Once upon a midday sunny, while I pondered, something funny. Over a written column idea I hadn’t never writ before (double negative for the sake of rhyme scheme). While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping. As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my office door- “Okay here’s the situation- my parents went away on a week’s vacation…” “’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “rapping at my office door- only this and nothing more. (Lyrical acknowledgments to Edgar Allen Poe and The Fresh Price.) Quote the Chainsaw- “Come on in… its open.”
Thee Secretary (HCSAWWT’s official secretary in residence) steps in and stands by the door looking prim and proper as always, in a classic 60’s tweed kinda way. “Mr. Chainsaw sir. I know you are extremely…ahem…busy (she eye scolds the Slinky, which I quickly put back down on my desk). But there is someone here to see you.” She says with a serious, pushing her glasses up on her nose, demeanor.
Hmm, wasn’t expecting anyone but… show them in Thee. We have an open-door policy here even if they’re closed. She steps back and with a gracious hand expression, ushers YOU in. Then gingerly closes the door behind you whilst humming a few bars of- “Parents just don’t understand”.
Hi- with an offered open handshake. Cop a squat err… have a seat. Can we get you anything? Coffee? Tea? Beer? …Slinky? It’s good to see you. How long has it been? Haven’t seen you since… maybe last week? (Regular reader status pending).
So, how’re things going? You look flustered? Let me guess, home life gotcha down? Life just kickin your arse? No wait… I know that look. It’s the same expression that can be seen on many a face daily. When at a buzzer’s shrill cry of despair sounds and the workday ensues… I can relate.
There is a sardonic expression as you glance around my office. What? This? Make no mistake, this is a beneficial hobby, but it doesn’t make ends meet. I too serve a laboring sentence of gainful employment from 6 to 3:30, 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year… for, like, ever now.
What do I do? Well, my job entails computer aided furniture design and product development… yes, it is mostly in an office. And there’s that all too familiar look again. “Seat shiner” and “glorified button pusher” are the derogatory terms you’re looking for.
Allow me to stop you before you get started. Prior to current “glorification” status, 22 years of manual labor was spent in the furniture factory circuit. Yeah, I’ve been there, done that and decided I’d rather spend the later half of my required life-sentence mostly sitting down.
Of course, throwing out my lower back while loading a compactor may have had something to do with it…but still. Injuries aside, never has there been any college, technical school or external education involved. Just a s***load of self-taught determination to figure out where to sit and what buttons to push.
Ya know, having seen it from both sides, there has always been this toxic misunderstanding void between office and manual laborers. And we could easily and endlessly argue, comparing the pros and cons of both. Citing the mental and physical demands of different positions and titles.
But let us get beyond the ying and yang of it all and understand that we are all ying-yang twins. No, we are not foul-mouthed rappers, but rather two sides of the same coin. That come together to make a whole coin, so we can spend it. In the form of a paycheck.
Because in the end, regardless of what we do, isn’t that what we’re there for? The money? All of us paddling away on the same boat, hopefully in the same direction. Across a turbulent sea of want, need, debt and necessity.
Nobody wants to work… save delusional lonely weirdos who have nothing better to do… or actually have the job they want. But understanding that we have to work, and that crazy happy fun time isn’t always an option is important. We don’t have to enjoy it, but knowing we have to makes it bearable. And since we have to, we might as well work together.
Well, I hate to rush you off, but I’ve got to get to work myself.
I welcome almost all questions, comments via Focus, or E-mail me at [email protected]. Hope to hear from ya, until then try and stay focused! See ya.
