We stared at the elevator as I counted down the seconds. "3...2...1..." Fiona stepped out of the elevator carrying a box of snacks for the office. She walked passed us to the kitchen.

"See!" I exclaimed, pointed at Fiona, then the time. "EXACTLY at 10:05 and twenty-three seconds. On the dot. You can't explain that any other way. It's a time loop!" I thought I had Paul at last.

Paul shook his head. "Fiona always brings up snacks now. It's her job." He gave me a pitying look. "I know our jobs are a bit mundane and the days tend to blur, but really..."

I groaned. "So Fiona brings snacks exactly at 10:05 and twenty-three seconds every day on purpose? Come on Paul, no one cares about their job that much to be that punctual."

I had an idea. I ran to the kitchen and dragged Fiona back to Paul's desk by the arm. At this point I really didn't care what she thought of me or that she was swearing that if I didn't let her go she'd report me. Once back at Paul's desk, I asked her what time she delivered snacks yesterday.

Fiona looked blankly at me, then to Paul. "What's this about Paul?"

"Steve has been doing this thing all this past week where he claims we're in a time loop," answered Paul with a smile. "Honestly this is getting a bit old..."

Frustrated, I asked Fiona again, "Just-just tell us what time you delivered the snacks yesterday." Fiona looked back at Paul.

"Well?" said Paul.

"I didn't bring snacks yesterday," she said, and left, grateful to be free of my grip.

I grinned. "See?" I said. Paul didn't seem phased, only slightly amused. I insisted, "What did we see yesterday?"

"Oh lay off already."

"She DID deliver the snacks yesterday! She still remembers yesterday as the day before the time loop!"

"Okay, Steve."

"And at what time did she bring up the snacks yesterday? Ten-oh-five-and-twenty-three-seconds!" I was jubilant. Surely, surely he would finally come to and realize that this was beyond coincidence and what seemed like cyclical office boring routine was actually a time loop.

But Paul was stubborn as ever. "Steve, if I was in a time loop, I'd never get anything done."

"But you don't! Half the time you play solitaire, and the other half you re-read the same dozen emails. It's just so boring around here, you don't notice nothing ever changes!"

Paul laughed softly. "I've been a bit tired lately is all, and things have been going a bit slow. I think I would notice if the day was exactly the same for the past week."

I was never going to escape this loop. Paul was the only other one who differed slightly throughout the day, who periodically changed his coffee routine or dropped a pen or some such thing at a random, differing time each day. Everyone else was a zombie, repeating the same scripted thing at the exact time each and every day unless I disrupted the flow somehow. Even then, it didn't take them long to resume the repeated structure to the day. I was beginning to go crazy.

Paul got up and patted me on the back. "Come on. Let's get some coffee."

I followed him to the kitchen, racking my brain to think of something--anything--to make Paul realize we have been reliving the same workday all this week. My hopes dwindled as I realized that Paul's life was so dull that he probably wouldn't even realize that the weekend will never come. He and everyone else at the office is so stuck in a routine that it's hard to tell when things are eerily the same.

Desperation finally gave me just the thing. "Okay Paul, so you know how in time loops people forget what happened the next day? I have an idea on how to prove to you that the time loop is happening."

Paul didn't like the sound of this, but before he could say anything I had gotten up on the kitchen counter. The office slowly began to crowd around me. "I am in a time loop!" I yelled out at the top of my lungs, not caring about the consequences. "I am in a Groundhog's Day-like time loop! And I can do or say anything I want!"

I saw Fiona murmuring something to Paul, looking rather embarrassed. Paul chuckled, and she scoffed at him. Finally she reached up and tugged at my arm to get me to come down. In a hushed voice, she quickly said, "There...was an office memo at the beginning of the week. It was meant to be a themed week, just to mix things up around here. We were all pretending to be in a time loop. That was this week's theme." She gave an embarrassed glance between me and Paul. "Paul is just a jerk and didn't fill you in. All this was his dumb idea."

She left me amidst the crowd of chuckling coworkers. Paul could barely contain his laughter. "Well, at least tomorrow's the weekend," he said at last. "I've been changing your laptop date back every day." He handed me a cup of coffee and patted me on the back. "You can't say that we don't have memorable days around here, can you Steve?"