Working in an office

[User192021]

I'm 23 years old and have worked for a major insurance company for the past three and a half years, and I still find myself baffled by the dynamics of the workplace.  When I first started out I was astonished at the bizzare subculture I had naively thrusted myself into.  Grown men and women becoming positively giddy with anticipation of "jeans day" or "food day" or some other lame office gimmick meant to distract everybody from how dissapointed they are with their choice of career.  The cliques, controversies, gossip, inequality, and downright meanness I observed have led me to dub the atmosphere, "junior high on steroids".  I expected to have gotten used to it by now, but I haven't.  I still find myself scratching my head at much of the behavior I witness.  Here's an example of what I'm talking about.

About a year ago we had a guy working in the office who had an annoying habit of sexually harrassing women.  You know the type - he seemed to think the office was a night club, the perfect place to pick up chicks.  Well, he finally pushed his luck with one woman who was unfortunate enough to find her desk situated directly next to his.  Over a period of several weeks he proceeded to ask her out on dates daily.  And daily she would politely (and later on, not so politely), inform him that she was not interested.  She began to dread coming to work and even considered leaving the company.  Day after day this went on until the situation became too uncomfortable for her to bear and she decided to go to a manager for help.  Given his past record of sexual harrassment which included multiple other formal complaints by women, I assumed this would be the last straw and he would get the boot.  Instead, the managers made HER move HER own desk away from him.  Moving your desk is a pain in the ass, because you accumulate a lot of stuff over time and its a lot of work to box it all up, move it across the office, and set it all up again.  I thought this was insulting to the woman, and disgraceful on the part of management.  First of all, what is this, kindergarten?  What is going through your mind when you repeatedly ask a girl out on dates, day after day, when she tells you she's not interested?  How did this guy even get hired?  And how do you justify telling a woman who is essentially being bullied that for coming forward and asking for help, she will now be punished by having a major inconvenience imposed on her?  Talk about a slap in the face.

Anyway, that's my rant.  Anybody have any thoughts on the office subculture?  Any funny or disturbing anecdotes?

[SteveS]

Just a general comment - I have always felt the difference between children and adults is over-emphasized.  Adults are just older kids.

When I was selling my townhouse a few years back, I looked up the covenant laws and saw that I was not allowed to place a real estate for sale sign in my front yard, but I could put a sign in the window.  This I did.  A few days later I got a letter from the association board stating that the covenant laws required that I ask permission first.  This, I apparently missed.  They told me to immediately remove the sign, although they assured me I could put it back up as soon as I asked for their permission to put it up.  :?  !?!

I felt this was highly immature.  So, I left the sign up, but wrote a letter asking permission to put the sign in my window.  They wrote back granting permission.  I guess they felt happy - but honestly?  What's the difference between petty childish behavior and petty adult behavior?

So - I really get the "junior high on steroids" comment.

[donkeyhoty]

words of wisdom for the day:  Having to pay your own bills does not an adult make.

[MommaSquid]

I have never been able to wrap my mind around the idea that some asshole gets to boss me around just because he is the boss.

In any situation other than earning money, I would tell a rude person to piss off, but that never goes well with the boss-man (or woman).  They call it insubordination... :?

Grown men and women becoming positively giddy with anticipation of "jeans day" or "food day" or some other lame office gimmick meant to distract everybody from how dissapointed they are with their choice of career.

Too true.  Are you sure you're only 23?

[myleviathan]

I worked in a large mortgage processing center for a major bank back in 2004-2006. It was actually kind of fun. We would bring soft-air pellets to work and shoot eachother. We stapled paper cups to cubicle walls and had competitions to see who could flick quarters into it. As a practical joke one of my buddies melted chocolate in the microwave and smeared in on the plunger and left it in the kitchen. There was also a guy by the last name of "Boody". He was a geeky Jehova's witness. You can just imagine how that went. One time we put vanilla flavored vodka in one of our buddy's vanilla coke's. Funny Stuff! He started doing the elevator at his cubicle. Like where you stand in place and go lower and lower... We also tied his shoes together without him noticing from under the cubie. Good times.

[Whitney]

If I was the woman you were talking about...I'd sue both that creep and the boss for sexual harrasment and leave the company.

Junk like that should not be tolerated....I had that happen to me when I worked at Target in high school and got the guy fired.

Anyway...I like everyone I work with and we don't have any weird people (well, unless I'm the weird one..).  Yet, that's likely because I work at a small firm and the last person who didn't fit in decided to quit right after I started (we are still trying to recover from his screw-ups :/ ).

[User192021]

If I was the woman you were talking about...I'd sue both that creep and the boss for sexual harrasment and leave the company.

Junk like that should not be tolerated....I had that happen to me when I worked at Target in high school and got the guy fired.

Anyway...I like everyone I work with and we don't have any weird people (well, unless I'm the weird one..).  Yet, that's likely because I work at a small firm and the last person who didn't fit in decided to quit right after I started (we are still trying to recover from his screw-ups :/ ).

That's good that you get along with all of your co-workers.  I get along with a handful of them, but most of my co-workers annoy the shit out of me.  :roll: