On Office Politics

hannah.mclean01@gmail.com — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 14:21:38 GMT

Before this job, I had never worked in an office before. My idea of working in offices came from places such as The Matrix, The Proposal and The Office, from the culture of film and television that I grew up innundated with. Either offices were places where you lost your soul slowly as it was sucked out by the corporate world (until Agent Smith came to kill you, that is) or filled with camraderie and laughter. American Television and Film culture show the workplace as the best friend to those that want to work, earn money and make friends, who want to live a happy and full life, but as the mortal enemy to creativity.

I have experienced neither of the two polar opposites I was always raised to believe office work was. In fact, I find myself stagnating in the sheer apathy that surrounds me with retards to interpersonal relations. The staff are unpleasant without being overtly so, so much that they don't bother to give one the time of day and talk amongst themselves. It's very incestuous and unwelcoming to new blood within the room. The placement of each computer is quite isolating too and the lack of privacy is enough to drive one insane as people are constantly walking back and forth to get something or other and there is never a moment where you have your screen just to yourself.

What confuses me the most, though, is office politics.

Here is what I have learned:

If you get up from your desk, you have to get people coffee. Not just the person you work with, but whoever asks.
You must have an internal waitress' notepad in your brain to remember everyone's coffee/tea orders because they rattle them off really fast.
Don't talk to anyone unless they talk to you first.
They never talk to you first. Sit in silence all day.
It's not okay for you to take longer than an hour on your break, but it is okay for everyone else to take as long as they desire.
It's not okay for you to turn up late, in fact, you have to be early, but it's okay for your boss to roll in an hour late.
As long as you look busy, it doesn't matter if you don't do any work.
Everyone has their own cup.
You must not use someone else's cup.
If you don't have your own cup, you're screwed.
The walk to the water machine is tantamount to the walk of shame.
So is the walk to the bathroom.
You do not mix with other sections of the office. CSV does not talk to Online. Online do not talk to Sports, etc etc.
No one talks to the Asian Network, not even the Asian Network.
They communicate telepathically.
Broadcast Journalists and Presenters are the Jocks of the news room.
Producers are the Cheerleaders.
The editor is paramount to God.
Even if it's cold in the office, you can't say anything.
Same goes for if you're uncomfortable in your chair. Suck it up.
If you're not a journalist or a producer or an editor, or a reporter, or a presenter, or part of Online, or part of Sports or anything except what you are, you do not get a good computer. The last good computer always goes to the Work Experience student. Not you, who actually works there.
It's okay for everyone else to have double standards and hold you up to a different, higher level to everyone else.
It's okay to stay off work if your kid is sick, but not if your disabled mother (who is more dependant on you than a 13yr old) is. (Not my one, my partner's)

I'm sure there's more, but so far, that's the list I've found. I wonder if it's the same everywhere else?

It concerns me that people base their opinions on the things they don't know almost solely around the representations that are spoon fed to them on the television and in film. It leads to a culture of ignorance and whilst not knowing what an office environment is really like is not really a serious offence against the world or the representations on television, how long is it before people start judging everything else based on the stereotypical representations we see every day?

When does ignorance perpetuated by the mass media become prejudice?

hannah.mclean01@gmail.com — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 13:39:35 GMT

Today I was pompous and my sister was crazy.

No, not really. Today I have nothing to do at work - again.

Working in an office is an interesting experience. I've never really done it before and I find the mix of personalities fascinating. There are quiet people who just keep their heads down and work, shuffling about the newsroom like they want to disappear, then there are the outgoing ones who everyone likes, who wander around like they own the place whilst their fans fall at their feet (I notice that these are men, quite strapping and also presenters). Then there are the people who think they're the shit when really they're not but refuse to listen to anything that shows them up. Archetypes are everywhere: the people who are loud and obnoxious, who want to be the same as the ones that are loud and liked, but instead they're just loud and loathed, their loud barking laughs overpowering every noise out there and obnoxious comments and off-hand remarks clearly not thought through and instead of being funny they just end up as a rather pathetic figure like Steve Carrell or Ricky Gervais' characters from The Office. The older people who think they know everything because they've been around forever argue with young upstarts who think they know everything because they're youn and new and have a "different spin on the office 'cause I'm the newbie".

They're not the only ones that are in the office, but they're the main ones that stick out to me right now.

My diary for the week is empty. I forsee some reviews coming this way in the near future.

Sometimes I Have Something To Say

On Office Politics