"The Guy." At the Smalldoggies.

We are loving the Matty Byloos and his all his Smalldoggies action. Today we are especially appreciative that he has run our new joint "The Guy" on the Smalldoggies site. This piece is part of a string of quasi-interconnected Chicago stories we've been working on including pieces at Atticus Books, Thunderclap and Metazen, with hopefully more to come. Again, big thanks brother and drinks on us for sure when next we meet.

"Here’s the thing. You were the guy.

That guy. The cool one. The good-looking one.

You were the guy.

There’s always a guy, the one that the women and the older married guys at the office gravitate to. The guy is inevitably new and probably young, though the guy doesn’t have to be young if he’s attractive and dynamic. The guy doesn’t even have to be friendly. In fact, it never hurts the guy to be somewhat removed, distant and moody.

It’s about freshness. And it’s about office life and the lack of exposure to the new and different. Sameness breeds need and desire.

Of course, it’s also about safety, people at work are supposed to be safe, like your family is supposed to be safe. You can take chances at work, not real chances mind you, but you can not quite be yourself at work and yet be yourself all at once. You want to flirt, you flirt. It’s work. You want to be more like the geek you wish you could be, you geek. It’s work. And having the guy there makes this possible. The guy strives to be non-judgmental, because unlike you the guy knows that work is just work and so he just wants to enjoy the attention.

The fact is, for most of us work is everything and the guy makes that palatable.

And you were the guy."