Lunchroom Conversations

01:27
Five minutes ago, I walked into the lunchroom to rinse my mug: reservoir for my fill of soy milk from this morning. You know how it thickens and sticks to the sides, looks like day old splooge. Nasty stuff, that soy milk when dried. Two female co-workers whose names I will not mention (only because I do not know them) are chatting during a break. A typically casual conversation amongst colleagues about the television and movie preferences of their respective kids & significant other.

OL A, "...he really likes the action stuff, really fast paced, you know."
Worker B, "He would really like Die Hard then wouldn't he?"
OL A, "Oh, but that is really adult. No that's...that's too adult."
Worker B, "Well that's got everything!"
OL A, "My husband, he likes 24."
Worker B, "24? Die Hard's like that."
OL A, "No, 24 is more...intelligent, what with the government and all that."
Worker B, "What about those Mel Gibson movies?"

Hearing that conversation alone was enough to signal my blood to boil and jolt me back into full consciousness from my work induced trance.

I suppose I can't blame them. They are just as much affected as I am by the phenomenon of OCBDD (Office-Computer Brain Drain Discorder). When forced to converse in a manner not related to work, it reduces us to make bubble-headed remarks on just about any topic. For shame that we should be plagued by this affliction, when we have the technology in our hands to combat the effects of this ailment. Internet radio, ipods, YouTube; conveniently packaged for the momentary diversion of attention to relieve us of concentration fatigue. All of it is readily available on the very workstations we have but we are cut off or forbidden to access the cure.

The Man is determined to bring us down and drag our brain-dead carcasses across the never changing landscape and barren wasteland of office space. Sure, cubicles may change slightly, at times we are boxed in, others we are a field of people at floating workstations but always under the overbearing dark clouds of corporate policies.