I was thinking this too. Why is this guy so anxious? Is that perhaps the real problem?
@SharkCat - just something I thought of when I read the thread title: how far inside this guy’s head are you? If you’re in very close first person narration, as far as the audience knows the OS is the MC line. As the author, starting with the MC throughline and working backwards to find the OS might be helpful, and give you some insight into what everyone else is doing.