I come in contact with a minimum of 300 people per week, and granted, this is through all different mediums. Telephone, e-mail, fax, in person, you name it I’ve done it today. I’d like to call this my 6 degrees of separation via the office. When I talk to one person, that person is a roommate of someone I have a class with, this person is friends with a friend of a friend in my Howdy Ags Organization (Whoop), and in great instances like tonight, they are the referees of my intramural volleyball game, and subsequently T. and I kicked some serious “Underwood” bum. My point is that in a town like College Station, the old adage “it’s a small world” is eerily accurate. Everyone knows someone who knows someone who knows you. For all intents and purposes, you could actually view my office as the Officers of a fraternity/sorority. We know the business of everyone’s living arrangments, we know if they have a dog, cat, fish, lizard, and we even know when they’re illegal. So really, we know a lot about everyone who lives at the complex! There are 826 people living at the complex this year, currently, and I have come in contact with many of them daily. Not just in the office mind you. The girls who live in 1734 frequently see me at the bus stop. A guy in 1111 hooked me up with some great seats for the football game, thanks again! Even a girl who came to get a package that she thought we lost, is in the class I began this blog for. So they’re everywhere. Best example lately has to go to the girl I saw tonight. She lives in 313, and was the referee for my volleyball game tonight. During warm up, I ask T. if this girl lives at our complex, and she says she doesn’t know. However, I’m not convinced. I get to the referee to do the coin toss, and she asks me if she knows me. Yes. You do. You live at the ^$@!^! don’t you? Yes! “Oh girl, I’ve been meaning to come up to your office to talk to y’all about some stuff…” Then going into an explanation of what her issues are. It seems as though the company ink is trailing to my volleyball games now…

As I’ll be talking more and more about the people I work with I think I should make some introductions.  We have at the top of the totem pole my manager. We shall call her Boss Lady. Boss Lady is quite possibly the best boss that anyone could ask for, and anyone could work with her and be successful.

Following Boss Lady on the company totem pole would be the assistant manager, whom we will call Pinky. Pinky started off as a leasing agent at the complex, but quickly moved into the assistant manager position after he showed great promise and skills in the way of persuasion and salesmanship. Pinky will also be going on a cruise with me and my roommate for our 21st birthdays.

The totem pole from here on is based solely on the most senior employees to the new hires. Worker Bee C. has been at the complex the longest, since April of last year.  She just recently got engaged to Ex-Worker Bee G., who if you didn’t guess by the name, worked at our office also!

Following C. would be my roommate Worker Bee T. This darling would be my roommate! Her birthday is actually one day after mine. So the day I turn 21, T’s is the next day, and then the next day is New Year’s Eve. It will be a festive holiday season. Anyway, after Worker Bee T. comes me!! I won’t go into the details of me, because you’ll inevitably learn more than you ever wanted to know about me.

Worker Bee S. comes right after me on the totem pole. She along with T. are two of my best friends, and S. is quite the worker. She’s not taking very many classes this semester, so she’s at work all the time.

Worker Bee W. is the newest addition to our family, and he’s only two weeks behind S.! We have all been at our office for a little over a year now so really there’s not an issue of seniority. W. is also the roommate of Pinky.  

I don’t know if you can see how intwined our lives are, but T. and S. are my best friends and T. is my roommate. Pinky and W. are roommates, and in January T., Pinky, me, and another friend will be going on a cruise . Be jealous!

So you see, I’ve managed to dip my pen in every aspect of the company ink.

Interoffice relationships. It runs rampant through the workplace vein, and maybe more specifically through the younger generation. Google the phrase “Interoffice Relationships” and you’ll find ample literature on why getting involved in an interoffice romance is detrimental to your working relationship with the lover, the boss, and your co-workers. This article states that one of the downfalls to an interoffice relationships is the gossip that goes along with the mongers that inevitably inhabit the office. Thinking in terms of my office, it would just be too complicated for any of us to become romantically involved! The dynamics within my office are so strictly adhered to, not because of any company policy, but they are adhered to because of the type of friendships we have. Even if there were to be romantic feelings between any of us, we wouldn’t ever be able to act on it! Imagine the changes in the dynamics that would have to happen for there to be some sort of equilibrium. That equilibrium is there to maintain that thin line bordering on chaos and absolute harmony, and it’s this slim margin of harmony that allows us to sustain the perfect working/friend environment. Also, if you’ve read my other post “Totem Pole” you’d see how involved our office is outside of the workplace. Who knows, someday these confining bonds might be released and we can feel something besides friendship for a co-worker, but right now, there’s nothing to be gained from an interoffice relationship.

First off, let me say congratulations to Worker Bee C. for getting her Aggie ring this past Friday!! Whoop!! Our office always makes an occasion of it when it comes to big events in any of our co-workers lives, so Worker Bee C’s ring dunk, we will call her C., is definitely not something to sneeze at! Friends (i.e. co-workers) and family (i.e. Mom, and any other family member that wants to see C. throw up her Bud Lite Lime) gathered together on this joyous night to watch our friend drown her ring in a tasty, hot, no longer carbonated beer. This we know will be fun. However, the real humor in the situation comes in when we realize that all but two of the “friends” that were there are co-workers. This is humorous because it has been way too long since we have all assembled with the same goal in mind. To talk and have fun. It’s been especially long since we have done this outside of the confines of the bar. Because you have no idea the type of dynamics we carefully maintain inside of the office, it’s even harder to see how we twist, shake, shave, put in a blender, and pour into glasses those dynamics when we are in a party atmosphere. You have only to look at pictures from the party to see that C.’s party was not only a success from her ring dunk, but that it’s success was determined by our group that does crazier and crazier things together every time we meet up.

Confessional:  Whenever my friends and I have more fun than we should, our pictures always end up with us laying on the ground taking pictures. Sober or not if there’s a good time to be had, it’s with a camera, my friends, and a nice patch of carpet or grass.

Believe it or not, ambition is not a universal characteristic. The desire to reach beyond one’s current status seems to be lacking in a large portion of the population. For the majority of the people I come in contact with, ambition is doesn’t come in spades. In fact, I feel quite alone sometimes when I speak of what I want to do with my life. When I asked several of my friends what they want to do with themselves after college, I received a number of discouraging responses.

“Housewife”
“Well I’m not good at college, so something that doesn’t require a lot of work.”
“I’m not sure yet, I guess I’ll figure it out when I figure it out.”
“I want to find a husband.”

Ouch. Even in the world of part-time college kids this kind of response is disheartening. Admittedly, my job is not of vast importance in the grand scheme of things, but I take it seriously, and in the process, I want for nothing more to be recognized for the work I do and be promoted. It’s not that I want to continue in this job forever, but I do want to be as high as I can go in the time I’m here. I have ambition. I know I do. I also want people in my life that have as much as I do. Somewhere in the laziness of my generation, ambition has turned into a bad word.

It would be remiss of me to not mention the arrival of hurricane Ike and the impact that it will have in College Station. Ike hit College Station sometime in the wee hours of the morning, and has since escalated into lots of wind and rain aplenty. In fact, the wind and the rain are so intense, or at least were forecasted to be, that the powers that be in my corporate office decided that it would be in the best interest of the company and the employees to close our office Saturday and Sunday!! Please guess who would’ve been having to work both of those days. Yes, that would be me. So, needless to say, let me give a little shout out to hurricane Ike for forcing my office to close.

“How can I help you?”

Really, I’m asking you what service I can be. There’s no malice, no hidden agenda. Those five words aren’t a facade to throw you off track. I genuinely want to know of what help I can be. In lieu of this, please do not treat me as if you believe differently. Please do not misinterpret my eagerness to be of assistance as false or insincere simply because the reason you are even seeking my assistance is less than amiable.

Now that we have that out of the way, be so kind as to allow me to help you. I understand that you are upset, disappointed, confused, PISSED OFF, trust me I understand. If it’s any consolation, you are not the only person feeling this way. However, after you have explained the issue that you are having, shhh. Cease speaking. Be quiet. Zip it. Lock it. Throw away the key. You have explained your point of contention, so please allow me to do the job you ask of me, and permit me to speak. No, not just speak, please let me explain. I assure you the things we say and do here in the office aren’t arbitrary, and believe it or not, there is a method to our madness. Granted, it is madness most of the time. I am well-trained and well-versed in the ways of my workplace, so have confidence that the things I relate to you are correct and in good faith. On the flip side, I am human, just like you. I have feelings, thoughts, and I do make mistakes. Should any of these humanly characteristics interfere with the service I am providing you, let me apologize in advance because chances are you will not let me do so at that point in time. My ideal situation would be to have you come sit at my desk fuming, but by the end of our conversation, have us part ways with a mutual respect. I can understand if you don’t see that happening, but believe me when I say that keeping an open mind to that situation occurring will make it much more likely. 

I ask you to please not tell me that I can’t help you because I’m the same age as your son or daughter, therefore rendering me less intelligent and qualified to come to your assistance. Obviously, I have some degree of intelligence, otherwise your son or daughter wouldn’t have been persuaded to live here. By me.

Again, when I ask you that one simple question, that means I’m here, I’m qualified, I can, and I will be able to help you. 

Let’s try this again. “How can I help you?”

For those of you who watch MTV’s Real World, there’s a feature that the housemates use to vent their personal thoughts without fear of the rest of the house will hear. Although the situations are different, this is an idea that I’m going to “steal” from the show and utilize in my own writings. What’s the difference between a normal post and the confessional? The confessional will simply serve as an alert to the readers that something that has hit me on a personal level at work, and there’s something of a personal nature to be revealed. Consider yourself forewarned.

My job goes through several phases, and these phases are as predictable as the phases of the moon. From the beginning is the leasing season, where we lease out the apartments for the following year. Then comes move out which coincides with turn. Turn is hell. Turn is where we spend 2-3 weeks staying at the office, walking apartments, cleaning, trashing out, cleaning up everything the previous residents have chosen to leave behind. We are currently in the next phase. This is what I would like to call the transition phase. This is where the new residents are getting used to their new home, working out the kinks and whatnot, and also, we have sent out the move-out statements for residents on what they owe, what they get back, and everything in between. Right now people are just getting their move out statements, and please let me tell you how unhappy they are about them. We have people disputing amounts from $9-$8000. Remember when I said I get to deal with horrible parents? This is the time when I get yelled at the most. Take pity on me, I’m just a leasing agent!

My job requires me to deal with all types of people. The good, the bad, the ugly, all of them and more. Dealing with rude, know-it-all parents and their clones they call offspring is the nature of the beast. It comes with my job, so therefore I have to learn to be all things at once. A therapist, a maintenance technician, a bookkeeper, a mediator, and a diplomat. It’s easier than it sounds most of the time, but recently there are some issues in that I’ve been having difficulties maintaining my composure. The biggest issue I’ve been dealing with are the residents who don’t get exactly what they want. More specifically, I have almost lost my patience in dealing with the parents of the residents who don’t get exactly what they want. I find that I harbor a deep resentment toward these residents, mainly because I haven’t called on mommy and daddy to handle my problems in years. All of the residents are 18 or older and have long since been old enough to handle the bumps that come their way all on their lonesome. So, kiddos, please do the world a favor and cut the cord. Be mature enough to take care of your issues on your own.