...many times a simple choice can prove to be essential even though it often might appear inconseqnetial.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Oh, and next Friday... is Hawaiian shirt day... so, you know, if you want to you can go ahead and wear a Hawaiian shirt and jeans.

I am dedicating this post to my sister J, who has found herself a new job at the Highlands Ranch Metro District! This is very exciting news!

I got a temp job at MH because J worked there. I started in the Communications department and eventually ended up in the Resource Development. I really did like working there, but recent events have made it much less enjoyable to work there, which is why I am so happy J no longer has to put up with it. In addition, something else has also come to my attention. This may be the case for most office jobs, but since I started working at MH, some striking similarities to the movie Office Space have come to my attention.

For those of you who have not been fortunate enough to watch Office Space, I'll give you a very brief summary. The movie is about this guy Peter, who hates his job at a technology company called Inatech. His boss treats him like a tool; the only salvation he has is his two friends who work there. Peter undergoes hypnosis to help with the hatred he feels towards his job. However, in the middle of the session the therapist dies and Peter is left in a permanent state of relaxation. He could care less about his job, or anything in his life for that matter. So the company ends up going through this down-sizing process where consultants are brought in and Peter's two friends are fired and he is given a promotion. Disgusted with what's happening a the company, Peter and his two friends insert a virus into Inatech's computer system to try and steal money from the company. The plan backfires, but in the end...well I won't ruin the ending, for those of you who want to see it and haven't yet, but needless to say, it all works out. Great movie, very quotable, and frighteningly realistic.

When I first started working for Resource Development, I was told by S, my supervisor, that MH really was like Office Space. The funny thing is, she told me this after I spent the morning staring at the color printer thinking "Why does it say paper jam when there is no paper jam!?!" over and over again in a slight Indian accent.

We do have casual Fridays, but thankfully never Hawaiian shirt day (although I did go with an exbf to visit his mom at work once to find the place decorated like a luau. Of course I made a crack about it, only to find out they really did have Hawaiian shirt Friday, oops). The scariest thing though is that there really are consultants out there who are brought in to (in my opinion not very accurately) evaluate people's jobs to determine if they are still valuable to the company. They aren't Bob and Bob who love Michael Bolton, but rather they have names like Helen and Leslie, who have disorganized cubicles and think it's fun or good for moral to keep wind up toys at their cube for passing employees to stop and play with. Not even wind up toys will help moral when there are people in the office deciding whether or not you should be fired.

I speak in present tense, because technically I'm still working there, one day a week, to keep my sanity while I look for another job. However, now that J has found a new position, I might end up doing her job on a temporary basis. And thank goodness it's temporary because with Helen and Leslie calling the shots, in the end, a lot of hard working, great people at MH might be looking for new jobs alongside me.

Congratulations again J, we're all very happy you're out of there! Don't forget your stapler when you leave.

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"...I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn't bind up as much, and I kept the staples for the Swingline stapler and it's not okay because if they take my stapler then I'll set the building on fire..."

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