Welcome to New York.  I hear Datamax is hiring.  They don't pay so well, but there's plenty of room to move up fast, if you've got what it takes.  If you'll play ball with the powers that be.

It's a small computer consulting office near Rockefeller Center.  No windows, but lots of charm.  Everybody knows everyone else's business.  Everybody's trying to become someone, trying to position themselves to be on top in the capital of the world. 

Stephen's had enough.  He's giving it up and getting out before the voices in his head become too loud to stifle.  He doesn't know where he's going, but anywhere has to be better than this.

Leo the boss appoints Mike to take over Stephen's job running the office computers.  The trouble is, Mike's a bit of a flunky who has a hard time with his present job making sales calls.  But he'll work for almost nothing, so he's got the job.

Stephen's busy trying to train Mike when his head is turned by Sarah, a new hire from California.  She's a visual artist with more than her share of emotional baggage, and Stephen can't stop thinking about her.

Meanwhile, Carolyn, the vice president of the company, is making a play for all the bananas.  With the help of Nicole, the pragmatic office manager, she's trying to steal the business out from under Leo's nose.  Or, failing that, to blackmail Leo into giving her whatever she wants. 

But Diane, the brazen receptionist, seems to have beaten Carolyn to Leo's wallet.  She's got the boss right where she wants him.

And then the shit really hits the fan.  Darker truths emerge from the landscape, as well as histories better left unrevealed.  Alliances form and are torn asunder as each player struggles to get to the top of the pile, or at least the better half of any deal.

A Bloated Sense of Self Importance was written in Dublin, Ireland, in the summer of 1997. It has been read by several theatres in New York, but has not yet been produced.