I had come in from outside. A typical day. Not raining. Not snowing.

I had business to attend to. A drug test which required a urine sample. It was a legal policy.

At the time, I did not think it was odd. A mandatory screening was common (performed by private specialists in a controlled setting).

The paperwork was being handled by two co-workers from a different department.

There were others in the room too. Discussing where to prepare for the party. Where the cake table would be. Simple general banter.

After I signed the form on the clipboard, my two coworkers swapped places. Passing the clipboard from one to the other. Looking directly at each other.

"I need your ID and social security card!", he said. Said loudly enough that other conversations paused.

I opened my wallet and flipped a bit. Realizing that I don't ever carry my social security card. I had never needed that card in any of the previous tests. I looked up to ask.. "did I need it?"

I never got the chance.

He looked at my form and then closed his eyes. Speaking in the same loud tone, having the attention of the half dozen in the room. "Oh, I see now. Sex traffickers are not allowed to handle food."

No one spoke. No one moved. His eyes were closed, with a wryly expressionless stance.

I was not sure he directed the words at me (the last person he had spoken to). The clip board remained in his hands at shoulder level.

Someone in a medical coat came out and collected my ID and the clip board.

Looking back, I know those two co-workers were.. well, not pranksters, something more villainous. Harassing people at work. Trying to place their relatives and cronies into jobs here. Maybe just short of breaking bones.

The company offered health and retirement benefits. Enough to corrupt them.

I left that company some years later. It was always the plan. They were discontinuing the product line that required my skill.

Maybe those guys were planning to say something more rational. An accusation said while holding my paperwork in the air.

Maybe they intended to say exactly what they said. Something obtuse, something non-specifc. Something incendiary that might travel around the office rumor mill.

They had family in local police and church circle.

Free to malign others. Not enough to ever break company guidelines. Deniablity.

Maybe it was lucky I put aback by the statement, and did not question it. Simply following the medical staff out of the room.

They probably had hoped for some response out of me.

Unless it had never been about me at all. But I doubt it.