Tuesday, April 08, 2008
When Office Life Is Not Mundane
It's sad, but there's such a fear of people flying off the handle and losing it that places don't take chances anymore. Get aggressive on an airplane? Expect to be gang-tackled and tied up with duct tape. Are you a third-grader with a plan to kidnap your teacher? Be ready to be expelled. And so on.
So today, while busily at work in our happy little American business office, a little drama broke out. It, naturally, involved administrative staff, since they are always looking for the drama.
Apparently, one of the admin assistants was not pleased with her job here anymore. She always seemed nice to me and was friendly in our limited interactions. But I guess she was fed up with the way her boss was treating her, because this afternoon she decided to quit and simply said, "You know what, I quit," and began throwing things from her desk into a box.
Of course, her boss had to poke harder: "You're not allowed to take company property." (I figured she was probably taking a stapler or something but was later told she had some kind of company-sensitive material in a folder that she tossed into her box.)
This, of course, led to the quitter telling her boss, "Get the fuck out of my face!"
Whoops.
Never a good idea to respond with vulgar language and aggression. The next step our intreped boss of the secretaries took was to call HR and confirm she could handle this immediately. She did this from an open office near where I sit. Maybe so anyone within earshot could hear... or maybe she just wasn't bright enough to close the door. I don't know.
Next thing I know, though, is we're hearing the squawk of police radios and security and a real, live po-po officer are escorting Miss Poopy Mouth out of the office. One of the scrawny guys in the office actually was hanging around the area, reportedly "in case there was a physical confrontation." Never mind that this guy looks like the admin would beat him up.
So a bit of drama in an otherwise typical office day. Always interesting when people are put into situations they aren't used to.
Back to filling out our TPS reports now.
So today, while busily at work in our happy little American business office, a little drama broke out. It, naturally, involved administrative staff, since they are always looking for the drama.
Apparently, one of the admin assistants was not pleased with her job here anymore. She always seemed nice to me and was friendly in our limited interactions. But I guess she was fed up with the way her boss was treating her, because this afternoon she decided to quit and simply said, "You know what, I quit," and began throwing things from her desk into a box.
Of course, her boss had to poke harder: "You're not allowed to take company property." (I figured she was probably taking a stapler or something but was later told she had some kind of company-sensitive material in a folder that she tossed into her box.)
This, of course, led to the quitter telling her boss, "Get the fuck out of my face!"
Whoops.
Never a good idea to respond with vulgar language and aggression. The next step our intreped boss of the secretaries took was to call HR and confirm she could handle this immediately. She did this from an open office near where I sit. Maybe so anyone within earshot could hear... or maybe she just wasn't bright enough to close the door. I don't know.
Next thing I know, though, is we're hearing the squawk of police radios and security and a real, live po-po officer are escorting Miss Poopy Mouth out of the office. One of the scrawny guys in the office actually was hanging around the area, reportedly "in case there was a physical confrontation." Never mind that this guy looks like the admin would beat him up.
So a bit of drama in an otherwise typical office day. Always interesting when people are put into situations they aren't used to.
Back to filling out our TPS reports now.
Labels: cube life, office drama, police
