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The Secret Life And Crimes Of The American Office Plant

2:02 PM EDT on September 23, 2026

A woman sits alone in her office in the evening surrounded on all sides by plants, obscuring her view out the window.
Michael Kappeler/picture alliance via Getty Images

When we set out to do a supersized season of Normal Gossip, it was all tee-hee, ha ha, look at all these funny goofs we have! And then we went through The Process and made 12 actual episodes of silly, unhinged, or just plain weird stories. Now? We need a nap.

Luckily for everyone, we saved the best for last! There was no way we were going to do a season of all-stars without bringing back our dowager queen, Kelsey McKinney!

For our finale (for real this time), we brought Kelsey a story about a power struggle amongst the staff of a pediatrician's office, with grievances so petty and machinations so cursed that we actually had Kelsey sympathizing with management. (Possibly the first and last time that will ever happen.) If you’ve got feelings about plant parenthood, sound bowls, efficiency in the workplace, mysterious white powders, or the collective quest of office managers everywhere to get a five-star rating on the apps, this one is just for you. But if all you want is to listen to Rachelle and Kelsey laugh for an hour—hey, we’re not judging—we’ve got you covered there too!

We’ll be back with more gossip for Season 11, and maybe even more surprises, next year.

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Send your gossip to normalgossip@defector.com, or leave a voice message at 26-79-GOSSIP.

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