Tag: theoffice

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!

Good morning everyone and welcome back to the Breakroom! Thank you for understanding me being out of the office last week, there was so much to do that final week that I needed the extra time. But we are officially settled into our new house and each day making dents in unpacking our boxes. And our goal is to get our old house on the market next week and we will be one step closer to the entire process being completed! Plus we have some new furniture coming this next week, plus perhaps looking for an island this weekend to round out my giant, beautiful kitchen. I have officially have the sort of kitchen to host a proper family event so fingers crossed we can convince my family that we should host a big holiday, like say Thanksgiving?

But enough about my amazing house, I know what you are all dying to know is what happened at the office this week? Since I was actually in the office, I have the whole scoop!

So the day started pretty standard in that Jim decided to pull a prank on Dwight. While I am not always a fan of his little jokes, this was certainly one I could get behind. Turns out that while out at the store, Jim found a copy of Dwight’s glasses for sale. Upon looking around, he was able to put together his entire ensemble so he decided to come to work pretending to be just like Dwight. He even talks like him by talking about topics like bears, such as “Bears eat beets. Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.” Well, Dwight ultimately figured out what Jim was doing and then he flipped out citing that “Identify theft is not a joke Jim, millions of families are affected every year.” And he is right, it was found that in 2021 23.9 million Americans aged 16 or older had experienced identify theft in the previous twelve months. Now identify theft is actually a much broader term than many people realize, but each form can have last effects. This can include someone using your credit cards or opening accounts in your name, using your email or social media accounts, bank accounts accessed, or even attempted to access your government benefits. Identify theft is serious and really is not something to be taken lightly¹. But in this case, I am going to give Jim a thumbs up because this was a good joke. Should you want to dress up light Dwight yourself, you can find entire costumes readily available.

And that was the high of the week because it quickly went down from there when it was discovered hundreds of reams of paper went out with a watermark on the paper. Turns out, a disgruntled employee at the paper mill had included an image of a cartoon duck having intercourse with a cartoon mouse. We have been doing damage control since this came out because we have a lot of upset consumers. Not going to lie, I assumed more people would have had a bit of a laugh over the issue and been okay with the refund that we provided everyone. Yes the situation is serious, but I if a company has already done everything reasonably in their power to correct the issue, you do not need to call in just to yell and complain. But Michael is certainly taking it seriously, even calling us all in for his task force to address the issue due to it be Threat Level Midnight (not a real threat level, but you will recall is the name of his screenplay). So what is Michael’s plan? First, Kelly is responsible to train the accounting department on how to handle customer complaints and assist with phone calls. Second, Jim is to personally head down to the high school with Andy to personally address the situation with the principal. I guess they sent the invitations to their prom so he wanted this handled directly. Finally, Michael is calling for a press conference of the situation to publicly apologize to one of our clients in front of them. His logic is that company problems do not start to formally resolve themselves until an apology has been issued. Well, if you thought that this taskforce would result in an interesting day, you would be right!

Turns out Angela in accounting is not very good at apologizing, and it didn’t help that she has never had any patience towards Kelly. Despite her best efforts, Angela cannot keep her cool with talking to the clients, not even being able to simply listen to their problems. Regardless of your profession, you are almost assuredly going to need customer service skills. One of the most difficult scenarios is to listen to an upset customer. First, it is important to know that you do not need to put up with being swore at or yelled at in such a demeaning manner. Just as you need to keep your calm, the caller also needs to maintain a certain level of decorum. But the key is you need to be able to remain calm while they complain, often they will lose steam after they have vented for a bit. Plus, by maintaining a level voice you are helping set the tone of the conversation and might make the other person realize how silly they are being so loud and vocal. Another tip, sometimes you cannot provide a proper resolution for the other person especially when they are so upset that they are asking for more than reasonable. What I do is state that I cannot offer that resolution at this time but if you are okay with me giving you a call back, I can speak with my team and/or leader. This lets you buy a bit of time to allow them to cool off a bit more by disengaging from the confrontation, and they will often be more receptive when you call back with a solution.

While this was happening, Jim and Andy had gone to the high school to meet with the principal to smooth things over. Well, Jim let it slip to me that it turns out Andy had been dating a girl that was revealed to be a high school student. Andy quickly spiraled with this, but oddly enough it wasn’t to try to get out of there but instead of was upset with her for leading him on. Thank goodness that Jim was there to help him disengage but that was very much a scenario you do not want to be stuck in.

Then, of course, we have Michael’s press release to process a public apologize. He put Dwight in charge of bringing in a reporter and preparing the office. Now Dwight is surprisingly wise when it comes to this sort of thing which he attributed to sales techniques associated with his roadside beet sales. When you want to attract someone you want to place the best-looking ones in front to draw them in, these are known as the “money beets.” In addition to a reporter for the local paper, we invited in Barbara Allen to present an oversized check to and a formal apology to look good for the paper. Turns out, Barbara is one of those customers who was very upset over the incident and needs more than an apology and free paper. She even calls for Michael to step down from his position, and this prompts him to quickly spiral out and tell her she needs to leave. Now he also needs to apologize for the fact that he upset her, but this time he enlists Dwight and Pam to assist with crafting an apology video to put out on Youtube. Turns out, whenever he is in trouble he prefers to create a formal video to give out whether it is to his condo association, or even to his mother. Did it fix everything? I wouldn’t necessarily go that far, but I would argue that I don’t truly feel it made things worse. I will admit this, seeing all his video did make it seem really fun to write and craft apology videos. Just an idea that the next time you screw up and need to apologize, maybe make it into a movie?

In the end this crisis has a bittersweet ending in that we found a conclusion to this ordeal. Our head of quality control, Creed Bratton, was able to do some sleuthing and tracked down the source of this incident to Debbie Brown, a floor worker at the the paper mill, and that her absence one day contributed to this issue. She has been terminated and the hope is this will appease some of our costumers who want a more fitting end to the story. Good going to Creed, what would we do without someone who takes his job so seriously?

And that is what happened this week! We dealt with a terrible event at work, went into crisis control and ultimately had to do a product recall. I did give some advise on how to deal with difficult people at work, the key is maintain your cool and keep the conversation calm. Most importantly, we learned about the seriousness of identify theft.

I hope you all have a great weekend, especially since we only have a couple weeks left of summer! Any big plans for these next couple weeks before the leaves start changing? And as always, I’ll be sure to see you around the Breakroom.

1. (2023, October 12). Victims of Identity Theft, 2021. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Retrieved September 5, 2024, from https://bjs.ojp.gov/press-release/victims-identity-theft-2021#:~:text=WASHINGTON%20%E2%80%95%20In%202021%2C%20about%2023.9,Victims%20of%20Identity%20Theft%2C%202021. ↩︎