A Niles writer’s short story about an unusual interaction she had with a coworker is featured in new book called, “Not Your Mother’s Book… On Working for a Living.”

Alyson Herzig’s contribution, entitled “Awkward Conversations,” is based on a real-life encounter she had with a much-older male employee while working as a supervisor at a Michiana area trucking company.

The coworker was asking for time off to have a specific medical procedure, but shared a few too many details about why and for which he was going under the knife.

“Everybody has funny stories from work… I thought most people probably don’t have this specific conversation,” she said.

Herzig submitted the story after learning the authors were compiling a number of humorous stories about people who work for a living. Hers is one of 59 stories in the compilation.

“I am not trying to change the world with this one (story),” she said. “It’s good to have humor and it is good to laugh, and I hope that’s what people do when they read it.

“It is good to find the funny in every situation you can because, regardless of whether you see it at the time, it is there.”

Originally from New Jersey, Herzig moved to the Midwest in the early 2000s and has been living in Niles since 2001.

She is a full-time writer whose works have been featured in several anthologies, including “My Other Ex: Women’s True Stories of Leaving and Losing Friends,” and “I Still Just Want to Pee Alone.”

She also has a blog where she writes about the many disasters and observations of her life. She said more than a million people have viewed it in a year and a half.

“I describe it as adult humor,” she said.

She is the co-creator of the anthology, “Surviving Mental Illness Through Humor,” that will be released in April 2015.

For more information about the book, “Not Your Mother’s Book… On Working for a Living,” visit publishingsyndicate.com.