The Office, My Office

I'm not sure if I've ever shared my love for The Office on this blog. But I'm going to now. I realize the finale was aired clear back in 2013. But that series has become to me what Hogan's Heroes was to my dad. And all my love for The Office has recently come roaring back with a new book written by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey: "Office BFF's."

The first time I saw The Office, I was watching by myself. (I'm guessing it was harvest.) It completely cracked me up. The character of Michael Scott was the perfect mix of parody and satire. And I knew just as soon as Jim hovered around Pam's desk, I would be hooked on their romantic storyline.  I was excited to tell my husband I had found a series for us to binge watch. But, when we watched the pilot episode together, he didn't share my affection. This shocked me, because we have a very similar sense of humor. And my husband is a Steve Carrell fan! But Doug just couldn't get past his annoyance of Michael. That, I tried to explain, is what made it so funny. His utter lack of self-awareness, yet that subtle vulnerability that makes your heart go out to him when he casually brings up things from his childhood that were, well, sad. Like Jeff, his step-dad.

Anyway, I can't possibly write about the brilliance of The Office. That's for cinema majors who can profoundly explain the humor in something like a New Yorker article. All I can say is how it affected me. I work in an office. We use the same exact phones that Dwight uses to make sales calls. We have candy dishes. We have party planners. We have a sweet receptionist. And we have managers who desperately want to create a positive culture. Sometimes those efforts work. Sometimes they don't. (I'm a manager by the way, so don't worry about me getting fired for that statement.)

I've worked for the same bank for nearly 25 years now. In truth, I never thought I'd stay at the same workplace for that long. Not that I don't like what I do or the people I work with. I do! But I assumed, like most people, that I'd be doing something bigger with my life. You know, like become a best-selling author, or possibly an actress who somehow manages to make movies while raising kids on a farm with her hubby. I didn't get my MBA for nothing, after all. But here's the thing. I'm listening to this book as two best friends relate their time ON The Office, and I see parallels to my time IN the office.  We share quite a bit in common, actually. Things like:

• Laughter. We laugh a lot at the Bank. I can't begin to tell you all of the funny stories that have occurred through the years. But let me assure you they involve a lot of intentional scaring, poop and fart jokes, and one of my favorites, incorrect use of grammar. Okay, that last one doesn't sound funny. But it's hard not to laugh in certain instances. Like when a serious discussion in the board room is happening and the top dog says, "They obviously don't understand the levity of the situation." (Believe me, skipping loan payments is not usually funny.) OR when you ask a colleague who is staring at your delicious sandwich and ask,"Do you want to bite it?" OR when a manager keeps saying how we need to antiquate new employees into our culture better. Maybe he was on to something innovative. Maybe antiquating would make staff feel more valued! Like on American Pickers!
• Friendship. It's hard for me to write this bit without tearing up. Friendships at the bank are family. We have no better cheerleaders for each other at work. We celebrate big events together: new babies, birthdays, weddings, graduations, regulatory exams (when they're over, of course). As a matter of fact, most people at the bank don't want to take off for their birthdays for fear of missing out of some royal treatment. We find ways to celebrate! I clearly remember when my staff arranged a book-signing party for me. They had all gone online to purchase "Goodbye Def Leppard (I'll Miss Those Jeans)" and lined up to have me sign their books. And I was planning on GIVING them all a copy! This was probably the biggest press event I had for my book.
  
  Make no mistake, we also commiserate together, through injury, illness and death. I'll never forget the time I miscarried as a group of us traveled to a bank seminar.  Panic-stricken, I told one of the officers, a lady I admired greatly, and she discreetly called my husband and figured out how to get me to the hospital. She hugged me and let me cry on her shoulder. I will never, ever forget her compassion that day. 

• 

  Good food. Bad perm.

  Food. Sorry to pivot from that sad story so quickly, but this incredibly long post is intended to entertain. When I first started at the Bank, I was struck by the sheer amount of recipe swapping. I wondered if we were wasting too much time on food chat. One time, our very busy and very professional Cashier decided to put together a bank cookbook: "Bankers Make Great Bakers." I still have it! As a much older and wiser human, I can assure you that there's never time wasted on food chat, or food testing, or food devouring. Food brings people together. It's a deeply gluttonous token of love.
• Service. Does anyone remember when Michael Scott organized a fun run for rabies awareness? Well, there's not a good cause our bankers won't support. We'll do anything for charity. Like build extravagant canned food displays. Or, take a pie in the face. Or, wear Iowa State clothing. Yes, even that.

Ann looks so cute as a Hawk!

• The Ordinary. I'm sure many people think of banking as mundane. We work with...numbers. But important numbers. We protect money. We help people to buy houses. There's not an employee at the SCSB who doesn't believe in our mission. Yes, we come to a building filled with desks, computers, filing cabinets, copiers, notepads, etc. Boring stuff right? Maybe. On the last episode of The Office, Pam has the final monologue in which she says, "There's a lot of beauty in the ordinary things." I love this sentiment. Every time I go into the supply room to pick out my new color of post-its, I think of this.

Money, kids, and me. Oh my!

 Also in the last episode, Andy Bernard (played by Ed Helms) says, "I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you actually left them."  What a thought. Could we possibly realize the joy we experience the moment we're in the moment? Yes, I think we can. We should, actually. I'm sure gonna try harder. Thanks to the wisdom of The Office. And the great place I work.

By the way, I'm making my hubby watch every single episode, every season. I'm bossy that way. And you know what? I hear him chuckling.

Regarded as another legendary bank party. If memory serves me right, we raised money for Alzheimers that day.
See what I did there?