3 steps of working late...

Whenever one is faced with more work than one can get done in a given period of time--there are two choices:
1. Drop the ball and hope no one notices
2. Work late and try to get out from under the boulder, like Sisyphus pushing the rock up the hill.

Whenever one chooses the second option, (and in most cases I would recommend option 2) there are 3 stages of acceptance of your fate.

Step one---as everyone else is wrapping up for the day, you generally hint that you envy everyone else leaving and wish them well, while making it obvious that you are not leaving yet.

Step two---send out correspondence to anyone that has emailed you, that way there is a time stamp to verify what a truly dedicated grunt you are. That way when Bob in sales comes in the next day, he sees that you responded to his email at 9:30 pm--and thinks to himself "my goodness, djobe must really be working hard."

Step three---finish what it is that you stayed late to work on.

I actually enjoy coming in late in the evening....it's completely quiet, there are no phones, no co-workers asking questions, virtually no emails.

At some point we have all either engaged in or observed all three of these stages--it's part of office culture.