Workplace Hazards

When I was home in Michigan for Christmas, my brother gave me a book to aid in my assimilation to British life. The book, Brit-Think, America-Think, takes an admittedly tongue-in-cheek look at the cultural gaps between Brits and Americans. Ultimately, the author hones in on a single difference between how the two cultures approach life by looking, interestingly, at how the two cultures approach death. The idea is that Americans approach death as (nearly) optional - hence the common preoccupation with health, plastic surgery, education, etc. Brits, on the other hand, resign themselves to a fate out of their hands, and therefore are content to roll with the punches and take what comes to them. A Brit would find it useless to try to take too much control of things, arrogant to try to outwit destiny, and, well, uncool to be seen as trying too hard. I tend to avoid sweeping generalizations derived from coffee table reading, but I must say that I'm beginning to agree with this book.

This laid back British approach to life becomes much less charming (and, consequently, much more annoying) in the workplace. Especially for an earnest American like myself. (Stop laughing. My "Curtis" work persona is all business). Take, for example, facilities issues in the office. When I arrived to work on Monday morning, my typical route to my mini-cubicle was blocked by yellow warning tape and and signs instructing me to steer clear of the main conference room on our floor. Upon further inspection (see photo evidence above), I realized that the conference room door had been shattered to pieces. Despite the protective plastic covering, there were small glass shards all over the place. Just when I thought that a year-end review had gone awry, a colleague informed me that the door shattered because a part on the latch was broken. This allowed for the sliding door to slide out of control without proper guidance. The latch had been malfunctioning for months. (But evidently a part is on order, as you can see from the sign above).

The busted glass door itself was only marginally humorous. But when I left today (Wednesday) and noticed that no clean-up had taken place, I really cracked up. People have removed the warning tape and pushed the signs to the side, and you sort of have to keep an eye out for glass shards, but otherwise we aight.

And, apparently, the part is still on order.