Category: The Office

Good morning everyone and welcome back to the breakroom! Now, if you are situated here in the Midwest you have most likely been dealing with exponential snow that has come to grace us, right after we officially went into spring. I just checked, and we here in Duluth, MN received 16 inches over the course of just this last weekend. That being said, it is currently snowing (again) so I am sure we can expect more. I have not done a deep dive on our total snow for the year, but I am almost certain we just received more in one weekend than we did all winter. But between shoveling your snow and trying to find your winter gear that you put away in storage, you took the time to swing by to say hi and get a breakdown. For that, I am so grateful and let us get right into what happened at the office today!

You did choose an amazing day to pop in, because today is our big Casino Night! This has been organized by Michael in cooperation with the corporate office, but we have transformed our warehouse into a casino that everyone is encourage to come to attend. Instead of winning money, all the proceeds will towards charity. But there will also be live entertainment as well as a cash bar, so the expectations are high for a fun night. Most importantly, it is about doing our part of charity. As Michael puts it, “because of him a Child in the Congo will have a belly full of rice.” Humble words.

This is also one of the few times that everyone is truly on board with one of Michael’s big plans. Dwight showed up early in an actual tuxedo; evidently his grandfather was buried in it, making it a family heirloom. I was very tempted to ask him to elaborate on that story, but I decided it was best to let it be. Pam is also excited because she is a “roulette expert” meaning she is sure to win. Dwight calls this out right away because roulette, like all casino activities, is a game of random odds and luck. There are those who will argue poker requires a great level of skill, but I’m going to give a hot take and say no, it does not. The only skill you can truly have is learning to read people and be able to bluff, but the cards dealt are all random. I am not actually a fan of poker, if you couldn’t tell, and I hope you will not come at me with pitchforks and torches for that hot take on the game. However, Jim does let Dwight know that he is able to provide skill to roulette because he can simply stop it wherever he likes with telekinesis. To prove to Dwight this is a real power, he is able to make the coat stand near reception move from his desk, with just the power of his mind. It is not often I see Dwight truly shocked by something, but he was completely blown away by this. Incidentally, when Dwight wasn’t looking I did see Pam move an umbrella from under her desk back to the rack. But I’m sure there is no connection for those of you who believe Jim to be truly telekinetic, and not simply one of his silly pranks.

Now, being the day of the event you’d think we’d have all final the details figured out, such as what charity are we donating to? Turns out, no, you do not need to have that sorted out at this point. Michael initially announces that we are donating to Boy Scouts of America, to which Oscar was a bit annoyed because we also donate to them. Michael’s defense is they need our help given that they do not have the cookies to sell like Girl Scouts do. But I sensed his may have changed gears when he was told by Toby that no boy scouts would be at the event to collect the check because it’s on a week night, at an event with alcohol, in a dangerous warehouse, which is being catered by Hooters. To which Michael reminded us all of his dislike towards Toby and Human Resources, but I will remind you that HR employees simply enforce the rules, they are rarely responsible for making them. After this it sounds like Michael is going to have the money goes to AIDS, or Aide to Afghanistan, or something along those lines. He initially wanted to do Comic Relief, but it sounds like that no longer exists? But the good news is, that whoever is the top chip leader tonight will win a mini refrigerator (donated by Vance Refrigeration) as well as $500 to donate to a charity of their choice. I heard Creed was thinking of donating to a soup kitchen in town, while Kelly would do Kobe Bryant’s charity.

While everyone was finishing up work and preparing for the big event tonight, Pam decided to keep doing some wedding planning and this time Jim actually helped her. I guess no one really care about working today since the two of them just sat in the conference room, watching tapes of possible wedding bands for Pam and Roy’s wedding. Incidentally, included on that list is Kevin’s band, Scrantonicity. And a big surprise for Pam, I know Roy actually offers the job to them so this is great news for Kevin and his band!

Continuing to prep for the evening, Michael actually is trying to land a date for the evening. He invites both Carol (his realtor) and then Jan and they both agree to attend the casino night! You might think Michael is just that smooth, but I think Pam had a hand in his landing both of them. Turns out, Pam will sometimes delay transferring over a call. He will often say something silly or stupid, and then on his second take he typically will be more professional. Now, I know we all want to be fun and cool while on the phone, but conducting ourselves with a professional etiquette is truly important. Obviously, speaking to a stranger versus someone you already know can be a bit different in how you can sometimes act. But when it’s relating to business, you really need to watch your tone and conduct yourself with a professional demeaner¹. Basically, pay attention to second attempt Michael, not first attempt.

With that, we finally got to get down to the warehouse, dressed to the nines, to experience the wonder of our casino night! Besides roulette they also had poker and craps available with multiple tables, so there was a lot of opportunity to play tonight. I started with the roulette, but it gets a bit stale after awhile because it doesn’t feel like you’re doing much. Craps was pretty exciting, mainly because Dwight got on to a hot streak for awhile. He got so excited he actually kissed Angela, and she was very quick to slap him away. Although, did I sense a small smile after this happened? I mostly stuck with the poker tables; I won, I lost, it wasn’t really my night. Phyllis and Pam both were having some pretty big wins throughout the night, but the real winner was Creed. He actually was the chip leader at the end of the night so he walked away with that new refrigerator! Overall, it was one of the most fun events we’ve had. I was surprised when I noticed both Jim and Pam had disappeared. They seemed to be having a great time so I’m not sure why they would have bailed before the night was over. Jan also seemed a bit off, and if I didn’t know any better I’d swear she was jealous of how well Michael and Carol were getting along. But of course, I’m not one to gossip.

And with that, this was our big night! Nothing too crazy happening, nor with any major educational opportunities. I decided to give you a pretty easy day before going into the weekend with no homework. I suppose I can say, we should take a page out of Michael’s book and should all do our part for charity. This could be volunteering at a soup kitchen, writing a check at a fundraiser, leading a non-profit organization, or perhaps taking part in the Cheerio Challenge to get back at a billionaire trying to buy up your town. I better stop there before I get too testy, but perhaps watch out for one of my hot takes on that situation.

Thank you for joining me here in the breakroom for our breakdown, and as always I will see you around the breakroom!

1. (2023, February 3). An Essential Guide to Proper Phone Etiquette (With Tips). Indeed. Retrieved March 28, 2024, from https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/phone-etiquette ↩︎

Good morning everyone and welcome back to the breakroom! Now, if you are like me it is not uncommon to have tension develop between you and another colleague. Sometimes this can be as simple as a disagreement, or it can even escalate to full arguments with a colleague. In these instances it is important to be able to enter a safe space and facilitate conflict resolution. Most often, it is the leader of these employees who would oversee this but it may happen that your Human Resources representative may own this responsibility. Dunder Mifflin is no different, and conflict resolution is the name of the game today at the office. So let us dive right into all that transpired today, and perhaps learn a bit about approaching conflict in the workplace.

The day really kicked off with Pam talking to colleagues about her wedding plans. Being so much to get taken care of, she has been doing some of the planning while at work. I did overhear one of the pieces she was still figuring out was her wedding band. Kevin was trying to convince her that she should hire his band, Scrantonicity. She didn’t seem sold on the idea, and having heard his band perform I can’t really blame her on not wanting that her wedding. What she has completed was sending out the save the dates; had a very pretty stationary. I personally was never a fan of the save the date cards. If you have the date already figured out, then the invitations should be enough to give all the information. I’m sure some people use the save the dates as a means for people to opt out as unavailable, but you cannot tell me that this is cheaper than just doing invitations. So people, maybe these cards are traditional but I feel it is just extra money and paper being sent on something that is just going to be tossed in the trash once people mark it on their calendar or enter it into their phone. Obviously the fun comes down to when some of your coworkers get a card or invitation, but not everyone did. It seems Angela wasn’t included on the list and she was a bit confused by that fact. I personally thought Pam very intentionally did this but suddenly she “found” a save the date that she gave to her because she didn’t have her zip code. Again, do not feel pressured into inviting people to your wedding if specifically chose not to have them there, especially if you’re covering the food and drinks. Now my wedding we chose to do spontaneously, we planned it over two weeks and decided to do it down at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival (https://renaissancefest.com/) and we kept it very small and intimate with perhaps a dozen people. Now while some people might be upset they were not invited, this is your day so you should invite those who you feel need to be part of your day, the way it has been planned.

Stepping off my soapbox for that subject, we were also having our photos taken today for our now ID badges. With Dwight now overseeing security for our branch, he thought it was a good idea restructure the security our office has. Essentially, besides Hank down in the office we didn’t really have a lot. So these badges are to help identify who we are and only we will be allowed up the elevator to the office. I do not know what is to stop an intruder from saying they are going to one of the other business in the building who do not use such cards, but I’m going to let Dwight figure that one out. I’m not too bothered, while small companies might not use such badges they are pretty common for most larger companies. They help to signify who you are and your position, plus they can even be set up to act as keycards if your office has electronic locks. And of course, some people have made sure to use a little extra make up so they can look all dolled up for their photographs. Although, Dwight personally never likes to smile in his photos. He states that barring your teeth is a sign of weakness in the animal kingdom, so all he sees when people smile like that is a chimpanzee.

Now what really shook up the day was when we all heard Oscar yelling at Toby about something in the conference room. He normally might have such a meeting in the breakroom but with the photo shoot today, he had come here. I personally would say the conference room is more ideal than the breakroom for such meetings, but maybe he hates meeting with people right next to Michael’s office. So because of this being next door, Michael came right on over and decided to ultimately take over the situation. What normally happens is Toby will listen to our problems and waits because often times these disagreements work themselves out.

Well, Michael was not okay with this he decided to bring out “A Mediator’s Toolchest” in an attempt to do some conflict resolution. The story of the disagreement is that Oscar does not like the poster Angela hung up, this being her poster from Christmas of some babies dressed like jazz performers. So what does the “Toolchest” offer? It provides a means of approaching conflict resolution with five methods of resolution. These are: Lose-Lose (they both lose), Win-Win, Win-lose, Compromise, and Win-Win-Win. What makes that last one so special is they all win, even Michael, for successfully mediated a conflict at work. That does beg the question, should this be the exact same as Win-Win? Michael initially seems to be following a mediator’s process well; he encouraged they each talk about the poster but using “I” statements to express their feelings, but no “you” judgement phrases. The situation comes down to Michael encouraging them to brainstorm ideas, but neither Angela or Oscar offer anything constructive. Pam suggested she only have it up some days of the week, but Michael shot that down because that is only a compromise and he wants an idea that is Win-Win-Win. His idea of such an idea is Oscar wearing a shirt which has a picture of this poster on it, so he will not see it but Angela will every time she looks at him. I think Michael’s impression was as long as the idea is his, then it’s a Win-Win-Win. But regardless, he did technically mediate a conflict at work.

Five Styles of Conflict Resolution

So in the world of conflict mediation, are these really the five different styles to choose from? There really are five styles, as seen in the above image from Source of Insight¹, that are part of the Thomas-Kilmann Method. Each style can be found between two dimensions, level of assertiveness and level of cooperation.

Accommodating
Perhaps one of the most commonly seen styles in which a Person A will normally “give-in” to Person B and let the argument ultimately slide. One could compare this to the Win-Lose that Michael mentioned, it can be seen as a method used to keep the peace. We commonly see this when a passive person might simply let an issue pass by rather than create any tension.

Avoiding
As it sounds, this is quite simply ignoring the overall issue. Similar to the previous one, rather than choosing to simply give in to Person B, Person A will actively pretend there is no issue. This has been known to result in Person A becoming very resentful and could end in some sort of confrontation if left for too long. However, it can work on trivial issues that might occur. Toby’s decision to not do anything right away can be him trying to see if the conflict needs to simply fizzle out. Very often we might get worked up over an issue one day, but after we have had some chance to cool off we forget all about it.

Collaborating
This is most often seen as an attempt at a Win-Win situation in which both Person A and Person B work together so they both get what they want from the situation. In a way, Michael did try to get Angela and Oscar to do this because he encouraged them to own the solution together. Obviously, this can be a difficult style because it does require the parties to work together as partners in crafting a solution. For instance, Angela and Oscar should have come up with a better location for the poster where Angela could see it but Oscar could not. That way, they both technically get what they want without giving up.

Competing
If being accommodating is to opt to Lose in the argument, by competing you are essentially choosing to Win. In the realm of conflict resolution, this method means you as Person A are going to go out and get what you want without thinking about how Person B might feel. For instance, there is a promotion available at work and you know of one other person vying for this position alongside yourself. By choosing to compete, you are going to do everything you can to make yourself look good while making your colleague look bad.

Compromise
And finally, the infamous compromise which is the only style method verbatim from Michael’s binder. Funnily enough, compromise is often referred to as the Lose-Lose method. This method involves neither parties getting what they want out of the situation, so Pam’s suggestion truly was a compromise. By only having the poster up a few days of the week, Angela will have to be content with not getting to see it each day while Oscar will be forced to see it on the others. This is a successful tool in resolving issues that might not be large problems or if a resolution is required very quickly.

If you are looking to become more proficient in conflict resolution, this model is one of the most universally used methods and there is plenty of information and education out there which can be used to develop your own “Toolchest.” But it is important to know that as the mediator, not only is it your responsibility to assist with coming to a resolution, but to also know which one is best for the issue. Although Michael did come up with a resolution for Angela and Oscar, he doesn’t realize that he forced them into a compromise (which wasn’t even the best compromise on the table) when perhaps my idea to collaborate would’ve been more successful. While Toby is certainly not wrong that avoiding an issue can sometimes work, I feel he is relying on this method far too often instead of encouraging actual teamwork to come to a solution²³.

Walking from this, Michael has it in his head that he is now a master at conflict resolution, and insists on taking all of Toby’s conflicts so he can take responsibility for mediating them. He seems to think the concept of being listened to and then simply forgetting the problem is only going to lead to greater arguments in the future. He ultimately chose to speak to the entire bullpen to start going through this. Pam actually had volunteered to go first but her only complaint was listed as “redacted.” This means that the original complainer came back and chose to take it back (Pam’s was that she was planning her wedding at work). Michael then proceeded to through each of the complains with the varying recipients, and it really puts the office relationships into perspective. Phyllis and Angela just cannot seem to get together, Stanley seems to think she cries too much, Ryan doesn’t like the smell of Creed (or his mung beans), and Kevin keeps making lewd comments towards Angela. All of these pale in comparison to Dwight and his dozens of complaints filed against Jim which seem to never were formally submitted to corporate. It seems that four years worth of Dwight filing complaints against Jim’s many “pranks” been piling up and Dwight refuses to accept it. Michael decides they need to go into a cage match over this; his rationale is they obviously work because if they didn’t, no one would have ever left the cage. Unfortunately, Dwight cannot seem to get over Jim’s behavior and is forcing Michael to have him transferred to another branch. Michael seems to believe that conflict resolution would be like shiatsu massage, which he has never actually had because they sound terrible. The belief is, these massages hurt so much that they can even cause someone to vomit, but afterwards you are incredibly relaxed. I am a firm believer that sometimes it is important for individuals to talk their way through conflict and this would involve bringing the topic out into the open. But being forced to do so by your manager who is not as good at conflict resolution as he thinks he is, will most likely result in more tension. This was certainly evident when Jim let Pam know (in front of all of us) that he was the one who had filed that complaint about her planning the wedding. Michael did eventually come to this conclusion and decided it was important to try to ease all of this tension before people went home, so he insisted on getting us all into a group photo of us smiling. Sixteen tries later, much like his conflict mediation tactics, it didn’t really come together.

And that was our day of conflict resolution everyone! I hope everyone learned some things about the topic, and will consider doing more education upon the five styles of the Thomas-Kilmann method that I discussed earlier. There are many courses, programs, and organizations which can assist with preparing yourself to use these tools. You can also go directly to the source at https://kilmanndiagnostics.com/ if you would like to learn from the creators themselves. I think what is interesting about this particular tool is that not only does it gives styles that those in conflict can work on, it does highlight that almost every person will likely find themselves using the same tool the majority of the time. I will admit, I tend to be on the accommodating fence who most often just lets things go that I shouldn’t. A small example is that I just let people call me Nate (I hate it) but I usually don’t say anything. Earlier this week, however, someone I did not know threw in a “Nate” on an email and I did respond back with a “actually this is Nathan” so I am proud of myself for taking a moment to speak up rather than letting it fester.

I hope you all have a great rest of your day, and why don’t you leave a comment to offer your own thoughts on conflict resolution. Do you have a style above that you find yourself gravitating towards the most? Or maybe you have a different approach to mediating conflict that you want to share?

Until next week, I hope you take the time to say “hello” around the breakroom.

1. Meier, J. D. (n.d.). 5 Conflict Management Styles at a Glance. Sources of Insight. Retrieved March 14, 2024, from https://sourcesofinsight.com/conflict-management-styles-at-a-glance/ ↩︎
2. Cooks-Campbell, A. (2022, October 18). Can’t we all just get along? A guide to conflict management styles. BetterUp. Retrieved March 14, 2024, from https://www.betterup.com/blog/conflict-management#:~:text=the%20best%20solution.-,5%20styles%20of%20conflict%20management,compromising%2C%20collaborating%2C%20and%20competing. ↩︎
3. Herrity, J. (2023, July 31). 5 Major Conflict Management Styles for Successful Managers. Indeed. Retrieved March 14, 2024, from https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/conflict-management ↩︎

Good morning and welcome back to the breakroom! Friday is upon us which means that we were able to survive another week in the workplace, but that is not to say it will not go forgotten easily. Let me catch you up with what has all happened in the office!

If anything should be mentioned about this week, is that it was certainly one devoted entirely to Michael. It started earlier this week when Michael called a handful of us into the conference room for an opportunity. He promised he had a means to help become incredibly wealthy, so naturally our interest was piqued. It turns out, he was recently brought into this business endeavor by a buddy to sell calling cards. But the real money isn’t about selling these cards to people, but to get our own friends and connections to also sell calling cards and start to get money from that. Now, if this idea sounds too good to be true, that’s because it and Jim points out he thinks it is a pyramid scheme. Michael is adamant we are wrong and even draws up a plan of how the business structure works. Coincidentally, it lines up to be in the shape of a triangle; some might also refer to this shape as that of a pyramid. Like so many in the past, Michael was sucked up into world of money-costing scams like the infamous pyramid scheme.

Now the pyramid scheme has been a scam that has been around for years, and they are often associated to a business model called multilevel marketing, or MLM. Now, a MLM is a legitimate business model which involves selling a company’s products directly via word-of-mouth. For example, rather than going into a store or website to purchase this said product you have an individual who go through directly. Some famous examples will include Avon, Tupperware, or Mary Kay. I remember hearing such names as I was growing up, I also remember PartyLight being very popular as well as HerbaLife was for a time. Many of us probably know at least one person who works with an MLM and they would be how you could purchase products from that company. With an MLM you make money in one of two ways: 1) selling the said product to customers, 2) recruiting new distributers for the MLM and you can make commission off the products they purchase and sell. These new distributers under you become known as your sales network, also known as your “downline.”¹ Now, the Federal Trade Commission (which is where I’ve gotten this previous research) states that a proper MLM focuses on your own sales, rather than putting focus on new recruits. Where it begins to evolve into a pyramid scheme is when the focus and most money is earned not from selling to customers, but by recruiting new people into the business. Per Forbes Advisor, the rule is that MLMs should have 70% of their products sold be to actual customers outside of the company². But with pyramid schemes, you see the majority of the sales and earnings are not from selling to a customer, but all down the line to your associates within the company.

So Michael’s great idea does start to sound more like a pyramid scheme rather than a MLM with how much emphasis there is on the recruitment portion. And this should be a warning for individuals because it makes sense that you would normally want fewer people in the company to ensure that you are accessing the largest group of customers. If you are approached about joining a company, or are simply researching joining a possible MLM, I strongly recommend taking the time to research the company. Additionally, please review the Federal Trade Commission’s page which I mentioned above because they do give you specific topics to look out for if you are evaluating such a company. As I mentioned, it is very possible that you have someone you know that has a history with such businesses. The sad truth is, many who join an MLM do not because as rich and successful as they would like. One of the infamous cases that I know of is that of LuLaRoe which was one of the biggest trends in the United States for awhile. There are numerous documentaries which go more into detail (and I highly recommend looking them up) but essentially the company has faced a couple of lawsuits claiming it is a pyramid scheme. There are many stories where people typically lost money because they had difficulty selling all of their product and they were obligated to continue to purchase more stock. Additionally, some of the most money earned were tied to those who had a great of people in their downline. But this is the sad truth of MLMs in that they offer independence and financial security and while it is possible, the danger lies in those that become so popular that there are almost more sellers than there are customers. So while it is tempting to jump in to such an offer, please take the time to research and have all of your questions answered. As the saying goes, if an opportunity is too good to be true, it probably is.

Flashforward today, this was actually Michael’s birthday! That’s right, our very own Michael Scott’s birthday was today, and unlike most people he seems to revel in bringing that to the office. Unfortunately, he is also the type who insists on doing whatever he can to make everyone celebrate with him. He brought in donuts as excuse to get them to wish him a happy birthday, thought we were going to get him a stripper, ordered a 8-foot sub sandwich (actually eight, 1-foot sandwiches) of ketchup, bologna, and tomato. Overall he insists on trying to control everything in order to have his dream birthday including making the party planning committee work non-stop, 24/7 (since yesterday). I suppose, Dwight is bringing the level of enthusiasm to the day Michael is hoping for. I’m certainly okay with people being excited for their birthday, but you need to realize you cannot control everyone to do your bidding. Especially not at the office; if it is your birthday and you want to bring in a cake or something for your birthday, then have at it. But don’t try to orchestrate all of these “celebrations” to trick people to worshiping you that day.

Most years we can all sort of put up with most these actions, especially because we are able to get cake, but this is all being overshadowed by the fact that Kevin is waiting to hear back about a skin biopsy. Turns out there is a chance he could have skin cancer, which despite being low odds is incredibly scary especially when you’re waiting for that phone call. Jim and Pam actually felt so bad for Kevin that they decided to go out and run to the store to surprise Kevin with etcetera gifts. Jim let me know to cover for him in case anyone (Dwight) notices that they are gone. They left while Michael was being hoisted into the air on his chair but it was a good call since that only distracted people for so long. Eventually everyone is back and Michael announces that he has come up with a great means to cheer everyone up. Technically this is Plan B, as Plan A was to convince Kevin to just go home so he could stop being such a bummer on this birthday. We thought this was really generous of him, until we get to his surprise at the local ice rink and see there is a banner that says “Happy Birthday Michael” and realize this was more of his festivities. But we didn’t really care because it was fun skating around, being able to get out of the office for the remainder. Michael was certainly in a better mood, and I even saw him chatting with his realtor and really seemed to be getting along with her.

Finally, we all saw that Kevin was getting a phone call and we knew this was the one he was waiting on. He gets off with his doctor and lets us all know that the results were negative. Michael was really upset at this and told Kevin they’d fight it. Evidently Michael didn’t know that this meant the results are good because there isn’t any cancer. He brought up how “in the real world” negative is typically a bad thing but the medical world means that it was good. But it certainly helped clear the air and Kevin couldn’t be happier, especially once Pam and Jim brought out all of his gifts, including 69 packages of Cup of Noodle, and a DVD of American Pie 2. And of course, Michael also got to open up his own birthday presents. While we had gotten him a sampler of Nightswept, Dwight personally got him a hockey jersey (which has ‘From Dwight’ as the name).

Perhaps this wasn’t how I would want to celebrate my own birthday, Michael seemed happy in the end so at least it ended well. And that was the office in a nutshell, but what did we actually learn? I think we learned the most when talking about the risks and dangers of multi-level marketing. But they do provide from entertaining documentaries and podcasts, but it is not fun losing your life savings in them. If anyone has had personal history with being in an MLM or pyramid, please let us know in the comments! I feel too many are at risk out of the simple desire to make some extra money with more freedom, so please let us know what people should watch for before it’s too late.

Otherwise, thank you all for dropping into the breakroom today to go over today’s events. And until next time, I’ll see you around the breakroom.

1. (n.d.). Multi-Level Marketing Businesses and Pyramid Schemes. Federal Trade Commission. Retrieved February 29, 2024, from https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/multi-level-marketing-businesses-pyramid-schemes ↩︎
2. Napoletano, E. (2023, May 23). Understanding Pyramid Schemes. Forbes. Retrieved February 29, 2024, from https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/pyramid-scheme/ ↩︎

Good morning everyone let us take a collective sigh of relief that the weekend is officially upon us. I am certainly ready to call it a week to relax this weekend, but I suppose I’ll grab another cup of coffee so I can get through this Friday. While I’m enjoying my coffee, let me tell you what happened today. While nothing super outrageous, we did have some extra bodies around the office in honor of a special day.

What day is that, you might be asking? Well lay out some treats and watch your language, today is Take Your Daughter to Work Day! Now, you might be asking yourself where this day came from and why is it recognized? I’m sure plenty of people see it as a day where it allows parents to skip having a babysitter for the day because they can just bring them to their office. In all actuality, we can thank Gloria Steinem for creating this holiday back in 1992, first implemented in New York City. Womenshistory.org describes the goal of this day as “to help show girls that being smart was something to be proud of, not something to hide, and that their ideas could be heard and had value.” Shortly after this, Parade magazine then did an article on the success of the day and the idea spread through the country from there. In 2003, it was then rebranded to also include sons as part of the day although it was certainly not uncommon for many companies to allow all children from the start¹. So if your company recognizes such a day to bring your children to work, remember that the intention is not to allow them a skip day from school or perhaps a lax day at work. It is meant to inspire your kids and get them to start thinking about their future. I don’t see this as they must decide what career they need to have right away, but I think it is great to show off many of the skills and tools we learn in school and how we utilize them in the real world.

So that is what this day represents on the national scale, what does it represent in our office? Pam was certainly excited to have all of the children come to the office today because she isn’t great with kids and is hoping this will help her connect to them. Her idea of initiating the point of contact? She pulled a page out of Hansel and Gretel and is luring them with candy to her desk. Michael, on the other hand, is less than enthused with all of these kids around because he is worried they are going to mess with the flow of the office. Specifically, he likes being able say whatever he wants without having to police his language.

We actually did have several kids come in today. Kevin brought in Abby, his fiancé’s daughter who I think he is trying to help bond a bit. Stanley brought in his daughter Melissa, who I think he is just trying to inspire to appreciate all he puts up with at work. Then Meredith was able to bring in her son Jake; evidently he got suspended from school so this was a win-win for her. And then Toby brought in his daughter Sasha; a sweet kid, she seemed very invested in Michael and his toys and she actually was able to get him more in the mood to appreciate the day. But their influence on the office did not stop there.

Melissa seemed incredibly interested in Ryan, and they were talking quite a bit. And as soon as Stanley noticed this, he let Ryan have it. I didn’t hear the entire “conversation” but I heard enough and never do I want to be on the receiving end of being yelled at by Stanley. I suspect Stanley did not say anything to Melissa because she continued to try to spend time with Ryan, but he definitely learned his lesson.

Then there was Meredith’s son, Jake, who certainly made himself known at the office. I’m sorry, but this kid is certainly a bit of a little punk with how rude he was towards Meredith, and especially towards Dwight. They kept butting heads all day long, and finally I think Dwight lost his cool and told him off. However, he was the only kid who finally got along with Pam because I saw them shredding stuff together and he seemed to be having fun. And then Abby was spending time with Jim helping him sell paper, so they seemed to have to bonded as well.

Overall, the day was going over pretty smoothly and without incident until Michael decided he wanted to show off to the kids. Evidently, he got to be on a Fundle Bundle, an old kids show, back when he was a kid and he thought they’d get a kick out of it. He had Ryan get the video tape to show everyone and things sort of spiraled when Michael had to face a blast from the past in realizing he never did get married or have any children. From there he grabbed some pizza and disappeared into his office for awhile.

In the end, Toby disappeared into Michael’s office to return a series of toys he had given Sasha, but they actually ended up talking for awhile. I’m not sure what he said but he actually was able to get Michael into a really good mood and come out of this slump of his. Never thought that Toby could have that effect on Michael but I suppose we shouldn’t complain, right? And in a grand finale to the day, Michael and Dwight give a rousing rendition of “Teach Your Children.” As far as how this day could’ve gone, I’m going to say this year’s Take Your Children to Work Day was a success!

Sorry I don’t have more to report for today but the work day was pretty straightforward with the focus being all on what is now know as Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day. I know it is a mouthful, but the day is very important and I appreciate that it is still recognized. So my question to all of you is, what sort of events have you been part of with bringing your children to work? Feel free to share in the comments for those out there looking to start such a tradition at their own business. For those wondering, you can find more information at https://daughtersandsonstowork.org/ including the fact that this year’s day will be on Thursday, April 25, 2024.

Until next time, I’ll be sure to see you around the breakroom.

1. National Women’s History Museum (2019, April 25). Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day. Women’s History. Retrieved February 22, 2024, from https://www.womenshistory.org/articles/take-our-daughters-and-sons-work-day#:~:text=Founded%20in%20New%20York%20City,be%20heard%20and%20had%20value. ↩︎