Office Antics

Or what I have dubbed it: "Pimp my Cube".

My supervisor has been out on maternity leave since early December and today was her first day back. Another co-worker, "Karen", has been the acting supervisor while she was out. For months, "Sue" has been planning to let "Karen" know she was back in with the rest of us with a little office prank. The day finally came.

Sue was eagerly waiting for Karen to head home yesterday so that the "pimping" could begin. Another couple of co-workers were also going to help Sue but those of us still in the office we were all on the look out for signs that Karen was about to leave. There were whispers traveling from cube to cube..."No one ask Karen a question...Let her leave." But then 5 minutes before she usually leaves, the middle management boss "Sandy" cornered her in her office and was leisurely talking with Karen. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

I could tell that Sue was frustrated. I had hoped to get in on some of the fun. But I have to leave on time in order to make it to my babysitter's by 5:15 or I get charged $5 every 15 minutes I'm late. So, I could not participate in body, but I was there in spirit. I begged Sue to take pictures!

What I think is the funniest thing about this little prank is how Sue spent time yesterday cleaning up Karen's cube for her. She straightened things out, cleaning the desk and dusted all the surfaces. She even said she arranged things according to Feng Shui (It's our new office joke**). So Karen was already so tickled that she was being welcomed back from "Supervisory land" to the "Land of Trenches" so heartily. She didn't suspect a thing!

When she got to her cube this morning, her cube was filled to the brim with balloons and there were streamers covering everything and even some left over confetti from some Secret Santa pranking at Christmas time. Poor Karen couldn't even get into her nicely cleaned and Feng Shui'd cube!

I can't wait to see the pictures. Karen was a really good sport and was smiling about it when I asked her about it later. I'm sure that my turn is coming in May when it is my birthday. One co-worker puts her purse in her upper cabinet so they filled it with ping-pong balls. When it was time to go to her Birthday lunch, she opened up the cubbie to get her purse, she was assaulted by bright orange and green balls. She burst out laughing. Whatever they do to me will be different and unexpected and from what I know of my co-workers, they are creative and know how to catch people off-guard.

**The Feng-Shui Office joke: One co-worker Jan began talking about how she applied Feng-Shui to her house in order to conceive a child and that she got pregnant the first month after doing that. Some of the girls were saying, "Don't come near my house! I don't want to get pregnant!" I said, "I don't need ANY more babies! No Feng-shui Baby Energy in my house either." But then the joke became to Feng-shui the cubes we occupy in order to bring about harmony and positive energy to the work space. It is a little too mystical and new age-y for me but I chuckle because I don't really believe in all of that stuff. My work space motto is "A cluttered desk is a sign of a Creative Mind". I know where everything is but I just can't seem to work well with an immaculate desk. I don't scrapbook that way either. I do think it is the artistic side of me. Every once in a while, the clutter gets to me and I will straighten things up, wipe down the surfaces and put everything away again. But within a few days, it's back to disarray and everything is out where I need it again. Oh well. It's an Organized Mess.