Good morning everyone and welcome back to the Breakroom! I hope we have all been able to rest and enjoy this spooky week as yesterday was Halloween! For any of you in my area, we ended up with snow through most of the day and this certainly impact our trick-or-treaters. This was also the first Halloween in this new house and it does appear we are not in a prime spot for Halloween. That is fine, we are close to a pretty busy road so I think that it is perfect for big outdoor decorations, so I think we might try to go all out for Christmas.
Now I am taking today off from work, have to work on keeping my PTO down so I better get to the Breakdown because I need to get down to do my early voting. Friendly reminder to everyone, go out and vote! With so many rights on the line, it is important that we get out and vote to protect the safety and well-being of ourselves and everyone around us. And it only just dawned on me that next Breakroom will mean we have a new president-elect, so let it be known that the Breakroom Breakdown supports Harris-Walz for 2024.
We started off with a pretty amazing update and it was all courtesy of our own Toby in Human Resources. We got a surprise memo from him reminding us about the company’s PDA rules, that is public displays of affection. As with most companies, we should be mindful of how we show our affection for those we are in a relationship. For the most part, you are in a place of business so it is important to keep your hands to yourself, although perhaps a quick kiss goodbye might be acceptable. This was odd this was brought up because normally these are sent out as reminders when an actual incident occurs. Naturally, everyone assumes it is about them (and we find out Michael and Jan have been doing things in his office) but it turns out it was because Toby caught Jim and Pam. Well this is obviously a huge surprise because they didn’t tell any of us, although now all their extra giddiness certainly makes sense. Pam calls Toby out as being sneaky as using this as a means to congratulate them. I don’t think she has any idea that Toby has actually had a thing for her so I don’t think his actions were so innocent. Overall, everyone seems to have mixed reviews about this match. Phyllis is elated, although she was pretty quick to remind Pam that new customers calling in get sorted randomly to a sales person and not “to whomever she is sleeping with that week.” Angela said she shouldn’t be surprised since the two of them like to use the office as a dating service. Andy was excited but mainly because he sees himself as the most eligible bachelor in the office. And oddly enough, Dwight was surprised with the match because he felt that both of them could do better.
If you thought that was exciting, you’ll be thrilled to know that the other big news of the day was that this was Ryan’s first officially visit back to the branch after getting his promotion to New York. Michael didn’t think this would be any different but it is very clear that Ryan is going to flex his position and remind everyone that he is in charge. He scolds Michael in front of all of us just to make that perfectly clear. And it was in his staff meeting that it becomes apparent that he intends to bring a new era to Dunder Mifflin as a whole. He is trying to bring a sense of youth to the paper industry and is doing so with several changes. His primary focus will be “Dunder Mifflin Infinity” which is an updated site for the company that will allow people to buy paper via the website, rather than through salesman as the practice has always been. Next, he is issuing Blackberry phones to necessary personnel so they can stay on top of the new work because he believes we need to be ready at a moment’s notice. Just my opinion, but I believe Ryan doesn’t actually like his job. I think he wants something flashier than working at Dunder Mifflin, so he is trying to bring a bunch of changes to make it sound like the company is more impressive than it is. Although, I am not necessarily opposed to his changes, just his reasoning behind them. But the last straw for several of them, is his focus on youth. When a nice percentage of the office is employees over 40, you start to see comments like this as an attack.
After Ryan’s presentation I overheard people talking and it became apparent that people took these comments negatively. Phyllis felt threatened, Stanley didn’t seem to care, Creed was very much on the defensive about his job. I even heard Michael and Jan talking about it and Jan (who is still sore at Ryan for taking her job) was relishing the idea that he might get hit by ageism lawsuit. Evidently Michael took these feelings to heart, because he arranged for his own little impromptu meeting dedicated to the topic of ageism.
He reminds us about the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 19671. What this Act does is prohibit discrimination in the workplace for individuals 40 years of age or older for which is the age limit for age discrimination. Simply put, you cannot harass, terminate, or discriminate against someone specifically because they are 40 years old or older. Even today, we hear stories about how people of a certain age cannot find proper employment especially after perhaps they were laid off or are transitioning careers. Should you or someone you know be discriminated against do to your age, then I urge you to follow through with reporting this because I do not tolerate discrimination of any kind and when those in power get away with it, it only encourages them to continue to do so.
Michael did more than just talk about the law or show pictures, he had invited a guest to speak to us. None other than Robert Dunder, one of the founders of our company, showed up to speak to us and show that even in his 80s he is still sends a proxy to board meetings. Michael is certainly trying to encourage us how important it is to not disregard people because of their age. For once, Michael is actually on the right side of a practice and actually seems to be going about talking about it. Unfortunately, after only 5 seconds he decides he cannot put up with Mr. Dunder’s stories and sends him out the door so Michael hasn’t really changed that much. But his intent was still a plus.
And that was where we left the day, not much really resolved but we are certainly seeing a lively debate over how companies should grow as well as see the difference between adapt and changing for the sake of change. I feel this is by no means over so I expect a continuation of this topic next week! Until that time, I hope that you have a great weekend and that you make it a point to get and vote. Even better, vote and then remind at least one person to also go ahead and vote. Until next week, I’ll see you around the Breakroom!
- (n.d.). Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Retrieved November 1, 2024, from https://www.eeoc.gov/statutes/age-discrimination-employment-act-1967 ↩︎
