I’ve never worked in an office with cubicles before. I’ve seen a lot of The Office but my assumption is most offices are not like that. The office I worked in at CNC was very relaxing, it had pleasantly colored walls, personal space and there was not much noise pollution. This is not the case at Church of the Foothills aside form the pleasantly colored walls, it does have that, in spades! Personal space is almost non-existent and it’s almost impossible not to eavesdrop on people. Not that I do that, that would be an invasion of privacy!
I often talk to Bethany about work and some of the silly things that happens. “I’m glad you have friends at work” she says. That’s not to say I was not friends with people in the office at CNC I was, they were family, but it was different. In the offce here there are several people in the office my age with my sense of humor and my affinity for pranking. Thus hijincks ensue.
Thus far my prank buddies are Sam & Taylor. Taylor and I hold down the fort in the office as two of the only guys working in the cubicle area. I will say however that Mark Monroe gets an honorable mention for being there 1 day a week.
If I traced the lineage of pranks back to a single source I would say it was Sam (The Dwight to my Jim) and his Jelly Belly’s. How could such a delicious treat be used as a prank you say? Well it’s less of a prank and more of an odd gesture. Sam would often, in the middle of me working or talking, walk up and drop a handful of Jelly Belly’s on my desk. A nice gesture you say? Kinda… In one sense I’m thankful for the snack but knowing that he purposefully gives me the “B Team” of Jelly Belly’s, the ones he doesn’t like, taints it a little bit…” The situation escalated, as hijincks often do, to me dropping half a bag of trail mix on his desk while he was on a phone call and unable to react. This has gone on for a couple of weeks. I promise, we also get work done.
This week I was preparing to eat a delicious meal made by my lovely bride inspired by our trip to Jordan with Quinoa, Tabouli, Falafel, Hummus and Carrots. Jealous? You should be. Needless to say as I placed it in the microwave, keyed in 2:30 and tapped start my mouth began to water. I walked away for a couple of minutes and came back to find the microwave door ajar and :21 seconds left on the door. “Who steals a lunch?” I thought… After 10 minutes of searching I rounded the corner to see Sam attempting to sneak my lunch back into the microwave… Silly Sam you’ve started something you will soon regret. After lunch, again while Sam was on the phone, I walked in his office grabbed his wireless mouse and keyboard and walked out. I took them put them in a cardboard box and taped it up. I returned it to him 5 minutes later as a delivered package. Taylor and I had a good laugh, at and with, Sam after he exclaimed “Why’s everyone picking on my while I’m on the phone!?” Because it’s fun Sam, because it’s fun…
The pranks Jim plays on Dwight on the TV show the Office were always my favorite. I never imagined I would get to do it! I don’t know if I’ll ever be that clever but maybe one day. Watch out for a weighted phone Sam or one day you’ll smack yourself in the head and I will lightly chuckle to myself…
Bryce
