‘Shared Data,’ a short story from an alternate future(2)

It was a stressful time of year. Taxes and all, but also hurricane season was coming up and that meant getting everything sorted ahead of time.
“So stressful I almost moved at this time a few years ago. Just didn’t see how I could keep doing it, year after year.” Genevieve was telling her colleague Toba in one of the private chat break rooms in their office interface. “It’s the physical stuff of getting the house ready, preparing go-bags and all, but also the insurance choices and the constant reassessment. I can pay, even if it hurts, but all the time I have to spend on it, the decisions, that’s where the stress comes, I just didn’t want to do it any more.”

“We make enough stressful decisions at work,” Toba agreed. “No need for extra.”
“Exactly! But then when I looked at moving it was that very reassessment and all that made it pretty much impossible, no one wants to buy here any more, what with the extra cost.”
They were on one of the Assuring Respectful Telework Act-mandated coffee breaks, although Genevieve was drinking rooibos and Toba had shared a picture of the lovely swirly boba tea she’d gotten from the café below her apartment. “Almost enough to make me wish I had moved,” Genevieve joked.