jotted this down followed by ‘WHAT?!???’

[marcicat]

Yesterday, my workplace offered a 30-minute presentation about how things are going. It was one of those ‘chill at your desk and log in online to hear the presenter / see their screen’ kind of deals, and it was optional, but why not?

About halfway through, we were treated to this:

Yes, that’s a lion, with the text ‘Everyone wants to be a beast’ at the top, and the text ‘Until it’s time to do what real beasts do’ at the bottom.

WHAT?!???

That’s weird, right? I’m baffled. My coworker told me it was not weird, and it means we are supposed to work hard. That’s — definitely not what I got out of it.

I know I tend to take these things waaaaay too literally, but I’m genuinely confused. I don’t want to be a beast! And I don’t know what real beasts do, but I’m pretty sure I don’t want that either! I am still scratching my head over this. What do real beasts do???

But WAIT! The BEST part of this whole thing is that the very next slide was a picture of a baseball player screaming, with the text, “Winning as a team is the greatest feeling there is.”

I AM SO CONFUSED.

Mirrored from The Marci Rating System.

Comments

[starandrea]

What real beasts do????? EAT PEOPLE??!!!! Weird Message For Sure.

[mecurtin]

That ... was pretty much my reaction, too.

[marcicat]

RIGHT?!? I was trying to figure out if it was a thinly veiled reference to layoffs, but in like a super-grim way?

[rheasilvia]

Yeah, that is definitely weird. I don't think that many people want to be beasts at all.

What do real beasts do???

Sleep in the sun and occasionally eat gazelles? (Or grass, because classing only predators as real beasts seems weirdly judgy.)

I AM SO CONFUSED.

Perhaps the solution to this mystery is that the person who put the presentation together texted their crush for two hours, then realized what time it was and hastily googled for inspirational images for ten minutes.

[marcicat]

AGREED!

[goodgriefcharlie]

I agree with your coworker that the slide is using "beast" to mean "good at something/hardworking." When I've heard that phrase before it was mostly in relation to physical feats (like whoa, she deadlifted 300 lbs? What a beast!) but I guess it could apply to work ethic as well. I think the slide is saying that everyone wants to be seen as that kind of hardworking person -- until the point that they have to actually do the hard work.

It's still totally weird though. Is that supposed to be motivating???

[marcicat]

It sort of makes the most sense if you assume that this ::cough:: non-meme-savvy executive heard the phrase "beast mode" from someone and thought it was a good way to connect to the youths. But I feel like it fails as a metaphor because animals in general aren't big strivers -- lions aren't out there like 'hey, we already caught enough food for today, but if we *really* wanted to impress the boss, we could go get a bunch more!"

[goodgriefcharlie]

Oh, I see what you mean; it is rather a faulty metaphor. (Although now I'm imagining work life if the metaphor was actually more accurate: *task complete* *naps for two hours* *eats lunch* *naps for two more hours* That is a beast mode I could get behind!!)

[marcicat]

Ooh, that sounds perfect, yes!