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focus
By heather | April 3, 2008
As I’ve written about before, my all time favorite movie is Office Space. Mainly because my day truly is like the office depicted in the movie, I swear.
It seems no matter how often I switch jobs, it never changes. Which means that millions of people experience this every day. How did this movie not make more money than Star Wars? Maybe some people just aren’t getting the irony, or it’s too painful to laugh at.
Am I the only person who finds it near impossible to get work done in an office environment? Or is everyone else better at tuning it out?
As an example, today I was pulled from my work reverie by:
- the dude in the cube next to me tap dancing to tunes on his iPod. This is normally better in the morning because he listens to podcasts. In the afternoon he sits over there and taps his feet and drums his fingers on the desk to tunes that NO ONE ELSE CAN HEAR. Augghh! I can’t think! It’s like he’s drumming on my brain! Few things are as distracting and annoying to me as tapping, making me want to throw my shoe over the cube wall at you.
- personal cell phones ringing with everything from “Back in Black” to “Dancing in September” (oh oh o-oh ah oowah), followed by intensely personal conversation that must be conducted without lifting your ass out of your chair and taking it outside
- the helpdesk guy who is trying to fix my old computer by re-installing something for the eighth time asking, “Heather - you over there? Can you come over here and log in?”
- the guy with a cold who is snorting - literally snorting - in the worst possible way. The really gross way that is usually followed by the grossest of all mouth sounds - the hock. As in chhhhhaaaaawwwwwkkk…
- the girl who answers the phone exactly like Nina from Office Space - “Corporate accounts payable, Nina speaking…Just a moment…”
- the general antsy-ness to go get a SNACK, check my feed reader, pee, whatever
I can knock out something in less than an hour at home that takes 3 or 4 hours at my desk.
What is it about my grey cube walls closing in on me that make it impossible to focus?
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Oh, I am right there with you. I used to go nuts over that kind of stuff. And the hocking snort? That is like my biggest all time pet peeve EVER!!!
rima’s last blog post..Paging Doctor Shakespeare
April 3rd, 2008 at 7:16 pm
I thought I forgot what working in an office environment was like, but you brought it ALL back to me! It is the same everywhere, especially the snorter!
April 4th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Hell yea! Yesterday I was trying to get a response written to some folks in DC and the goons I work with felt the need to carry on their war-story conversations around my desk. I think they got the point when they caught me giving them the look of death.
Anne’s last blog post..?Maters
April 9th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Oh you KNOW I can relate to this!!!!
Miss’s last blog post..SPF - Triangle