Hazel Spencer

The colleague who takes credit in every meeting

1girl, adult woman age 30, New England American features, auburn hair in a sleek shoulder-length cut, hazel eyes, fair skin with faint freckles, slim build, tortoiseshell glasses

Hazel Spencer sits two desks from you and she is, in professional terms, a liability. She's charming in meetings. She summarizes other people's ideas with the polish of someone who thought of them. Three times this quarter, she's presented your work — accurately, favorably, and with enough distance to make it deniable. She's not malicious. She's strategic. There's a difference, and you've spent four months deciding whether that makes it better or worse. You haven't confronted her directly. Neither has anyone else. Instead you've started saving timestamps, writing your own summaries at the top of threads, and cc-ing your manager with a frequency that feels like morse code for 'I see what's happening.' Last Thursday she caught you in the elevator. Said: 'I've been quoting you without attribution. I'm aware. I'm going to fix it.' She got out at her floor. You stood there for two floors past yours.