Daniel slumped into his office chair with an indifference that made even the chair sigh. 

3 hours passed and Daniel looked up from his desk and noticed something peculiar. Everyone in the office was wearing an item of clothing that was green. Steve and Mick (the two man accounting team) were both wearing camo coloured jumpers over their mustard shirts. Good ol’ Janet in the corner was wearing a forest themed ensemble with a definitive autumnal feature scarf - Daniel wondered why she would even need a scarf on such a humid day. Even Lisa, known as a strictly sky blue to navy sort of person, boasted a distractingly greeny-turquoise shawl/cardigan thing that really brought out her eyes Daniel mused. 

He then looked at himself. Brown shirt, brown jumper, brown corduroy trousers and brown brogue-type boots. No green - the anomaly in work. A social salmon against the stream of the mundane. In the monotony of working life he was special - an individual. But then he remembered his socks. 

“Oh why did I have to have statement socks?” He thought. 

He rolled up one of his pant legs and looking back at him was some garish, fluorescent green socks. So harsh and ridiculously bright; they had a definite gleam that emanated out across the room. 

Daniel’s mind plundered into a space of reflection. He remembered his mother always telling him to stand out from the crowd. How she was proud of him for choosing fine art for his degree instead of carrying on with maths. How she kept mentioning she wasn’t disappointed that he wasn’t going to be an accountant. He remembered that sense of pride he felt when throwing a stone over a wall that was definitely like half a football field away. He remembered how he went to the cinema alone to watch Cars 3 and on the walk home he spotted these fluorescent green socks in Primark. 

“That’s how I’ll make my mark in life.” He thought, staring at the socks with intent. He proudly bought them and a 6 pack of sleeveless white vests. 

Daniel’s mind came back to the room and a couple of beads of sweat were rushing down his cheeks. He nodded to himself with a sense of acknowledgement. He now considered himself an equal to his peers. He was amongst other people who were all trying to be unique but ending up just a little bit green like everyone else.