Don’t take that title the wrong way. I love what I do and where I do it. The Anywhere Lifestyle wins hands-down over the cubicle lifestyle 99 out of 100 times in my book.
But sometimes there are minor things I miss about my days working in an office environment…sort of. This is my tribute to those days and those people.
1 – Talking about football on Monday mornings
Wherever I’ve worked, most of the people there have been Vikings fans. Monday morning conversations have either helped soothe the wound of a wicked loss or sweeten the taste of a hard-fought victory for the purple. Now that I’m on my own, I’ve suppressed my emotions after the 31-28 loss to the Saints in the NFC championship game this past season. You know I’m headed for a complete breakdown at some point.
2 – Having people to laugh at YouTube videos with me
I can do a perfect imitation of the look on my wife’s face when I tell her to come and watch something funny on YouTube. She knows two things: 1) It’s going to be stupid, and 2) I’m going to laugh way harder than she is. This was not the case with my co-workers back in the office days. It was all funny, all the time.
3 – The intercom system
My years spent working for Vencio in St. Paul had all of the main staff working in one big front office area. We each had a cubicle but could talk to each other without leaving our desks. Yet, when we got a new phone system and it included intercom functionality, you just had to use it even if you were mere feet away from each other. Intercom systems are awesome.
4 – Inside jokes
Uhhhhh, intercom systems are awesome. Yeah. Fart machine.
5 – The camaraderie of sharing experiences that don’t make sense
Things happen that you’d never believe unless you had co-workers there to experience them with you. Once, a gentleman walked in and asked if we made websites, which we did. He then proceeded to tell us what he needed. Sounded good. Then he told us it was for a particular “adult” website. Sorry, sir, out of luck here.
Seriously, why would you go to a web development company in person to ask about something like that??? Phone and email are just fine, buddy.
6 – Games
This actually gave me the idea for this post. My wife and I watched the Season 3 episode of The Office when Jim was working at the Stamford branch. He and his co-workers would spend time playing against each other in a first-person shoot-em-up computer game. I’ve done that a few times. We had a basketball hoop behind the building at one point too. It was fun when we all would realize at the same time how pathetic we were.
7 – Friday afternoons
There’s something enjoyable about getting ready to leave for the weekend that puts everyone in a good mood. I had a co-worker that always cranked up the same song every Friday at around 4 PM. We always knew it was coming. We pretended to be annoyed, but it was a celebration of about-to-get-out-of-here-ness. We usually accompanied it with a good bit of fart machine as well.
8 – Co-workers that make you go huh
At every company I’ve ever worked for, there’s always been at least one employee that makes everyone else just go “huh.” Just think about your time in an office. There’s always someone who is just a little on the whacky side and you feel kind of lucky to have experienced their views on life and nicotine-addicted deer.
Is there anything you miss about your days in the cubicle? Or do you get all of the above situations at home already?
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There are some good ones on there! 1 & 7 are a def! As I build up my business, I am still working the FT job and there are some fun things that make it enjoyable, but my favorite time of the day is the end. Being up till 12 am working on stuff after working all day isn't fun, but the thought of freedom keeps me going!
As far as associates that make you go Huh? Funny story. I used to work with a guy who use to swallow violently and often, then would follow it up with an “um”
“Ok, so Todd (swallow) um really wants (swallow) um us to check out the (swallow) um….” and so on. At first I thought it was a condition, so I never said anything, but it turns out it was just something that he has always done to “stand out”. He actually said he thought it made him sound intelligent!
I may have gone to high school with your um swallow co-worker. lol!
Keep on keeping on with building your own biz, Phil. That thought of freedom definitely keeps a person going strong.
You made me shyly grin at the fact that I might have been #8! I worked 3 office jobs in my life, and each time I was the youngest guy in the office. I was especially young at AMNH, where I started at working at age 22 with a team of coworkers ranging from 35 to 50+
It was a great office but I was definitely the oddball. A lot of their references were lost on me, and my design ideas where often considered crazy. When they found out I was born in the 80's, they really let me have it. haha.
Ha ha! I've totally been the young oddball before.
Oh my! This post brings back all sorts to memories from the ol' office job! I can't see anything on this list I can't relate to! Working part time from home and part time in a more active job and I didn't think I'd ever miss ANYTHING from the ol' office gig! Thanks for the memories!
Dave I am with you. I really enjoy the anywhere lifestyle but do miss that real life interaction some times. I miss it so much that I am working on opening a coworking space in my area. http://www.cloudcowork.com. I plan to still work from home and other places quite often, but attend the coworking space a few times a week. It's too bad there isn't something like that up in your area.
http://wiki.coworking.info/
Perhaps you could start a more of a casual coworking times like every Weds at Bixby's or something.
Another thing to look into our Jelly talks. I am just learning about these, but the seem pretty interesting as well.
http://wiki.workatjelly.com/
That's awesome, Joel! I hope everything goes well with the process of getting things going. I'd love a place like that up here, but I also love your idea about the scheduled coworking days. And the Jelly talks thing is new to me and looks like another really cool idea. Will have to start asking around to see if folks would be interested. Great ideas!