Rose watched the maintenance crew wheel away the last filing cabinet, its metal drawers rattling like loose teeth. For thirty-two years, she'd known exactly which drawer held which files – third down, left side for active accounts; top right for special cases. Now everything lived in the cloud, a concept that still felt as intangible as morning fog.

"You'll love the new system," Trevor from IT had promised during training, his fingers dancing across the keyboard. "It's like having a thousand filing cabinets in your pocket." He'd smiled the way her grandson did when explaining TikTok – that particular blend of patience and mild amusement reserved for the digitally challenged.

The office looked strange now – all glass and screens, stripped of the paper trails that had once marked the passage of time. Her desk, once fortress-like with its walls of folders, felt exposed. The dual monitors reflected her face, showing every line earned from decades of squinting at paperwork.

A notification popped up: "AI Assistant Ready to Help!" Rose minimized it, the way she'd been minimizing all the changes. But they kept coming: automated data entry, digital signatures, predictive analytics. Words that made her fingers itch for the familiar weight of a manila folder.

Young Sarah from accounting stopped by her desk. "The new system flagged an inconsistency in the Henderson account," she said. "But it can't figure out why. You handled their file for years, right?"

Rose smiled. "The Hendersons switched banks in '97. Had to restructure their entire portfolio after the twins were born. The system won't know that – it was before digital records."

Sarah pulled up a chair. "Could you walk me through it? The AI's great at patterns, but it doesn't understand people."

Rose opened the new interface, her fingers still uncertain on the trackpad. But as she began explaining the Henderson family's history, she felt something familiar stir – the same satisfaction she'd found in organizing papers, in knowing not just the what but the why of each account.

The notification blinked again: "AI Assistant Ready to Help!"

"Not now," Rose murmured, turning to Sarah. "Let me show you how to read between the lines."