Thursday, November 29, 2007

for the rest of us



if jim halpert was the acting manager at rectangle, he'd probably approach holidays in much the same way that he approached birthdays. thus instead of throwing a half-a-dozen, relatively meaningless, rather expensive and wholly unproductive celebrations throughout the year he'd probably establish one previously inconsequential day as festivus and would throw a vending machine catered and tastefully, florescent lit party for one and all.

i don't know if i would do what jim would do, but i think such an action would make sense.

further, if jim was acting manager at rectangle, he either wouldn't participate in stupid gift exchanges with his co-workers or would abolish secret santas, white elephant or other such ignorant schemes altogether. although he is generally a congenial guy, jim wouldn't be roped into buying a gift for his superiors when his minimal yearly commission would make it financially unreasonable to purchase a little something for pam.

i can neither confirm nor deny whether i would support such plans, but i can clearly comprehend jim's logic.

finally, if jim was acting manager at rectangle, he'd undoubtedly be his funny, engaging self, ever eager to pull a prank on andy or catch up with toby over a coffee. however, he would not be desperate enough to make work the social center of his little life and would probably skip out of the festivus party in midstream in order to share a romantic drink with pam on the roof or play a little uninterrupted game of ping pong with darrell.

in regards to the latter, i cannot say i would follow in his steps exactly, but my path would be roughly parallel.

of course, jim isn't the acting manager at rectangle, so the reasonable folk who work there will in no way be rescued from the ignorant, annoying and inefficient schemes of the party planning committee. gee whiz...let the fun begin!

6 comments:

Tyler said...

White Elephant gift exchanges rock. There's just something great about seeing a coworker unwrap a first-edition copy of 'The Birds of the Bible' or a desk lamp shaped like a dragon.

Dale said...

i totally understand your frustration...having work parties sucks

however, we spend so much freaking time at work, i think it's important to create opportunities to foster relationships, even if it's forced...people need reasons to want to come to work, and having people at work that you at least you think care about you is vital

hopefully that makes sense...all I know is I caught so much crap for organizing regular parties and lunches and secret santa things, but noone complained when turnover was zero and there were no behavorial problems or any discipline problems...these things are related

there is a direct correlation between happiness at work and the perception of how much others value you as a person more than a worker...just my 2cents

g13 said...

ok, tyler, i have to admit that the birds of the bible would be a great gift, white elephant or otherwise.

dale, i think you're right about most people needing to cultivate relationships at work. i'm just a member of the minority that still prefers to draw a clear line of demarcation between my work and personal life.

upon reading a post like this one, a reader might think assume that i am a scrooge. for the record, i think that assumption would be correct.

Agent B said...

Years ago when I had a "real" job, I like the parties because a) that was when we got our bonus cash and b) we got to stop working for an hour and eat food.

But that was it. No gift exchanges.

cade said...

Best Secret Santa gift ever? A garden hose.

Who DOESN'T need one?

IZenBet said...

woohoo! another office fan. when i took one of those quizes on facebook, the first Office character i was like was jim, retake:pam