The Results Are In

Well, I must admit the "Well Intentioned" fiasco did not end with the great climax of confrontation that makes for a good story. No, sadly the charge for "food day" did itself in. After all of the treats were added up it was going to be a cool $11 for an in office Pizza Hut ordered lunch. That's right you heard me correctly ELEVEN DOLLARS! Now someone is free to correct me but that is the price people pay for a decent night out to dinner, NOT for a office lunch. Anyway, that being said after the price of lunch was announced to the team there was a massive "bow out" of the festive event, and it has now been reduced to a $5 pizza and pop lunch. Alas, nothing to report...I believe perhaps there was a small victory for those who like to keep to ourselves at our desks.

Well Intentioned

So, there are those people...you know what and who I am talking about...THOSE people. The ones at work who start around the same time you did and think they have a "knack" for picking up the job quickly. But, no it is not in a super helpful and productive way it is in a I know a lot because of all my experience that I need to bestow on you. THOSE are the kinds of people I am talking about. And do they stop with talking about themselves non-stop or their personal accomplishments...NO, no they don't. They continue, and this is the worst part, they try and act like they like and people like them. They do this by going around and checking up on people, asking them how they are and pretending to be interested in their lives. Most of the time this is done with the intent of gathering gossip to share with other people in the office(another way to show others how much they know).

Now it is possible that you are thinking...well I genuinely care about people, and I do gossip on occasion...Oh no, I also like to talk about myself. DO NOT BE ALARMED! If you have even considered the fact that you could be one of these people that most definitely means you are not. Most of the time they are so oblivious to themselves they wouldn't even understand the above paragraph. Onward and upward...

So, I am experiencing one of these people at my place of work. They are easy to interact with for the most part but there has been a problem. That problem exists within a series of emails that have been dispersed throughout the office. This person is planning a "food day", seems harmless enough I know, but it is evil...pure evil. I receive this email the other week explaining how there is going to be this "team" party and we will be ordering food and if we would like to offer a suggestion it will be considered. The end of email states emphatically that "we will be committing to this event as a team". Here in lies the rub...definitive statements from one inferior to another. That is right folks this person started working the exact same day I did, has no more knowledge or authority than anyone else in the group and she is making definitive statement AT people. So, I have garnered some significant support from other co-workers not on my team to boycott the food day. So, I am currently working to graciously bow out and avoid any potential confrontation. The report is still out...

Now some of you may be thinking I am rude, mean, and unkind. You would be right in assuming all of these things. However, that is not the point. The point is that these people can't be allowed to persist. We can't just go on assuming they are well intentioned. We must seek them out for the true self-loving evil gnomes they are, bright and shiny on the outside and hollow and moldy on the inside.

A New Job

New jobs are like new cars. They are bright and shiny...they have that "new job" smell. You are so excited you have it that you potentially overlook certain things that will come back to haunt you in the end. You are so enamored with it and you have yet to discover all those little things you could def. do without or what you really wished you had. You haven't yet begun to settle in to occasionally complaining about what you wish were different or what you will be sure to do next time. Or, as a means of compensation you talk about the good points while the bad ones nag at you in the back of your mind. Then soon that subconscious nagging comes to the for front and you begin to search for people who feel the same way you do.

...By the way we are strictly talking about jobs now...though you could continue to draw a car parallel, but this conversion is much slower with a car than with a job so I figured it best to drop the comparison before you begin to be dis-interested with my thought...

Anyway, so you then find people who get annoyed with the same things you do and then you all interact with a bit of light complaining and commiserating on a break or lunch period. Soon you have a group of like minded complainers who talk about everyone else and how they don't do their job right or how your supervisor shouldn't have his job and the list goes on and on.

I started a new job this week, but as an individual who starts lots of new jobs(not because I get fired I just move a lot) I have observed this metamorphosis quite often. Most of the time one has to have stealth reflexes in order to avoid getting sucked into the great vortex of dis-contentedness. However, there are those few occasions when you get directly confronted with a "can you believe(insert name of annoying person) they are so lazy"...and then what are you supposed to do. I for one just give a slight nod and a half smile and say "yup" and then quickly walk away or return to my computer and appear to be very engrossed in what I am doing.

Perhaps you might think it would be better to confront the issue head on. I am glad you brought this up, because I have done this very thing before. Most of the time when you respond with a positive statement the complaining individual just continues to work to persuade you to their negative perspective and the situation spirals rather quickly. No for once in my life I believe in being a passivist. So LET'S GO MEDIOCRITY IN THE WORK PLACE! and you enjoy that new job smell while it lasts.