Thursday, September 11, 2008

my life as a scene from "Office Space"

So, at work right now, I'm consulting on someone else's project, as I am the resident expert on a tool that they want to include in a new section. This project has a Basecamp discussion board. And our office has a project manager who tries to keep all the active projects moving along in an orderly fashion.

This morning, someone had a question for me on the group discussion. I need to get an answer elsewhere, I have already sent out an e-mail asking for the info, and now I'm waiting for a response, which I expect later today.

The project manager just came up to my desk, leaned against the wall of my cube, and asked if I'd seen the message. ("Hi, Peter. What's happening? We need to talk about your TPS reports... Did you get that memo?")

I explained to him that I did see it... ("Yeah. I got the memo.")
... and that I'd already requested the info... ("And I understand the policy.")
... and that I'm expecting an answer soon... ("And the problem is just that I forgot the one time.")
... at which point I'll post the answer to the discussion board. ("And I've already taken care of it so it's not even really a problem anymore.")

The PM then told me that he needs me to look at the question that was posted on the message board... ("Ah! Yeah. It's just we're putting new coversheets on all the TPS reports before they go out now.")
and provide an answer. ("So if you could go ahead and try to remember to do that from now on, that'd be great. All right!")

I told him again that I'm already working on an answer.
He suggested that I post on the message board that I'm working on getting an answer.
...
At which point I asked him if he'd ever seen Office Space (and the guy who sits next to me burst out laughing).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am GLAD you asked him that, I am GLAD the person next to you busted up audibly, and I would LOVE to hear what his reaction was. :)

Maggie said...

Well, he's not so good with the pop-culture references. Yesterday, he was talking about his high-powered new computer, and I asked if it goes to eleven. When everyone in the office chuckled, he said, "Yeah, Maggie's not all there sometimes, I think she's hallucinating." At which point someone asked what *he* was talking about, he said that I never make any sense, and someone *else* explained to him that I was quoting Spinal Tap.

He had never even heard of the movie.

And no, he's never seen Office Space either.