Category: The Office

Good morning and welcome back to the Breakroom!

If you are like me, you might have taken today off of work to stay on top of those Black Friday sales, start decorating for Christmas, and simply enjoy a four day weekend. For those of you work, I’m hoping you can have a nice chill day because so many others may be off. If you have not seen it already, feel free to look at my previous post on some recommendations I have for items to look for on sale this weekend!

But I know you are really hoping to find out what happened with the launch party, so let me tell you all of the juicy details!

When we last met, I had gotten you to one hour till the launch party was due to start. Michael had a renewed vigor to elevate their party when he found out Ryan had chosen to not invite him to his fancy soiree in New York. Michael brought in Angela, head of the Party Planning Committee (PPC) and was prepared with an entire list of what he thought constitutes a fabulous party. Per Michael Scott:

Beer
Light Beer
Streamers
Orchids
Better lighting
Something made of ice
Pizza, including pizza with mushrooms, pizza without mushrooms, white pizza
Steak
Chocolates
Someone famous
Cool music
Confetti
Go-go dancers

Now, overall many of these items are pretty doable last minute. You can choose to order pizza, or simply run out to the store and pick up some pizzas. If you are heading to the store, you can easily pick up steak as well. While you couldn’t cook a steak at the office, there are frozen meals which include steak so you could easily do that. Streamers and confetti are often at such grocery stores since they usually have a small party supply section. Chocolates can also be found in said store, or even you could just head to the vending machine. Beer and light beer would involve a store that sells alcohol but is also manageable, as long as your company allows you to have alcohol on the premise. Cool music, anyone with a smart phone can put together a playlist in minutes so that is an easy request as well. But now we start to get into complicated requests; I would be very surprised if you could find something made out of ice. Your best bet would be to get a bag of ice and try to put something together out of the cubes. Even more difficult is “someone famous” since not everyone knows someone famous who can be there within an hour. If you are lucky, you might have someone who knows a local news personality that perhaps could be convinced to show up. And that leaves us with go-go dancers; I would argue this is even more inappropriate than alcohol and could be difficult to arrange last moment. But if you are in a large enough city, you probably could make this happen. But the real question is should you make this happen? I would say no, this is one you can leave off the list of high priority items.

Angela is not happy with this situation, but I will say that I could probably make most of this happen to the best of my abilities. While I normally would try to do it myself, such a last minute change would require me to ask others for help. The difference would be I’d be much nicer than Angela; she was so rude, Phyllis finally stood up for herself and threw the notes with her tasks in her face and walked out. Finally! While we should try to deal with difficult people in a calm way, it is important to know when you need to disengage from the situation.

Michael does do his part to help with the updates and that is to order the pizza from Pizza by Alfredo, a local pizza company. He expects us to be thrilled but he could not be more wrong. He ordered from the wrong place! Pizza by Alfredo is actually a terrible place, as Kevin so eloquently puts it, it is like “eating a hot circle of garbage.” He should have ordered from Alfredo’s Pizza Cafe, which is the best pizza place in town. And we make sure he is aware of it. And things get worse when the pizza boy delivers because there is some confusion with a 50% off coupon Michael had. He thought it would apply to all 8 pizzas, but the company policy is that it only applies to purchases of two pizzas, despite the coupon not specifying this. In Michael’s defense, this is an error on the company’s side. Traditionally, if a coupon does not specify limitations on the coupon, it is their fault and the consumer should receive what the coupon is listed as providing. Since it said 50% off his purchase, he should have been eligible for this and the company would want to print new coupons with the limitations on pizzas. It is not great pizza so you shouldn’t normally order as much as he did, but it is the company’s responsibility to honor the coupon based on how it was written.

I hesitate to endorse this because Michael took this situation to a new level by kidnapping the pizza boy, not allowing him to leave until he gave him the discount he wanted. I give major props to this boy because he stuck to the company policy and refused to give in. But we should have pry done more to get him out of there because we essentially became accessories to kidnapping. Rather than stepping in, everyone decided to instead research the legal ramifications of how they could be involved with what was happening. Additionally, they decided to go ahead and order from Alfredo’s Pizza Cafe while the hostage situation resolved itself. Now it was obvious to most of us that Michael’s frustration was meant for everything that happened with Ryan, and this poor boy was caught in the middle of his anger.

Kidnapping victim on hand, the launch party officially started. Angela ended up pleased because although she wasn’t satisfied with her work, Andy rose to the challenge and provided a swan made out of ice. I don’t know where he found it, but he did get some pretty major brownie points in Angela’s book. It came around to our branch’s turn to say hello on the video chat, and Michael simply bragged how Dwight was able to outsell the website and then uttered an obscenity to everyone watching. Our feed was quickly cut off and went back to Ryan trying to play it all off as a joke.

Everything started to hit Michael in that he held the pizza boy hostage and may have overreacted with that interaction and he tried to diffuse the situation. He had Dwight pay him for the pizzas to get him out the door in hopes that the police wouldn’t be called. But he still wasn’t satisfied with how he ended things with Ryan. Needing a sense of accomplishment, he and Dwight hit the road and headed up to New York to crash the party. It sounds like the party had already ended but he did get to run into one of Ryan’s friends and they were tickled with how embarrassed he was following being called out.

I’d like to say that was the end of the evening, but we were in for one last surprise. Andy decided to get some friends on the phones in accounting and they serenaded Angela with a song in a big attempt to ask her out on a date. I don’t know why Andy is so interested in Angela but he really did try to make every attempt to convince her to go out with him. Even more surprising, she agreed to the date. Personally, I feel she was embarrassed about the situation and felt that it would be too unforgivable for her to turn him down after all of the effort. Do I think they will get serious? I couldn’t have predicted how this night ended so I’m afraid to try to assume to know what will happen so we will see.

And that was the grand finale to our launch party. Do I think it was a success? If you think it isn’t a party until a felony is committed, then yes it was a success. Could I have done better? I don’t want Angela coming for me so don’t tell her this, but yes I could have done a lot better. Please don’t say anything.

I hope this conclusion was satisfying for everyone else! For those that celebrated Thanksgiving, I hope you were able to enjoy it without incident. For many of us, this was our first time running into family members following the election so I’m sure it was very uncomfortable for many. Reminder that it is Black Friday so I hope you get out there and cash in on some amazing deals, are enjoying Thanksgiving leftovers, and are getting into the holiday spirit with decorating. If anyone has leads to solar powered outside lights and decorations, let me know because I’m excited to get my house and yard ready!

Until next week, I’ll be sure to see you around the Breakroom!

Good morning everyone, welcome back to the Breakroom! We have had a pretty exciting week around here: had a good snowfall earlier this week (already melted), planning for Thanksgiving celebrations next week, and one my colleagues got a great new job opportunity so we will absolutely miss them! Of course, such transitions are never easy in going through that transition to bringing in a new person and getting them all trained up, but we are up to the challenge!

Other than that, I am also really getting excited for the holidays, and that is including with Black Friday. I haven’t gotten anything from Amazon (although I did find my Woobles on sale) but I did my Olipop on sale (directly on their site here). I might have do my top deals from Black Friday this next week like I did last year. I focused on office supplies last year so I might lean more into great ideas for Secret Santa.

But enough about the holidays in the future, let us focus on the present and get today’s Breakdown!

We started off strong with taking part in the age-old practice of not paying attention during a meeting. So what happened was Pam claimed to have seen the DVD logo in the screensaver (the one which bounces around the screen) perfectly land in the corner. Now I have tried to see this happen many times in my life, all the way back to high school, so I had my reservations. So while Michael was rambling with his presentation (something about updating quarterly reports with pictures or puzzles) we all watched in awe waiting for the logo to line up perfectly. And like bee landing on a flower, we were rewarded with seeing the perfect landing. I truly did not think it was possible but I am here to say that if you put in a little bit of patience, you can be rewarded. And, simultaneously, take up an unnecessary meeting.

In other news, the major update is that Ryan’s brain child, Dunder Mifflin Infinity, is officially launching. Michael is excited because he was going to the big launch party in New York being held at a club with sushi, while the rest of us get to partake in our branch’s party which will get to be connected via video chat. I guess it is a big deal, but I’m not sure how Ryan was able to talk corporate into doing such big launch party for literally just allowing customers to buy paper online. I feel that money could have gone into marketing or other so of initiatives. But Ryan really wanted to emphasize that he believes the website will be the top salesman at the company by the end of the day, and Dwight was not ready to allow that to happen. He declared a challenge to the website and insisted that he would outsell the website, and retain his title as top salesman. He has been going through a lot lately since his girlfriend dumped him so I felt he needed this. Plus Ryan has been a bit of a pain since he got his promotion, so I like the idea that Dwight could hold this over him. Angela was serious doubts that Dwight could succeed, although Andy was fully behind him in his goal. They got a white board to tally the results and were even trying to come up with cool ways that Andy could signal each sale that Dwight makes. The ending decision was a bear horn, so you can expect things will get loud.

While that was going on, the Party Planning Committee was hard at working putting together the Scranton launch party. Angela has normally been tense but she is in rare form today, and it doesn’t help that Phyllis continues to make mistakes. The big one was when they went to unfurl the banner stating “Launch Party” it actually said “Lunch Party.” Phyllis has also noticed Angela’s attitude lately, and decided to try to Google “how to deal with difficult people” and see if this gives some tips to assist.

I also did this, and of course the Google AI sums up a lot of this at the top, so here is what Google was able to sum up:

Stay Calm: It is important to keep cool and not get too upset. Getting upset can often make the situation worse, especially if they are the type who is just waiting to say “I cannot deal with your hysterics.”

Show Respect: Even if they are not acting tastefully, you should show and treat them respect. This is difficult to do but if the situation escalates, at least it can land on their inability to act reasonable.

Set Boundaries: Make it clear what is acceptable in your interaction and stick to those boundaries. If you cave in, it simply means they feel they can continue to act difficult.

Don’t take it Personally: Some people are naturally unpleasant or they might have personal things going on that they are taking out on you. Don’t let it get to you and have you blaming yourself for their actions.

Listen: Try to see their side of the situation; while this doesn’t apply to every situation, sometimes they are simply taking their bad day out on you and they might not be dealing with their emotions as well as they should.

Offer Solutions: Try to come up with alternates to the situation that can benefit everyone involved with the situation.

Debrief: Regardless of the end result, it is best to speak to someone else so you can relay how the interaction went to see if they might have better insight. Additionally, if this happens to be a toxic person who might try to pin any problems on you, this way you have support.

Practice self-care: Take care of yourself; acknowledge when the situation is not good for you and not about you, and be able to recognize when you should disengage. If this is at work, be prepared to go to your leader or human resources if necessary because there is a correct means that your colleagues should talk to you and treat you.

While Angela is struggling to put together her launch party, which I felt she really was complaining too much because I could’ve whipped something up in a week and she has spent like three weeks, Michael was preparing for his party in New York. He tried on outfits for us (including one that I am positive was a woman’s blouse) and then he got a call from Jan who said she wasn’t willing to go to the party with him. I guess after being fried from the company, she doesn’t want to run into a bunch of smug people she used to work with. Newly available, Michael offers the tickets to Jim and Pam! And by offers, he means that they get to dual it out to see who gets to go with him, and this results in Jim escorting him to the big shindig. They left all excited, with Michael carrying a copy of Green Eggs and Ham to gift Ryan for his achievement and say we can all head out early! Evidently he felt that the party that Angela has been “planning” wasn’t worth any of us sticking around.

And less than an hour later, they have returned! So evidently the invitation Michael got was to access a chatroom which is the live stream to the party in New York. First excited, Michael is now livid that Ryan didn’t want to invite him to the party and has a newfound motivation to make our party better than the one in New York. So now, Angela has exactly one hour to make the office party rival that of the one being held in a hip club in New York City, catered with sushi and champagne.

And that, is where we leave you! You’ll have to stop in next week so we can see if we can rise to Michael’s challenge. Until then, stay tuned for extra updates this next week leading up to Thanksgiving! Will I do another Party Planning segment with a recipe? While I shine a light on Black Friday shopping? You’ll have to stop on by to find out.

Until then, I’ll see you around the Breakroom!

Good morning everyone and welcome, once again, back to the Breakroom! We have finally made it to the weekend, and I hope you are all prepared for Halloween since we are officially one week away from the big deal!

I don’t really dress up or go to any parties these days, but I do still love the holiday. I have plenty of spooky decor all around the house, I get into the themed movies and television shows, and am all for using Halloween flavors in my cooking. Stay tuned for a special post this next week on what I like to give out to trick-or-treaters. But you didn’t come back today for my party ideas, despite my great recommendations, you came to hear what happened with everything at the office following last week where Michael hit Meredith with his car.

We left learning that it was lucky Meredith had been hospitalized because she had been exposed to rabies and would have most likely died if she hadn’t come in. This motivates Michael to make sure that each and every person know that rabies has a cure and has been largely eradicated. As he phrases it, “a woman should not need to be hit by a car to learn she has rabies.” Now this is true but in reality, if you ever feel you could have been exposed to rabies you should seek medical attention right away. There is a treatment that can be done soon after to ensure you do not develop symptoms. As Dwight explained, once symptoms set in it is too late and it is considered fatal. Thankfully, rabies from dogs has been reduced significantly due to routine treatments, although bats are one of the more common carriers¹.

Michael decides rabies is in need of a big charity event to spread word that rabies has been cured; this is interesting as typically charities are done for diseases that need to be cured. Michael’s fundraiser is a big 5k run known as “Michael Scott’s Dunder Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Pro-Am Fun Run Race for the Cure.” If you would like to show off your support you can still pick up your own t-shirt which was given to those of us participating in the event. We don’t get a ton of money donated, despite Stanley’s best efforts he isn’t able to get sponsors. Phyllis does her best to support by putting together a rabies quilt (of only three squares) which I was very impressed with her attention to detail. I would love to to learn to make blankets or quilts because I routinely see very cool fabrics that would be perfect for such a project. And there are those who are not enthused with the run at all, namely Kevin who thinks it is unfair that he needs to be forced to run for a fake charity. I was really excited to get out of the office early and enjoy the weather, taking a nice run through town.

Michael wishes they had raised more money, as the $700 they raised was mostly from him and Jan, and the rest of the money aspects do not go according to plan. For starters, he was excited to present the money in the form of a giant check which is actually another expenditure ($200). I personally always wondered what you are supposed to do with the giant check, like do you sign the back? I’m assuming the giant check is just symbolic and it is accompanied by a real check, but that would be slightly depressing because I enjoy thinking about someone heading into a bank with one of those giant checks. On top of the check itself, Pam was not able to line up a “rabies doctor” to stop by and pick up the donation. Supposedly the amount of money is too small, although I would imagine most healthcare organizations would have someone who would be willing to come out to collect a check. Luckily, Jim recalled a company where you could hire a nurse for a short period, although that would cost more money. And yet it was Dwight whose idea was the most ridiculous in that he thought the money would be used for bat birth control. I think he still hasn’t forgotten the time the bat got into the office and was able to cause such trouble for him as he tried to catch it.

Finally we got to Michael’s launch of the fun run! He had a very moving speech, with an unfortunate picture of Meredith. He lets us know that as many as four American’s die a year from rabies. I looked into this claim and the interest has various mentions but the main consensus is that there are fewer than 10 deaths every year so his claim is still accurate. That being said, this number is for the United States but there are many third world countries where rabies is still rampant and thousands of people die every year globally. Michael has his giant check and was able to present it to a familiar face, Elizabeth who had been the stripper that was hired for Bob Vance’s bachelor party way back. I don’t think Michael has figured out she wasn’t really a nurse and was simply hired to come in costume, but it cheered Michael up. Of course, the original $700 we raised is now only $340 after the various purchases required to make this moment happen.

And with that, the 5k was officially underway and everyone was off! Having not done a marathon before, it was interesting seeing everyone prepare in their own ways. Toby has done marathons before, so he was busy stretching and getting warmed up which certainly sounded smart. Andy Bernard evidently gets chaffed nipples so he had to apply tape to his nipples to protect them. I suppose this sort of injury shouldn’t surprise me but it certainly does not sound pleasant. Michael’s big idea was to load up of fettuccine Alfredo right before the run but unfortunately he misunderstood what it means to carb load. Per Runner’s World, it actually means to start eating more carbs each day the week of run to have more carbohydrates in your reserves in general. Additionally, rather than eating a ton of food moments before the run they often advise using the different gels or chews throughout the race to replenish your stores². For those of you who decide to partake in a marathon one day, definitely research to ensure you are preparing for the event properly and safely.

Dwight and Angela disappeared at one point during the run, evidently they have been arguing because Dwight is responsible for killing her cat, Sprinkles! I guess he thought killing it would be the humane thing to do; just going to mention this, do not euthanize someone’s pet for them. Pam and Jim were also taking their sweet time with the marathon, they spent the entire time at the end of the race, so I didn’t event see them until the end. Again, they are all giggly like they have some sort of secret. Then we had Creed, Oscar, and Stanley take a cab to the finish line, after drinks, so they really were not going to commit to the run. In the end, Toby was the first one to the finish like and Michael was essentially last. Despite his best intentions of supporting those with rabies, by choosing to neglect drinking water he finished the race only to be brought to the hospital for severe dehydration. Always drink your water folks; especially when exercising but just in general you should be staying hydrated!

In the end, this event went about as one would expect a Fun Run hosted by Michael Scott to go. If nothing else, they did raise a bit of money and Meredith ultimately forgave Michael because he tried so hard to show he felt sorry for what happened.

And that, my friends, was the Breakdown of the office events this week! I’ll be sure to invite you to a Coffee Break this next week for some Halloween tips. Until then, has anyone here ever partaken in a marathon? Do you have tips for people who are thinking of joining their first one so they can properly prepare? Let us know in the comments!

Until next time, I’ll see you around the Breakroom!

1. (2024, June 5). Rabies. World Health Organization. Retrieved October 24, 2024, from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/rabies#:~:text=Rabies%20is%20a%20vaccine%2Dpreventable,%2C%20cats%2C%20livestock%20and%20wildlife. ↩︎
2. (2024, May 3). Your guide to carb loading on marathon week. Runner’s World. Retrieved October 24, 2024, from https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/nutrition/diet/a27178213/when-to-start-carb-loading-marathon/ ↩︎

Good morning, happy Friday, and welcome back to The Breakroom! I hope everyone has been able to survive this week as we are almost on to another weekend! I decided to take yesterday off, besides being a good mental health day it also gave me the chance to knock out a doctor’s appointment and eye exam. Our physical health is just as important as our mental health so do not miss out on those appointments. That being said, I truly do think that clinics need to provide healthcare providers in the afternoons. Like many of you, I work Monday through Friday so the only way I can get into appointments is taking time away from work. While I do enjoy having a good excuse to take time off, not everyone wants to do errands on their personal days. So that is a business idea out there to clinics and similar industries; have providers in the afternoons and evenings so people do not need to take time off from work to get in!

Alright, enough about my rants. While I think it is good to be able to get such things out of our system, especially when they have to do with bettering society, I think it is also good for us to talk about good things in our lives too. This allows us to focus on the positive, and not dwelling on the negative. We did another trip to Joann Fabrics, and I do need to give them a shoutout because they have the coolest Halloween supplies this year. They have a very witchy-vibe going on including selling random crystals, candles, and similar items. While the husband was getting more yarn for a new project, I checked out and decided we should splurge and got Woobles. Those are the crochet projects of crafting a small critter that are meant to be meant for beginners. That happens to be me so I grabbed one for ‘Bjorn the Narwhal’ and I’m really excited to start on it. The entire reason I want to learn how to crochet is to be able to make these types of things so I thought I’d give it a try! Additional updates, after trying for half a semester I’ve decided that although I had the best intentions in going back to school, Accounting is just not for me. I am great with reports, numbers, and research but I feel my talents really are better served in Human Resources. Recalibrating, I had originally considered getting my PHR certification (even so far as getting the study material) so that might be my best route. Even then, the Human Resources field is tragically difficult to move ahead in which was why I tried looking elsewhere. If anyone here has their PHR or is also in the field, I would love to get feedback as I’m sure my readers would as well. The job field is incredibly competitive at the moment and despite my years focusing on my education, I have entered that situation where they want me to have a more specific experience. Unfortunately, the jobs that offer that experience expect you to have that experience already. It is like trying to get a job at the mall at an apparel store; I have the skills needed so just give me a try!

I better pivot before I go on another tangent about recruitment; let us focus on what happened at the office this week! When you were last here, we were waiting to see what came from all of the interviews being conducted for the big job at corporate.

As it turns out, Michael did not get the job. Jim also didn’t get it because he withdrew himself from consideration. Turns out, Ryan the former temp was offered the job by David Wallace. That is right, the recent temp (who hasn’t made an actual sale) was promoted to the corporate job. Evidently David was impressed with his fancy MBA he had (evidently I should have gotten my degree a decade ago when it was still considered impressive). Since all this happened, Jan actually moved in with Michael following her being let go from Dunder Mifflin. She doesn’t really seem to do much; says she goes to yoga and all of these other hobbies but I haven’t actually heard anything about her looking for a job. I do not know her finances but as she is pretty smart, she probably does have some good savings and is able to take time to focus on her mental well health. Not all of us can be so lucky as to simply be unemployed for a period to focus on ourselves, so good for her. Michael, unfortunately, doesn’t seem all too enthused about the situation. I sense she is not great at home and doing a lot more wallowing than she lets on.

So besides Michael, you might be wondering what happened to Jim and Karen; they also interviewed for the job. I’m not sure what prompted this but Jim ended up coming straight back to Scranton after the interview and told Pam he wanted to have dinner with her on an official date. I do not know when he did but obviously he broke up with Karen, and presumably left her behind to find a way back. After all that, the two of them went out a few times but otherwise decided to remain friends. Not exactly the epic love story many of us thought they were going to be, plus they have been pretty insufferably happy lately always laughing at some inside joke. And getting into trouble because just today Pam downloaded a virus to her work computer after clicking some link that offered her a celebrity sex tape. Friendly reminder, do not click on such unknown links on your work computer, nor should you be trying to look up pornography on any sort of work device. Save this for your personal devices, because it is actually very lucky for Pam that she did not get in serious trouble for this.

Aside from the porn, the day was like any other with most of us working when suddenly Michael came in. I had noticed how late he was and he shocked us with the fact that he had to run Meredith over to the hospital after he witnessed her being hit by a car! Thankfully she is alive and the incident simply resulted in a fractured pelvis, but that leaves us wondering who was responsible for this and how we can catch them. It was then that Michael let us know he saw the whole thing because he was in the very vehicle which hit Meredith. I believe you are realizing where this is going and yes, Michael was the one was driving. But do not worry, he was not doing this maliciously because he was simply be negligent. Needless to say, we are all pretty sour towards Michael after this.

While Michael is reporting this all to corporate, Pam takes it upon herself to arrange times for us all to go to the hospital so we can check on Meredith and let her know we are thinking of her. I was really shocked when I overheard her guilt Angela into going, Pam really has attitude these days. She explains to Angela that it should be her job since she is the head of the Party Planning Committee; Angela has been taking care of her cat, Sprinkles, which is why she wasn’t going to go originally. I thought it should be okay for Angela to focus on her cat, as a dog dad I take care of my boys the exact same way. Or I don’t see why Angela couldn’t have gone after tending to her cat, this way she was already out and about. Well, after all of this organizing Michael steps in and decides everyone will just go down at the same time, effectively closing the office down for that period.

We got down there and Meredith was pretty visibly thrown off by having so many people present, so Michael really should have let us split up to not overwhelm her. But she is overall doing okay, so thank goodness she is okay!

For the record, if you are injured at work you should consider looking into Workers’ Compensation. You can speak to your leader or human resources (depending on how your organization) and you can certainly look up benefits eligible to you based on your state. For the state of Minnesota, for instance, this is available at: https://www.dli.mn.gov/business/workers-compensation/work-comp-benefits-general-information.

Just when we thought the day couldn’t get any worse, upon arriving back at the office Angela was told that her cat died while we were out at the hospital. This is Michael’s breaking point and he declares that all of the events of the day were due to a curse the office is under. We know it is a curse because these things happen in threes: Meredith being hit by a car, Pam’s computer getting a virus, and then Sprinkles. This prompts him to try to figure out what caused this such as perhaps one of us disturbed an “Indian Burial Ground.” With no answers here, he proceeds to ask us all about our religions in an attempt to see if our religious beliefs could help or be the cause of this. As Toby pointed out, you really should not be asking someone’s religion during work situations like this.

Do I believe in curses? I actually do in a sense, I feel that we can attract or be sent negative energy which can effects on us. And I am a big believer in karma, which could be seen as a personal curse, if you will. In this case, no I do not believe the office is under a curse. I believe all of today’s events can be explained by individuals making questionable decisions which lead to their own disastrous endings. Except Angela and poor Sprinkles and I hope she is able find some comfort because losing a pet really can be like losing a member of the family. Now, for your other question on how would someone break a curse if there was one? Technically Michael was on the right path is asking about religions because many different cultures have curses (or similar) and they each have different variations on removing them. These could include calling upon a priest, shaman, or other religious leader to intervene directly. It could also include the use of a charm/talisman, perhaps casting some sort of spell, or even as simple as a cleansing ritual such as smudging. For those interested in smudging, I will mention that I was a huge fan of this when I was younger but I did stop when I found research on it being considered cultural appropriation because it is considered a sacred act for many Indigenous people. Additionally, it even began to result the sage used in smudging to be threatened. There are still mixed reviews online about the use, but I believe if the sage can be purchased and you are educated by someone within the community, it should be okay. Otherwise, what I tend to do is light some incense (currently obsessed with Folkulture but I never pass down some sandalwood) and for a little extra I do enjoy “smokeless smudging” so it is essentially a spray that is charged with crystals, moonlight, maybe some plant. Great for those who a little something extra to the process. Just like any other breakroom, you never know what we talk about here at the Breakroom Breakdown!

And I actually didn’t need to give any of these recommendations to Michael because he decided the curse was broken. Dwight had gone to see Meredith on his own and he was there when it was revealed that Meredith had been exposed to rabies but didn’t get the shot. I guess besides the bat situation that had happened here at the office, there was also something with a rat. Michael’s logic is that Meredith going to the hospital resulted in saving her life so she could get the shot so I guess he is now the hero in his own little world. Not sure about that, but I think we have not heard the end of this.

And that was what happened at the office this week, but I will mention that I heard him throwing around the word “fun run” so I will get back to you next week to let you know how this turned out. In the meantime, I hope no one here has to claim workers’ compensation but if you do, remember to make sure you get everything you are entitled to. Additionally, I would love if anyone else wants to share their own personal rituals for cleansing the house or getting rid of negative energy, or fully getting rid of curses but I certainly am open to them being a thing.

As always, I will see you next week with our next Breakdown but if you see me around the Breakroom, make sure to say hi.

Good morning everyone and welcome back to the Breakroom! I hope we have all had a great week. I know here I have had another productive week of helping people correct the mistakes they made while not paying attention, so that is always fun. And we had people over, in preparation to restart our game nights, so it is certainly fun to get to show off the new house. And I did miss getting to make large meals, there is just some things that are so hard to make for just two people.

But you are really here to hear about what happened at the office, since we left last week with Michael announcing that he was expecting to be hired for a job he was interviewing for at corporate and was looking for his replacement. Of course, he was also going up against our own Jim and Karen who were being considered as well. So what is the update on this, you ask?

For starters, Michael ended up heading to New York on the wrong day so he completely blanked on what the appropriate date was for the interview. But he wasn’t nervous, and if anything it gave him the chance to confirm with David Wallace where he stood in comparison to others. As far as the others go, he had the most seniority and employees below him compared to his competition. And he was the manager put in charge of the transition of when Stamford was closed and absorbed into the Scranton branch.

So confident he was that he already began to implement some pretty major decisions, both at work and at home. He formally offered Dwight his job which means that Dwight Schrute is our new Regional Manager (if Michael actually gets the job). What is Dwight’s first official change as manager? Glad you asked, he has already decided that it will be demoting Jim from his role as Number 2 in the office and that means he needs to hire someone new for that role. He doesn’t even have the job yet and he is already interviewing people for that spot; only Andy applied so I think it is safe to say we know who is going to get it. Besides giving the job to Dwight, Michael has already sold his condo before he has even interviewed for the job. He figures he will need the money, so he sold it for 80% of what he originally paid for it, on Ebay. Now I am not an expert of real estate but I can confirm that you should not be selling your house before you even have a job. If anything, you shouldn’t be making any major life decisions tied to getting a job, until you have formally received the offer.

Michael isn’t the only one who has the interview on his mind, even Jim decided to put in a little more effort to preparing for the interview. He is wearing a well-fitting suit, instead of his usual laid back attire. He even got a haircut to really round out his new professional attitude. As Karen had pointed out to him besides being able to look presentable, this way he doesn’t look as homeless. He and Karen even decide to call it an early day and head up to New York that night rather than doing it early the next day. Gives them a chance to play tourist for the night and explore the city.

While this is all happening, Pam is still coming to terms with her proclamations from the beach day. If you recall, she decided to really let everyone know how she felt about them skipping her art exhibit and especially how she and Jim are even friends anymore. Creed even reveals that he blogged about it intensively. For those interested, you can look up his blog here at https://creedthoughtsgov.com/.

If that all wasn’t enough, we get a long, overdue visit by none other than Jan Levinson. She decided to do some soul searching after she and Michael broke up and she has returned because she is just not prepared to give up on them and wants to discuss them getting back together. Michael had to quickly bring together his group of women to get their advice and they really did rally behind him and urged him to just forget her. She made him miserable and he needs to remain resolute in his decision. He then went back to do this and we discovered that while she was away, Jan got a substantial break enhancement. And like that, all was forgiven and Michael was back together with her. To quote Michael when Pam asked why he did that, “Your advice was good, but hers was bigger.”

And that was what happened at the office today. So we did not learn a whole lot so I want to continue with going into the subject of “How to prepare for a job interview.” And lets try to learn from our colleagues from the office.

Be on time. Michael showed up an entire day early for his interview; I need to emphasize that if you are late to an interview that immediately doesn’t look good. Not only should you be on time, but I personally recommend getting there 15 to 25 minutes early. So why such a large amount of time? First, you want to intend on getting there early so that way if something holds you up, you are right on time. We cannot always predict traffic, road construction, or other delays so the best we can do is prepare for them. Additionally, you want to have that extra time in case you are not familiar with the area and you might get lost either driving there or perhaps if they are in a large building you can navigate your way there. If you happen to get there far too early, then now you have time to mentally prepare and even fix your hair or remove any lint from your outfit.

Decide your look. I am a planner, so I prefer to have my outfit and appearance all lined up. I’ll decide days in advance on what I am wearing so I can ensure it is clean an ready. Plus, you should be like Jim and make sure your hair and general look are all cleaned up. Before you even speak, you are being judged based upon your look so you need to be clear on that image you are sending out. My current outfit is this cute tweed jacket and cute vest to give off a “serious but fun professor” sort of look. Smart but approachable who thinks of the long-term, was sort of my goal. Once you have your outfit, look in the mirror and ask yourself “who do I want people to think I am?”

Bring your paperwork. It never hurts to have backup copies of your resume, even though they should still have that copy. Also, take a quick review of it ahead of time because you have to be prepared to speak upon any aspect that is mentioned. So please, make sure everything is honest. Also double-check to see if they needed you to bring anything; Karen made sure to get copies of hers and Jim’s sales records because they were asked.

Confidence. I think we have all seen people go into positions that we didn’t think they’d get and sometimes it helps if you interview really well. Try to be charismatic and while it is okay to have an air of seriousness, you have to be confident going in there. It is not necessarily good to be as delusional as Michael is being, but he is going with that mindset he will interview well and he is proud of his accomplishments. Use that because a bit of confidence can make all the difference in settling your nerves.

Preparation. Prepare for the interview and this means research! If this is a new company, you should read up on what they do and perhaps have a talking point that you can bring up. My big tip is that I have an interview binder that when I have a big interview coming up I load up with research that I can study. What is always there, however, is my CliftonStrengths. For those who do not know, this is a measure of 34 strengths that we use in our actions and decisions. Far more superior and accurate than those personality tests which try to put you into one group, this measures how often and perhaps how apt you are to use these different strengths. I have this information here because I use these strengths as talking points to why I would be a good fit for the position, and will gear my past experiences towards them. My top 5 strengths are:
Intellection
Strategic
Input
Analytical
Competition

Overall, I am very heavy into strategic thinking. I do not like to be impulsive and will gather as much information as I can to then make a carefully crafted decision. I also have a competitive piece so that is me often comparing myself to others and challenging myself to prove I can do something.

And those are my top recommendations to preparing for an interview, and my hot tip of using CliftonStrengths. If you are interested in learning more about these, reach and I can put you in touch with my husband who has been training to use these as a coach, and is who taught me about them.

Good luck to everyone out there currently preparing for a job interview, knock them dead and I hope you get it! Until next week, I’ll see you around the Breakroom!