Neal's Workshop

During the month of December, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, coworkers in my small corproate office could sign up to bring in breakfast foods. Like vultures, my colleagues would descend on the food and devour it. It's a gruesome spectacle - one in which I've often participated.

The spectacle has always bothered me, and I'm still trying to nail down why. Anyway, below is an excerpt from an email I sent this morning to a co-worker on the matter and on Corporate Life in general:

Follow up:

BTW, I've noticed these past few weeks that everytime someone has brought in those Chic-fil-a minis, they get eaten up very quickly. For example, as of right now, they are completely gone. I think there's a metaphor lurking here about Corporate Life (and life in general, really). And that is that when people have no restraint, and something is offered to them that is free, they will exhaust that resource as quickly as possible. The economic concept is the "tragedy of the commons", which is that public resources are exhausted and not maintained. In our Corporate Life, things put in the break room get eaten the hell up. The same goes for soft drinks. But for the endless, free supply of soft drinks [supplied by my company], I'd rarely ever drink that stuff. But because its there, I drink it up. Something about all of this bothers me, and I think I know what it is.

Corporate Life is denoted by one common tenet: lack of responsibility. Sure, some people bring in food items. Some also refill the coffee pot. However, you and I know that the slackasses in this office almost certainly outnumber those who take responsibility. Outside of the breakroom, people don't take responsibility for their work. When mistakes are made, "it's okay, mistakes happen". When collosal errors in judgment result in millions upon millions of dollars being lost, where are the alarms? And who gets fired? This culture of irresponsibility is sickening, but even worse, it is contagious.

When the buck stops nowhere, the system of responsibility breaks down. Rather than rising to a challenge or taking pride in one's work, mediocrity becomes the status quo: do just enough to get by. I've succumbed to this; honestly, I don't know anyone here who hasn't.

And if there's one reason to leave this place, it's to get away from such an anti-life environment. Who wants to live a life where you've taken few chances and accomplished nothing more than climbing some silly corporate ladder of mediocrity? Without personal responsibility, can you claim you've accomplished anything at all?

Thoughts and comments appreciated.