Thursday, April 24, 2008

Monkeys have personalities too...


Earlier today a foreign cube monkey interrupted my normal cube trance with an energetic entrance into cube row that would have only been appropriate at a college football bowl game. He had marched over after hearing a new employee poorly handle an interview and decided it was his responsibility to preach about how to increase your business to the poor sap in the cube diagonal to mine. As I listened to him combine his ego with absurd logic and theory, I realized he was the epitome of one of the worst personalities the office has to offer. Below is a list of several other cube monkey personalities you will certainly encounter within cube jungle.


The Tipster—The guy in your office that loves to give advice to people. Ironically he is often terrible at his job, and his ego is totally unjustified by his performance. The tipster usually preys on the new people…cornering them in their cubicle and making them listen to his drawn out spiel on how to do the job better. You listen out of pure sympathy and later remark to the newbie “forget everything he just said, and you’ll be fine.” The tipster rarely performs himself (yes, its always a he) but loves to flaunt his shit when he does and tell you step-by-step how he did it, and why it makes him superior.

Newbie—He wants to do well so badly but he's fucking clueless. You see him trying to perform his job and you just feel bad, for their good intentions and aspirations have not been crushed yet. Don’t worry, he is on the way to total dejection, but in the meantime you cringe as they get bombarded by corporate propaganda and houndings from “the tipster.”

Mr. GQ—The overly dressed male who “dresses for success” … or perhaps to look ridiculous. His top 3 buttons are undone to expose his shaven man-cleavage, has an unnecessary swagger to his walk, and can often be seen wearing sunglasses inside. Did he think he was going to work or a Hollister Fashion Show?? His socks cost more than your dress shirt and you wonder how the fuck he affords to live in this fashion. Typically this guy is a total jackass as well--trying desperately to dip his pen in the company ink, but you take solace in the fact that he has probably never been successful.

The Socialite—Never actually works, just chit-chats. You don't want to work, but you sure as shit don't care what she (this one is usually a she) has to say. She tries to force you to listen, and although ten minutes ago you were playing with staples and moving them into simple designs, when s/he comes around you suddenly have to make an important call.

The Lazy Ass Boss—The boss that you have never, not once, seen do a fucking thing. You have no idea how this person climbed the corporate ladder or what the fuck they do to deserve a check double the size of yours. They “supervise” which means hounding you to be more productive with threats that just make you bitter.

The MBA Boss—this is the one that loves using bullshit motivational terms such as “area of opportunity” which is code for “the part of your job you suck at.” They love abbreviations and are way to hands-on with your work. Makes you yearn for the lazy boss.

The Kiss-Ass—We all know this one… the bosses little pet. S/he always gives big smiles and hellos when the boss walks by. The most annoying thing is this is often the laziest mother fucker in the whole office, but they have a disgusting ability to invent enthusiasm and motivation in a meeting. “How can we improve from last week’s performance?” your boss asks…. “by working harder! Making more Dials!” says the Kiss-ass. Fuck you asshole, thanks for participating in our bosses bullshit mindgame, shut the fuck up and keep your mouth closed. Probably the most nauseating of all office personalities.

The Office Hottie— She is one of, if not the only, truly attractive female in the building. Well dressed and well-proportioned. In theory, she is there to assist you. In reality, you are her bitch. Fuck, you’d empty her trash can if she hinted it was too full. Doesn’t matter if you are in a committed relationship or not, this one has all men by the balls – because hey, you just never know.

"trust me i wish i didn't have to walk through this door"


Nobody wants to be here. I figured this out on my 2nd day of training, this is everyone's Plan B or more likely, and in my case...F. I find it pretty funny then that when my key card doesn't work for some reason(divine intervention) someone has a problem letting me in. When I came back form lunch I had to wait a little while for a proper subject to open the door for me. Finally a new guy who had definitely seen me before in the office opens the door as I am hanging up on my coworker who seems to have forgotten how to answer the phone when a fellow monkey needs assistance. The guy opens the door because, well he is leaving for lunch or to do lines of coke...neither would surprise me. I say thanks as I attempt to walk through the door and low and behold he asks me where my key card is? As if this is place needs top notch security since people seem to be banging down the doors trying to work here...if only they could take care of that somehow I'd feel much safer. Fortunately for my time card's sake I was able to finagle my way past him in a hurry with such advanced trickery as showing him my wallet and describing how the key card was broken...similar to his brain connectivity in the area of giving a f*ck.

What's that? You were printing?


End of the day. This is also the first post from a bathroom stall. I had a small juvenile idea that might just work. I was thinking that every time I go get water, coffee, or need to evacuate my intestines/bladder - I will just simply push my finger down on the printer's red STOP button. Simple really. it will terminate all jobs in queue (yeah, that is really how you spell that... queue).

Then, when I am on the way back, I will get a few laughs watching the buzzards circling the printer and saying "caw, caw, caw". Not bad but kinda dumb really... wow, I just had a disgustingly awful self reflection moment. Looks like I may have flushed my dignity completely down the drain.

Oh well, I'm outta here .............(flush)

dreams? I know i had them


Its National Bring you Kid to Work Day, how awesome. In addition to all the regular work related crap I must now deal with a bunch of snot faced kids running around me all day. It has its perks though, in fact I've already taught the bosses daughter a new word or two. Beyond disrupting my usual lazy day of avoiding work the kids have added an extra level of depression to this gig. I remember a time of ignorant bliss, when I thought I'd grow up and become a racecar driver or a zillionaire playboy. Childhood is full of such fantasy's: the Easter bunny, Santa, tooth fairy, Disney land. Dream big kids, life is what you make it...the hell it is. If life was what you made it then every single person I talk to on the phone needs to retake the lesson: Life Construction Building & Practices 101, and I'll be right behind them. It's gotta be a wake up call on these impressionable minds that "wow mommy and daddy sit at their desks all day with a headset and call losers...doesn't sound much like the hero I had in mind". I feel like going up to every one of these kids still somewhat enjoying their day and just destroy all the hope they still hold dear. "Hey, whats your name? What do you want to be when you grow up? Really...well listen I'm just gonna be honest with you...it'll never happen, in fact you should prolly give up on just about all your dreams and start figuring out how to lie and bs your way through a corporate workforce...being popular and learning how to control a group of others and how they perceive you is really all that matters...figure out how to pass others hard work off as your own". If I could just make one of these kids cry tears of joyful truth then I will feel like I have changed a life for the better...ironically that's part of my job description anyway. Your welcome world, the dose of reality monkey cages always lack.

"leave a fucking message"


I'll give credit where credit is due, a good fake answer voicemail is good for a laugh every once and a while but some voice-mails are absolutely infuriating. You get the usual "hello? hey whats up?...long pause...HA you got the voicemail" and yea that's funny the first 3 times but its really not. Really though, how clever is this? Of the unfortunate demographic that I am calling a surprisingly high percentage think this is how a voicemail should be...anything but a normal. Normal being a purposeful, this is the ___ residence, please leave a message. No need for some complete smart ass and hence lack of any intelligence message discouraging people to interact with your household. Ironically you never check your voicemail regardless how how many times that red light blinks because well...you clearly understand your position in life is not one of any great importance, and no phone call will change this. Yes, this is painfully evident you are beyond help, do the world a favor and take the following action: veer into oncoming traffic suddenly, take fewer breathes, kill your children, neuter yourself...it is simply unacceptable to for another generation of people to have to put up you or your offspring.

sweater vests and t-shirts


It's hard to describe what people wear to work on an average day here. I'm not generally one to talk, I actually consider my khakis and crocs business casual but others take it to a whole new level. This one mid 30's, single, fairly unattractive co-worker literally doesn't know how to dress herself, she owns only one type of clothes: hippie shit. It's as if she literally wakes up every morning and proceeds to dress herself for a big hike in the mountains then realizes she has to be at work in 10 mins...no time to change, this will just have to do. I bet it's happened more then once that because of this total absentmindedness her dog must sleep in the car all day while she is at work for the lack of time to drop him back off at the house on her way back from the trail head but oh yea!...gotta go to work. The worst offender though recently was a guy who wore a sweater vest and a plain white tshirt to work. Its as if his thought process was "OK...I just got this brand new sweater vest...definitely wearing that to work today. but what else? well I've already got this sweet tshirt on...slip the vest on over..how does this look? OH SHIT YEA! I am ready to start the day!" slaps on some more hair gel, does a tipsy toe twirl and spins out the door...

Who is this? "its Billy, at hang up on me college"

Good Morning to me! I just wanted to express my true appreciation for being a cube monkey. I just got off a 5 second phone call, again. The other person, you ask? A mental dwarf prospect who got on their dial up internet connection to complete a personality profile, and was somehow taken to another, and another, and another survey, to finally land on something asking if they are happy being poopy pants all day and if not, it's time to go to school. Well you get my drift. - So, they initiated this, not me -

I call, "hey, this is Billy with blah blah college"... "WHO IS THIS??", "hey, this is Billy with blah blah college"... "WHO DID YOU SAY THIS IS? "this is Billy, with hang up on me college" and that's exactly what it did, it hung up one me. I should say, "hey goon, get the mental midget on the phone and shut ur face." Did you make an oopsie or did my wheelchair run over the phone cord again? I guess I will have to call back approximately 566 times in the next two weeks to make sure that you are sure, just to be sure, ya know.

Go eff yourself sh*t head