Good morning everyone and welcome back to the Breakroom! How we are all doing today? Did you survive the week? Let us talk about that struggle of life that many of us face. Sometimes life really just gets to be really hard to deal with, even when nothing is really wrong. I have a new house, we just got the new furniture set up today, and still I am struggling a bit. I started school again this week, hoping a new degree will expand upon my personal credentials and make me a more desirable hire and already I am facing new stress and angst over it, because I thought I was finally through that part of my life and I just want to drop it. Work was also a pretty exhausting one, seems every period people forget they have responsibilities if they would like to be paid, and I really just wanted to post something about being out sick or something. But I’m here, trying to push through my feelings and exhaustion so those 2 or 3 readers I have will have a new post. Life can really be a lot sometimes and I just wanted to share how it has been impacting me lately and hopefully this helps someone out there feeling like they are on the only one.
Lets try to focus on something a bit more fun and I can tell you what happened at the office this week!
The day really kicked off when our own Phyllis Vance was flashed in the parking lot! Evidently, a man was out there with a map asking for directions, and when she came over to help he had “it” out on the map. Jim reached out to the police department and evidently this wasn’t the first call this morning, so we have a serial flasher out there. Dwight is almost giddy because he gets to have a new task force to oversee and begins to implement new rules such as women cannot wear makeup, or they need Dwight’s permission to speak to strangers. Naturally, everyone is pretty upset that he is trying to treat them like second class citizens, forcing Michael to intervene. His own conference meeting results in him being very misogynistic, talking about how difficult it must be for them because they are not skinny like the women in the magazines. Plus he often asks them if they are on their period when they are upset to know if it is “real.” I feel like I do not have to say this, but no you should not be asking your direct reports or colleagues if they are on their period. With the office being “too masculine” Michael decides to take them someplace they can feel comfortable, the Steamtown Mall. Not going to lie, I was a bit jealous because I could have done with a few hours away from working shopping.
Although I wasn’t there, I did hear about it from Pam on how it went. Turns out, Michael had a pretty cathartic time because he used this trip to talk about problems he has been having with Jan. She does things like video tape them having sex and then critiques him after, or they roleplay and he wears the school girl skirt. For the record, if he was comfortable wearing it then who cares, whatever two consenting adults want to do, nothing wrong here. In the end he comes to realize that he is simply not happy when he is with her, and he decides to break up with her with their support. By break up with her, he leaves a voice message on his phone. For the record, this is a cowardly way to break up with something, although perhaps not as bad a a text message. The really awkward part was she showed up to the office and listened to the message while in his office. A delayed message is not the worst part of why this is a poor means to break up with someone, but it certainly doesn’t help.
So what did the rest of us do while Michael took the women to the mall? It was Kevin who said he wanted to know what the women’s bathroom was like; I knew that if it was anything like the men’s bathroom, it wasn’t anything special. Turns out, they have cultivated a nice little area so perhaps we could learn from them to embellish our own room. They have scented candles, various magazines, and even one of those Zen waterfalls. While we were chatting, I found out Jim and Karen have actually been dating for six months now. I don’t know about you but their relationship has never really screamed “sparks” to me, not sure if they will last too much longer. Our bathroom trip ended when Creed came in because evidently his one weird thing is to go Number 2 in the women’s bathroom. I’m thinking it’s because the men’s room typically is pretty nasty in many offices because, let’s be honest, men can be gross.
In addition to these adventures, I will mention that the only ones who were off on their own were Andy, formally known as Drew formally known as Andy, and Dwight. They were tenaciously trying to track down the flasher to bring them to justice. Their big plan was posting pictures around the neighborhood that Pam had sketched based off a description from Phyllis. Interestingly enough, I would’ve sworn the picture was of Dwight, just without his glasses and with a tiny mustache. If I had to guess, I’m pretty sure Pam decided to do one of her classic Pam Pranks on Dwight. She could certainly teach Jim a thing or two because her jokes are often a bit more subtle.
And that, everyone, was the office breakdown! I will apologize as I know this breakdown wasn’t as long as usual. As I mention earlier, it really is one of those weeks for me and I’m really feeling it. I often ask for comments but instead I want to give you all a task, in the spirit of this breakdown and “appreciating” people, I want you to go out and tell them that you appreciate them. It doesn’t have to be a woman and it could be a family member, friend, colleague, or even the person at checkout at the grocery store. Sometimes being told that you’re appreciate makes all the difference in the world, so let us try to spread that feeling. I’m thankful to all of you who read this because it does help me feel like these posts are contributing to the world somehow and that I am accomplishing something.
Until next week, I’ll see you around the Breakroom!
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