DLand - Business Casual

in ,

Overalls are the sideless surcoat of the modern age. They've got that whole gates of hell thing going on with breasts pushing out denim to reveal the tummy underneath. I noticed this as I was dancing around in the hallway of my office to slow country music. Can you tell the boss has gone to Vegas for the weekend? It's been a looooong day. I have a new phone headset at work so I'm all mobile. I'm like the Time Life operator around here only much more sarcastic. But it's pretty awesome to hook my receiver in the pocket watch of my bibs and lay on the loveseat in front of the fishtank solving the world's computer problems, one phone call at a time.

My boss loves me. In addition to my new phone toy, I have new plush carpet in my office and paper moon colored walls and clearance to buy myself a new leather chair. I'm so pleased. Sure I was here til 9 the other night painting my own walls, but I'm getting a leather recliner. The scent of my office alone will be enough of a job perk.

His comment was that if we spend this much time here, we should at least be comfortable. If we get the office next door, pinball games and air hockey tables will be in the works. Booyeah. Sure, I live here. But it's a good life.

But it's almost dark and time for me to head home. Work will have to wait til later tonight. It's time for dinner and some time to myself.

DLand - That Second Goddamn Rat

in ,

Bossman and I are in the kitchen just now, rooting through our new box of Lindt chocolates. One in particular is the Lindor XXO Heart chocolate. "Rich, dark chocolate filled with a soft melting white Lindor center, carved with a message of love." Bossman: "Mmm. XXO Heart. Wonder if that's like an XXX Heart."

Me: "Carved with a message of love?"

Bossman: "They don't put those chocolates in the variety box. They keep those behind the counter."

Me: "Do they still have the soft creamy filling?"

The network connection to our office has been going up and down all morning. Supposedly they are replacing a firewall server somewhere and it's not going well. But we can only sit here and wait for it to get fixed. Meanwhile, I have to try to provide technical support with no internet connection. It's downright infuriating. Everytime I ping a server and get timed out, my blood starts pumping and I shake my fists at the monitor.

My father tells this story. Ok, Daddy tells lots of stories. But he tells one story in particular about two rats. I actually saw a French film once that alluded to this same concept but I can't remember the name of it. All I remember is businessmen with giant rat head costumes. But I digress.

There is an experiment in which two rats are placed in little rat cubes - one in each cube. The scientists then give each rat a mild electric shock over and over again. One rat has a button that will stop the shocks for X amount of minutes for both cubes. That rat figures out pretty quickly that if he hits the button, the shocks stop for a while. The other rat just sits in his cube and takes it.

So after a while they take out the two rats. The rat with the button is absolutely fine. He's probably a little grumpy, but physically he shows no ill effects of the electric shock experience. The second rat (without the button) is a wreck. His hair has fallen out, he's got ulcers, heart palpitations, tumors, twitches, you name it - he's got it. He received the exact same amount of shock as the first rat. But he had no button. Invariably this story comes up with my father and he ends it with "and I feel like that second goddamn rat."

I think about those rats a lot. That you can take a lot of stress or unpleasantness if you feel like you have at least a little control over it. You can't solve the problem, but you can do something. You have a button, for lack of a better term. And in the same vein, if you have no button, no way of affecting your situation, you're suddenly "that second goddamn rat." The unpleasantness is magnified by your own inability to make a difference.

So I'm trying to find myself some buttons. Easier said than done at times.