Parallels
Its interesting that one can watch a show like The Office or a movie like Office Space and everyone gets a laugh out of it. I admit I would get a chuckle out of it as well. The movies do after all represent something completely absurd and the idiocy of managers who in movie-land/tv-land act like idiots.
Unfortunately, the movie and the tv show that parodies workplace antics has taken on a different role in my life.
I live it.
Yep, no lie.
As some of you my friends know...I got in trouble a couple of weeks ago for not eating a pizza. To clarify this I need to go back to some events. A co-workers of mine (and indeed my only friend there) was fed up with the crap going on and put in her two weeks notice after securing another job. This proceeded to cause a bit of a shitstorm. Alright, so with this in mind I observed on the thursday of that week (and my co-worker put her two weeks in on a monday of the same week) my supervisor was pulled out by the assistant manager. When he returned, which was a good 5-10 minutes later he sends out an email to all of us that he hadnt bought us pizza in a while and wanted to do so. Of course I am no fool and its clearly obvious that the reason he did so was because the assistant manager told him to do so. I am not one who gives in to something that is so obviously insincere. Plus I had plans to go to lunch with my co-worker. When my supervisor came by to ask me if I wanted pizza I declined. After everyone had a slice and we had a 'team building meeting' he gets a call and comes over and tells me the assistant manager wants to speak with me upstairs. I knew why. The first thing the assistant manager asked me when I got upstairs was why I didnt eat the pizza.
I consider myself an educated fellow. Even intelligent. I am not impressed by lame ass attempts to try to 'improve my morale' by buying me pizza. When I see an insincere act you bet your ass I am not impressed. In fact the message that is sent to me when you ask me a lame question about why I didnt eat the pizza is that your a tool and you have no concept of leadership let alone managerial skills.
Lets see..more recently last week on thursday my supervisor asked me if I wanted a shirt. This is one of those stupid shirts that has a badge sewn on it that has the name of the company or the project on it. I thought maybe he was kidding. I said no I didnt have one. So the guy disappears and about an hour later he comes back and deposits a shirt in plastic wrapping on my desk. Sighing to myself I had to refrain from rolling my eyes. Yeah I plan on wearing that thing everyday...not. These piss poor attempts at team building are not doing it for me.
Yesterday, the assistant manager in all of his wisdom comes over to my cubicle and then asks the others a simple question. He says "So how is the morale here on the help desk? Getting better I hope." Um..yeah. Lets see...I can tell you of all the times I have been a supervisor, be it in Boy Scouts or at the concert hall I have never ever asked someone if their morale was better. The reason being that you will get the answer you want to hear. Again, I had to refrain from laughing and rolling my eyes. As soon as I got home I told my dad about that and he started laughing and then just shook his head. He told me that during all of his career in the military, being a commander etc that he has never asked his subordinates if their morale was low or getting better. He knows that he wont get a real answer. Plus, you never ask someone that question. I mean you can gauge if someone's morale is low or not by asking other questions but asking someone about their morale so directly..yeah good job at getting a fake answer. Thats like if I am the boss of a company and I ask the janitor if he likes his job. If the guy knows who I am of course he will say yes. He doesnt want to tick me off and say no the job sucks and then I fire him. These are simple commonsense things that seem to escape many of the people I work with. I have had to give up on watching The Office because at the moment its like watching a re-creation of the events at my workplace. Maybe once I find another job then I will start watching Office Space or The Office again but at the moment the similarities are just too much for me.
Unfortunately, the movie and the tv show that parodies workplace antics has taken on a different role in my life.
I live it.
Yep, no lie.
As some of you my friends know...I got in trouble a couple of weeks ago for not eating a pizza. To clarify this I need to go back to some events. A co-workers of mine (and indeed my only friend there) was fed up with the crap going on and put in her two weeks notice after securing another job. This proceeded to cause a bit of a shitstorm. Alright, so with this in mind I observed on the thursday of that week (and my co-worker put her two weeks in on a monday of the same week) my supervisor was pulled out by the assistant manager. When he returned, which was a good 5-10 minutes later he sends out an email to all of us that he hadnt bought us pizza in a while and wanted to do so. Of course I am no fool and its clearly obvious that the reason he did so was because the assistant manager told him to do so. I am not one who gives in to something that is so obviously insincere. Plus I had plans to go to lunch with my co-worker. When my supervisor came by to ask me if I wanted pizza I declined. After everyone had a slice and we had a 'team building meeting' he gets a call and comes over and tells me the assistant manager wants to speak with me upstairs. I knew why. The first thing the assistant manager asked me when I got upstairs was why I didnt eat the pizza.
I consider myself an educated fellow. Even intelligent. I am not impressed by lame ass attempts to try to 'improve my morale' by buying me pizza. When I see an insincere act you bet your ass I am not impressed. In fact the message that is sent to me when you ask me a lame question about why I didnt eat the pizza is that your a tool and you have no concept of leadership let alone managerial skills.
Lets see..more recently last week on thursday my supervisor asked me if I wanted a shirt. This is one of those stupid shirts that has a badge sewn on it that has the name of the company or the project on it. I thought maybe he was kidding. I said no I didnt have one. So the guy disappears and about an hour later he comes back and deposits a shirt in plastic wrapping on my desk. Sighing to myself I had to refrain from rolling my eyes. Yeah I plan on wearing that thing everyday...not. These piss poor attempts at team building are not doing it for me.
Yesterday, the assistant manager in all of his wisdom comes over to my cubicle and then asks the others a simple question. He says "So how is the morale here on the help desk? Getting better I hope." Um..yeah. Lets see...I can tell you of all the times I have been a supervisor, be it in Boy Scouts or at the concert hall I have never ever asked someone if their morale was better. The reason being that you will get the answer you want to hear. Again, I had to refrain from laughing and rolling my eyes. As soon as I got home I told my dad about that and he started laughing and then just shook his head. He told me that during all of his career in the military, being a commander etc that he has never asked his subordinates if their morale was low or getting better. He knows that he wont get a real answer. Plus, you never ask someone that question. I mean you can gauge if someone's morale is low or not by asking other questions but asking someone about their morale so directly..yeah good job at getting a fake answer. Thats like if I am the boss of a company and I ask the janitor if he likes his job. If the guy knows who I am of course he will say yes. He doesnt want to tick me off and say no the job sucks and then I fire him. These are simple commonsense things that seem to escape many of the people I work with. I have had to give up on watching The Office because at the moment its like watching a re-creation of the events at my workplace. Maybe once I find another job then I will start watching Office Space or The Office again but at the moment the similarities are just too much for me.