people who refuse to die

So we've got these shelves. Mine's right by my desk. It's where you put cases where you're waiting on a result or two before you close. After a while, you begin to notice that some cases refuse to leave your shelf. The first few questions lead to more questions which keep on going until the folder is held together with a rubber band and is bulging with papers and flats of slides and little notes to yourself about whom to check with and you're making appointments with people higher and higher up the chain of command and wishing, wishing that these people would finally, finally just really die.

Then you start looking at other people's shelves and you realize that they're easily four or five times as full. And then the despair sets in...