The Marci Rating System

Thank goodness we're now required to go to the office two days a week, to do Very Important Office Things like everything on today's schedule!

1. drink the free coffee at work instead of home coffee

2. breakfast (enjoy the fact that they're still bribing us with free breakfast on Tuesdays)

3. end of year team meeting with the team we've been temporarily loaned to (okay, it was more like 'take these people off my hands I can't deal with them right now,' but you know, think positive)

4. end of year holiday lunch with new team

5.Yankee Swap with new team (apologies to the old team which is not getting a party)

6. go for a walk with any office folks who want to go outside

7. hour-long meeting about a thing none of us want to talk about and which could have been an email

8. wrap up the day, because that's more than enough productivity for me!

*Good news! I made it safely there (the car spa) and back again, and now my car has snow tires!

*Less fantastic news! I'm definitely going to need the snow tires, because I'm supposed to go to the office today, and the plowing situation in the parking lot here is currently 'the driving lane was cleared at some point, everything else we'll do later.' Which is fine! It's just that I'm gonna need to drive through that 'everything else' to get to the driving lane. (lol so many memories of the apartment parking lot after a snowstorm...)

*Anyway, work is work. Our team just got moved to a different team (temporarily?!? I guess?!?) for reasons unknown. The reasons we've been given make very little sense, and it's hard to know if that's because they're untruthful or just, you know, corporate.

*We're supposed to be doing our year-end "self-evaluations" immediately, which means I've been sorting all the stuff I planned to catch up on in December into two piles: 'hurry up and do it before the evaluation so I can say it's done,' and 'safe to say it's on track to meet the 2025 goal.'

*Yeah.

*But coffee!

*Yay!

Winner of 'most ominous thing someone has said to me in passing, probably(?) unintentionally' at work:

Me, as I was leaving on Tuesday, to an mild-to-moderate acquaintance I passed in the lobby: "See you tomorrow."

Them: "Hm. Maybe."

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? I'M STILL THINKING ABOUT IT!

OH BOY after the rest of the team all had their one on one meetings with the new executive in charge of our department, today it's my turn! ::weak celebratory wave::

(I don't know their title, because I genuinely can't keep track of the random titles the company assigns -- there's "my team" and "my boss" and then there's "people I try not to be noticed by.")

Anyway, I am nervous, because that's pretty much a constant state of existence for me, but I think it's pretty unlikely that anything I do or say will have much of an impact on any decisions that will be made. Which is a relief, I guess? But I will definitely be trying to NOT SAY ANYTHING OFF THE CUFF. (Trying to connect with others through humor! My greatest workplace weakness!)

And, just so that I absolutely will NOT say this in the meeting, I'll get it out in writing first: The last person I trusted in that role was SEVEN transitions back (depending on how you count the 'interim' people), which SURE IS SOMETHING.

It's Monday! A work day! How did this happen??? All the things on my 'looking forward to today' list are non-work things, but surely I can fit in my 'I get paid for this so I definitely want to keep doing it enough that they'll keep paying me' work too.

[SPECIAL WEATHER NOTE: We've had enough 'rain is predicted but then doesn't happen' days recently that I genuinely didn't expect it to rain today. But when I stepped outside, it sure does smell like it's going to rain! It hasn't yet, but I might be convinced!]

This week's office days included UNEXPECTED WORKPLACE DRAMA, which was about what I expect from the in-office experience of 'overhearing lots of random bits of conversation.' (Honestly, the most unexpected thing is probably that it took five weeks to happen.)

ANYWAY, there's one employee who's currently "on leave," and we got a bunch of emails about it (maybe three?), very vague on the details, but clearly a planned thing, and with some level of contingencies in place to cover for this. Not dramatic. (I mean, maybe for the employee? As I said, very vague on the details. Could be anything, really. Probably not a new baby; those get different announcements.)

BUT, now there is suddenly ANOTHER employee who is "on leave," with ZERO emails and ZERO details. The words "on leave" are being said in such a way that indicates there is A Story to this situation. I do not think these two "on leave" situations are connected (although wouldn't THAT be a drama for sure!). But there aren't a lot of great reasons for an employee to suddenly not be coming to work, and not be able to be contacted.

It's Wednesday, and we're working! (PS: HAPPY OCTOBER! IT BE SPOOKY SEASON NOW!)

Several people at the office have commented on my lunchbox, and asked if it is Halloween themed. It is not, but from a distance, the white cats look a bit like they might be ghosts, and it definitely looks like it COULD be Halloween-themed.

At first, I thought 'oh no, I've accidentally picked a lunchbox that everyone thinks is Halloween-themed, how embarrassing!'

But then I thought 'wait, there's nothing wrong with a perceived-to-be-Halloween-themed lunchbox! I love my purple lunchbox with cats and stars!'

And THEN I galaxy-brained the situation, and realized what this means: I now have a PERFECT excuse to get MORE lunchboxes. One for each season, at least! HECK YEAH.

(I am definitely using 'office lunchbox' as a chance to indulge my inner child. Can't decide between the space lunchbox or the cats lunchbox? GET BOTH!)

This is one of those weather days when we should all be allowed to lounge around inside and take lots of naps. Since I am headed to the office instead...

THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO AT THE OFFICE

*free coffee (it's not as delicious as my Home Coffee, but I also don't need to wash the coffeemaker afterwards)

*free lunch (everyone is in agreement that this promised perk won't last long, so we might as well eat as much free food as possible while it lasts)

*audiobook time (my current audiobook has not been as engaging as I expected, probably through no fault of the book itself -- I couldn't even focus on reading the cat distribution system, by ScarlettStorm last night, a fic so aligned with Things I Like that I made actual grabby hand motions at the screen when I saw it)

So: drive, eat, be seen, drive home again. It's a plan!

It's time for the (kind of) annual 'workplace says everyone (really everyone this time) (unless you have a good excuse) has to show up and socialize for a day' experience. Since the New Building is new, the meeting is there, which is at least convenient.

There's only sort of space for everyone inside, so they've compensated by also setting up some big event-type tents outside (mostly for eating, probably so people don't try to eat in the brand new Big Meeting Hall space).

But instead of using any of the actual lawn area for the tents (it's weird to have office lawn space, I know, but this building does, for some reason?), they've set up the tents IN THE PARKING LOT. WHERE THE CARS GO.

Sooooooooo now there's not enough parking? Like, there wouldn't have been enough parking anyway, with everyone showing up, but now there's REALLY not enough parking. WHY???????

[Plus side: today's schedule includes a lot of free food.]

Last October, I posted about how the new CEO looks like Laura Roslin from Battlestar Galactica. Now that I have met her in person (for a certain value of 'met' -- I was officially greeted and then saw her in passing several times), I can report that it is EVEN MORE TRUE in person.

So far I have managed not to say this to the CEO's face. I feel like that would be rude? Or maybe not? I don't know; I don't look like anyone famous, so no one has ever said 'oh hey, you look like [that person]' to me. I'm already a little embarrassed that they apparently know my name; I'm not sure I want to do anything to draw more attention to myself.

But it ABSOLUTELY gives the entire workplace experience a way more surreal vibe. Like, office culture under corporate capitalism is already pretty weird. With a BSG flavor, it becomes even more 'high concept inevitable tragedy, but with space opera stakes.'