Friday, July 11, 2008

Office Romance

*Some people are married to their jobs, we're just dating ours*

A couple is dating. One person decides that things aren’t really going as well they used to be and that they aren’t really as happy in that relationship as they thought they would be. The “maybe it’s time to break up” idea starts forming in the back of their mind. They have nearly reached a definite “I want out” when suddenly something happens: flowers for no reason, a real engaging conversation, or just a great doorstep scene, and the person starts to reconsider. They think “well, maybe things aren’t SO bad, I’ll stay in a little longer and see what happens.”

The “maybe, well maybe not” battle continues, sometimes for years, before any definite action is taken.

I thought I had left all of that behind when I got married. I was wrong. Apparently the mind games that go on in the dating world can also happen in the corporate world.

Lately more than ever, Mike and I have been thinking about how un-thrilled we are with what we’re doing at work. It’s not that we have bad jobs; they just don’t make us really happy anymore. We talk about when and how we can “break up” with work.
Then, this week happened.

My work bought everyone lunch and cupcakes and I had a great morning with one of my coworkers restructuring a process that has been a mess for years. It was like having one of those “engaging conversations” with my job.

Mike’s work took us to Park City and paid for an evening of zipline, alpine slide, and roller coaster rides kicked off by a nice dinner where the head of his department lathered on the flattery and praise for each individual member of the team. It was a sort of “flowers for no reason” night.

So we ended the week with a “well, maybe it’s not SO bad.”

Although, in the back of our minds we’re still thinking about breaking up. Unless an incredible "doorstep scene" raise comes along…

5 comments:

Joel said...

Guys, just remember:

If your job starts saying things like "Baby, why do you got to make me hurt you like that?" it's time to move on because the love is gone.

Or have the job go with you on Dr. Phil.

Sarah Burgoyne said...

If you move to Denver I promise to make cupcakes and put you up over night at the fancy Hotel Burgoyne (wake up call, i.e. three loud little girls) included :)

Sarah Burgoyne said...

Your ticker says 8 days to 5K, are you ready? I'm going to attempt one in October, for someone who has never run, things are going pretty well :) It might be a little easier if Cathy and the girls werent in the middle of making cinimmon rolls :)

Brad & Darcy Ellis said...

I love this post! It is so hilariously true!

Kevin said...

That was a very insightful post. I hope no one ever has to go through the pressure to "marry" his/her job...