Speaking of work life, have you ever considered just how much many businesses resemble the classic movie Office Space? I've seen many things that are funny in corporate life in my working life. With all of the manipulation of people by their managers, and the maneuvering of execs vying for the next rung on the ladder, only my sense of humor keeps me going.
An example of this occurred during a recent company wide all-hands call. One of the presenters launched into a well-rehearsed presentation and ... we heard nothing. With the audience muted and chat turned off, this went on for maybe 5 minutes. Finally someone in the studio got the presenter's attention; lo and behold, the person's microphone was switched off. It was the best part of the call; five minutes of peace and quiet and no doublespeak to wonder about!
There are a lot of lessons to be learned in a place like this, and most of them can be summed up in two categories:
And me? I am content where I'm at, observing all of the foolishness for now. I definitely don't want to play the same games, for they show pretty graphically why most businesses will never reach the potential that they could. These lessons will help me to maintain a sense of humor and connection with my customers should I ever decide to create a business of my own.
To sum up, the opportunity for seeing humor in large corporations is there in abundance; just look past the daily attempts at corporate brainwashing and you will see them. Don't believe me? Take a look at the cartoon strip Work Chronicles. I often see things there that I've seen at work.
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