The Cube Rat

A friend of mine who works at a company in New York City recently told me of a story about an office discussion that turned into a disaster. She said she found herself being a “cube rat” - a term dubbed in her company for a person who is unable to keep a secret, well, a secret.

Luckily, I am surrounded by great individuals who take personal information in and never release it to others, but it did spark an interest to know whether this has happened to anyone before? I’m sure it has.

Secrets and lies. When it comes to both there can be no better person to talk to then an office friend. Sometimes these discussions circulate around a coffee machine, others around a water cooler, and some from above cubical walls. Most light topics can lead to deeper more in-depth information into a personal life. Usually people feel you can trust the individuals with your information…until it happens. The information you just released comes flying back at you through an email, phone call or the occasional surprise visit from a co-worker. That’s when you know you have just been crapped on by…the cube rat. I recently spoke to a friend of mine at a different organization who was

Ahh…the cube rat. Every office has one (maybe more), and every person finds out who it is the hard way. I have always asked myself, why do people feel the need to spread your information? Maybe because they have nothing better to say about their own life?

Here are some tips to stop this from happening to you:

1: You could become a recluse. Do not speak to anyone. Do your work and go home.

2: If number one sounds boring, then you could test the waters a bit. Talk to everyone and tell them  something different. The topic that returns is the rat.

3: Become a rat to get back at the rat….nah…never mind. That doesn’t sound like an option.

4: Don’t care…keep things to yourself and only provide the most basic information.

Yup…go with number four. Skip all the others.

Mug Shot!

(here are some of the mugs from around the office!)

Show us your mug! Send it in and we'll post it-even if it is an Ugly Mug! CHEERS!




-Jill

March Madness Part 2: MEGA MILLIONS

Well my March Madness pool has all but drained. Note to self for next year: screw allegiance.  Temple U? More like Temple Who? So that Cinderella story didn't work out...with my chances of winning the rather impressive pot worth a few hundred bucks languished, I have decided to go big or go home-I have moved on to what I have dubbed, March Madness Part 2, aka Mega Millions lottery.  The more impressive pot. Way more.

The Mega Millions pool is worth an estimated $500 Million.  Or basically in simpler terms-my paycheck times like a gazillion.  At $1 a ticket and your chance of dying by having a vending machine fall on top of you (no really I heard it on the radio on the way into work this morning) greater than your chance of winning, those are my kind of odds. Math and stats and probability were never my thing.

At my company, like thousands across Mega Million states, office pools are all the rage.  Everyone chips in a few bucks in effort to secure more tickets (aka chances of winning).  However, that dream can be a nightmare if you don't  follow these tips here.  You have been warned.  As I see it, you have 3 options:

1) Either pay $250/hr to a lawyer to draw up provisions for the $1 you put into an office pool for a lottery drawing where your odds of winning are estimated at about one in 176 million.  Again, no Math junkie here but...

2) Go it alone.  Walk your dollar and a dream (shout out to Biggie!) right past your co-workers cubes and out to the gas station...

OR

2) Take that $1 straight down the vending machine and get the $100,000 Bar.  Mega Tenth of a delicious Million right there! JUST BE CAREFUL!

-Jill

Not O-Kcups!

I am a coffee junkie. If I could walk around with an IV pole of java pumping through my veins, I would.

I make a huge pot in the morning but by the time my sprint out the door beckons, I have left the pot half full (caffeine awakens my positive spirit-alas, if you will note I do not leave the pot half empty upon my commute).  Most days, I will take a travel mug in the car as well.  I told you, a junkie.

For the longest time I would peel into Wawa to get my hands on a 24 oz to have at my desk. Again, yes, a junkie.  Wawa is literally across the street from my building.  At the red light, I can turn left into Wawa and secure my 24 ozs and another day being 5 minutes late, or I could head right (and be right and do right and go right) into my building. On time. I often feel like this is exactly how Frost felt whilst penning The Road Not Taken. Although I am still trying to figure out which one he would have thought less traveled.

Anyway, I diverge and digress. My whole point is back in December, my Department decided to chip in and buy a Keurig. If you have to even ask what this is, you are dead to me. I could get to work faster, I could secure additional coffee more cheaply and I could start making less coffee at home and not feeling like I am wasting the world's water supply with my habit.  And surprisingly, the coffee is pretty darn good.  There's always something though isn't there? What's that saying, if something sounds too good to be true...

Turns out those little K-Cup suckers are not recyclable.  Listen, I am no hardcore environmentalist but I pride myself on my carbon footprint.  Unlike my actual footprint, my carbon one is dainty.  It has been estimated that over 7.5 million Keurig brewers have been sold.  Office cubes and offices, dentist and doctors office, hair salons, residential kitchens you name it are littered with these things.  And now, our landfills are apparently littered with the disposable cups as well.

Keurig's website read the following: "Reducing the environmental impact of our packaging materials and brewing systems is a top priority for Keurig. It is a challenge to create a portion pack that is recyclable and delivers an extraordinary cup of coffee; however, Keurig is actively working to meet this challenge head on".

Keurig got me into this brew-ha-ha and they will get me out.

-Jill

Lunch Time

It usually hits your nostrils around 12pm; those lingering smells that seems to circle my cube and land straight into my nose. It’s the lunch hour, and all at once lunches migrate together and form a smell that can either be delicious or down right hideous.

The cafeteria is no better. We only have two microwaves, and one is usually broken. By 12pm you will be the 5^th or 6^th person waiting in line just to heat up your lunch. Being that far behind will easily squash 15 minutes to your lunch hour. If you are pressed for time, oh well! Better pack a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! Because by the time you reach the front, your frozen lunch has melted away allowing you to knock off a few minutes on the microwave heat up instructions. When you finally reach the microwave everyone stares at you. Feeling rushed, you struggle to heat up your lunch and look for something to do to kill the time.

The best is leftover fish. Who doesn’t love the smell of fish microwaving, filling the air with that glorious scent of the sea?! I think that mixed with macaroni and cheese are two of the worst smells during lunch. Oh wait…add broccoli to that list as well. I’m sure we have all heated up something stinky, and I apologize for this. I am now aware and will not make people suffer anymore. I now realize that some food is meant to be kept at home.

Thank goodness spring is officially here. The beautiful weather offers the opportunity to sit outside away from those smells, or a chance to adventure out for lunch.

We are one, we are the same

Under these fluorescent lights (where every zit we’ve had since birth simultaneously becomes visible), and within these gray, radio-factory-in-Russia walls we sit in prefabricated conformity. So similar are the cubes that I have, on my way back from the bathroom, actually sat down and started working at someone else’s desk. Couldn’t tell the difference (but I was in a decongestant haze).

So our individuality is limited to how we dress (except for the overall awesomeness of Lisa's fabric-lined cube walls). That is our statement of workplace nonconformity – an emphatic, solemn declaration that states: “I am me!”

But sometimes in our effort to be different we become the same.

With all the colors and styles of clothing available, statistically the chances of wearing the same thing to work as your cube mate on the same day are slim. But just like winning the lottery, or being Lee Harvey Oswald (who worked in a radio factory in Russia, btw), sometimes we’re in the right place at the right time – or the wrong time (depending on your point of view).

Some recent collisions of fashion:

A spirit of fellowship, eh comrades?

What Are Tan Towels?

In the past two hours I have heard the term “tan towels” used at least 10 times. I had no idea what they were, but I found out quickly that they work. My sister, who is leaving for a European vacation tomorrow, decided to purchase tan towels to make her skin look “sun kissed” instead of “winter kissed.” She used the towels last night and this morning her skin has a natural glow. Seeing her beautiful skin sparked a conversation between my female cube neighbors. Now everyone wants to tan towel, and now everyone is going to Ulta at lunch to purchase them.

It makes sense considering that we sit in our cubes for a good majority of the day with no vitamin D. Our skin needs something…and maybe a tan towel is the healthy answer.

If you are a little skeptical of the tan towel, do a Google search and read some of the reviews. The reviews say the product works. There was only one con and that was the fear of the uneven tan line. It can definitely be avoided with exfoliating before spreading the tanning solution over your skin. You can also wear gloves. 

Since spring is around the corner, help yourself and your skin to some tan towels.

~ Lisa