How I bring joy to the office – Part 1

Volunteering in an office environment, sometimes things can get a bit dull so I like to look back on the office environment through the lens of the British TV series.

*names have been adapted to The Office series characters to protect identities*

Episode 1: The mysterious rocks

[opening scene]

Fade in:

A warm office environment where the clack of keyboards, the tink of coffee being stirred aimlessly and the onerous hum of the overhead air conditioning system permeate the stagnant air. Numerous individuals work away at procedures and documents (all very important) but sometimes lacking in joy.

Introducing character 1: Me (I like to think of myself as something of a Pam character but am faced with the reality that I am probably more of a Ryan character – the ‘temp’ who is kind of confused about a lot of things and a bit overeager).

Introducing character 2: Dwight (it is amazing how similar this guy is to the character, endearingly odd and blatantly loyal. He works on the graphic design stuff and drinks absurd amounts of water, definitely takes the 3L a day too seriously)

Introducing character 3: Stanley (a loveable gruff accountant who doesn’t have time for all the nonsense but always has some handy advice, lots of experiences and the BEST poker face)

Characters myself, Dwight and Stanley have desks in the corner of the office. It’s a bit dank and overcrowded but they have some good rapport going. In dominion over us all is our very own Michael Scott (minus the egotism). He is a loveable CEO who sometimes likes to turn up dressed as any number of things including ‘bad santa’. In dominion over him is our very own Jan who keeps our Michael in check and supervises us all.

I trudge up to my desk on a Wednesday morning, someone has moved things around, definitely stolen my HDMI cord and left in its place…

Myself: "a rock? Is someone missing a rock?"

Dwight: *pops up over our partition even though we can just lean back and talk*

"They have been turning up everywhere…but nobody knows who is doing it…"

Stanley: *sipping his coffee while scrolling through Facebook on his desktop* 

"Probably from outside."

I look down at the glitter embossed rock, sequins and the words “every step of the journey is filled with glitter”

Myself: "yeah…definitely from outside"

Dwight: "we must hold an inquisition! Its against rule 3, section..." (I tuned out at this point)

Stanley: (sips coffee pointedly and turns away)

Michael appears at our row dressed as an elf? I think it’s an elf.

Michael: "Morning, morning, morning folks (looks down at rock in my hands) why is there a rock inside?"

To be continued…..