Good morning everyone and welcome back to the Breakroom! If you are like me then this has hopefully been a pretty decent week thus far. Nothing too eventful or stressful, plenty of rain to help nourish the grass, and perhaps had some close encounters with friends in a rousing game of Dungeons and Dragons. This is why our topic for today is so interesting for such a mellow week; we will be discussing the topic of grief counseling! Why did that come up when we talk about happenings at the office? Well, I am glad you asked because you wouldn’t believe what Michael has been up to!
On the date in question, things started off with the norm. With Jim no longer here to entertain us with his “hilarious” pranks towards Dwight, Michael has taken it upon himself to entertain us with his jokes. He built a small wall of boxes of paper to do the ol’ “walking down the stairs” gag and commenced to head on down to the “warehouse” to bring back various items. Dwight seemed to be the only one who really found it entertaining, but I suspect that after his attempted coup last week he is going all out to show his support. But then it was Pam who ultimately turned this gag around on Michael by requesting a fresh cup of coffee from the warehouse. And Michael truly did crawl on his stomach to get a cup of coffee from the kitchen to maintain this joke. It was when Pam kindly requested milk and sugar to go along with it, that I believe Michael decided his jokes need less workout.
I thought this was going to be the highlight of the day, but I was not prepared for what happened next. Evidently, Jan had given Michael a call to let him know that his former boss, Ed Truck, had just died and she wanted him to know. He came out and let us all know and that really should’ve been the end of it. Then Kelly came running up to give him a hug and extend her condolences towards the loss. I could just see the realization dawn on his face because he loves it when people pay attention to him and make a deal about what is going on with him. It was then that he started to go around and talk about the loss, hoping to get more hugs and condolences. This might have been his payback to Pam because naturally, he zeroed in on her first. That really should have been the sign that today was not going to be as straightforward.
Just to put everything in perspective, Jim did give me the lowdown of what they did at Stamford for the day. The biggest event was that Jim was assigned Karen’s project supervisor for the day. It seems she was tasked to complete a pricing list for a client and Josh decided to scold her in front of the rest of the department and then assigned Jim to her. Now I certainly do not want to point fingers, but this move did sound a bit sexist in my opinion. She simply hadn’t had the chance to complete this task so a man needs to be brought in to watch that she gets it done? I don’t think so; she wasn’t able to get it done yet but she will work on that next, it truly is as simple as that. I know Josh seems like this amazing manager but he does sound like the micromanaging type and likes to exert his his authority. Don’t be like this, a leader should be able to inspire their staff, not see them as their automatons there to do as they are told. Thankfully, it sounds like Jim also thought the request was a bit odd and in no way was out to make Karen feel worse than she already did. Actually, they ended up spending most of the day tracking down her favorite chip, Herr’s Salt and Vinegar. I guess they did get the pricing list completed eventually, but not before spending hours looking for this chip all over the city and even into Canada. Jim and Karen sound like they are really getting along these days, which is good since he had left behind his close friends behind when he moved.
Now keeping in mind that this was the biggest issue Stamford had to face, lets regroup with Scranton’s day. Always one ready to throw a wrench into anyone’s day, Creed decided to come talk to Michael about the loss of Ed Truck. Turns out, Creed is far more knowledgeable over the exact details over his cause of death than anyone else. We went towards naturally causes but in reality he was “drunk as a skunk” and drove his car under an eighteen wheeler resulting in him being decapitated. Creed seemed to think that humans can survive for several hours after losing their head, but that is not true. He was thinking of a chicken so please pass along that little tidbit. This was certainly the moment that Michael began to spiral, as these sorts of things often do with people. These moments tend to remind people that not everyone gets to die of old age and it can often be quite sudden with no rhyme or reason. We really start to see Michael latch on to this entire incident, even though he actually was not truly a big fan of Ed when he worked for him. But he now wants to try to honor him with ideas like a company holiday or even a statue of Ed. The statue ultimately became a robot at three-quarters his size with a six foot extension cord. Should a robot ever become sentient, we would want the ability to overpower them. But Michael starts going around the office trying to to get everyone as riled up as he is, including trying to implement the five stages of grief.
Many of us are familiar with the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. These have held true for many years, but there have been changes and there is actually a seven stage model often used now. These seven stages are: shock and denial, pain and guilt, anger and bargaining, depression, the upward turn, reconstruction and working through, and finally acceptance and hope. These changes are more meant to reflect that while we might all process grief and loss very similarly, there are certainly times where they might vary. Additionally, each individual is different and we might approach a loss differently than someone else so these stages are designed to help walk us through the loss. The goal of these models is also meant to help explain what we are feeling in order to better process our emotions and to ultimately deal with the loss than burying those emotions down. Some companies do offer benefits for employees which can include grief support so it is highly recommend you review what your company can offer. Otherwise, you should find someone to speak to and work with these feelings. Besides such counseling services you might go to your personal therapist, friends or family, or even a spiritual leader. Loss and grief can last with us for many years and no one should feel ashamed for needing outside help in learning to deal with these emotions. For a better breakdown of the seven stages of grief, I highly recommend reading the article with Healthline that I did in how they break down these stages1. While I do believe it is important for us to be reminded that we do need to process grief, in no way should you try to force your own emotions onto another. We process loss differently, and sometimes one person might simply be more emotionally invested than someone else. Michael should’ve actually had a professional come in to speak to everyone, but he the type of leader who believes that he truly can meet any need his staff might require. While there are some leaders who do have the skills to accommodate many roles, they would typically go through specialized training and certification to be able to do so. If you are not qualified to do so, you might want to leave formal grief counseling to an expert.
Michael’s big idea, is to actually take turns discussing instance of personal loss. The game works by tossing a ball between one another and when you have the ball, it is your turn to share your story and you felt during that instance. I have certainly seen this done before, but it is usually for instances like brainstorming sessions. Now, this entire process resulted in some pretty odd stories. First of all, it seems that Dwight originally had a twin he was to be born with. The other twin was actually resorbed by him in the whom, so he now has the strength of a grown man and a small baby. Pam then shared this tragic story about her aunt, who was a talent female boxer. She ended up being injured in a fight and was paralyzed from it, and ultimately she asked her manager to remove her breathing tube so she could die. It was then Ryan who talked about the time he and his family were on safari in Africa when his cousin, Mufasa, was trampled by a herd of wildebeest. He didn’t go into too much detail because he said it would take about an hour and a half to do it justice. Finally, Kevin talked about the time they were hosting a party over the weekend when his uncle Bernie died, and he was forced to pretend like he was still alive. It was about here that Michael realized people were simply using movie plots as their stories. This is also when we start to piece out that the reason he is so upset is because he is seeing himself as Ed Truck. That one day he will die and that no one will miss him or mourn his death. Toby does try to step in to calm him down, and he tries to rationalize how death is a part of life because he had just seen a bird that morning which ran into a window and died. In an effort to make a difference, Michael speeds out to find and attempt to help him.
In the end, Michael is unable to save the bird but does decide he is going to host a funeral for that bird at 4pm. It is quite moving with he explains that this bird died alone and it is important to take the time to honor him. Most of us were sort of on the fence about it but Pam had come around to a lot of us to encourage that we come out and take some time for it. The service was quite sweet because Pam took some time to talk about the bird, although it was apparent she was trying to remind Michael that he is not alone in this world. The service was formally closed out with Dwight’s recording playing, a bit of singing from Pam, and sending the bird out in flames.
I know we like to think of Michael as one who is quick to get emotional or overreact but he did tap into something that many of us think about at one time or another. It is human nature to fear that one day we will die and no one will remember us. We all want to leave our mark in this world and I feel many of us are always trying to find a means to ensure that we are remembered. This might be starting a company, having children, authoring a paper or book, anything which ensures that if we were to die then our name might live on just a little bit longer. It is humbling to think about the fact that one day we will die and eventually no one will remember us or know our name.
Certainly a bit of a downer to leave on but that was what all happened at the office! We began with a stair gag and ended with a funeral for a bird; like Pam pointed out, you never really know what the day will bring here at the office. For those of you who have had suffered grief and loss, do you have any words of wisdom for those dealing with that? Advise on what can actually be done to help process those emotions and ultimately reach a state of acceptance? Here is to having a slightly more positive topic next week but life isn’t always about jokes or silly antics. There are times we do have to deal with the cold reality that we cannot always control everything. One thing we can control, is taking the time to talk to one another around the Breakroom and take a small reprieve from the everyday. Until next time, watch out for me around the Breakroom.
- Holland, K. (2023, May 17). The Stages of Grief and What to Expect. Healthline. Retrieved May 2, 2024, from https://www.healthline.com/health/stages-of-grief ↩︎
