Fish! On Friday at work I had to watch a video called "Fish!" This was not mandatory but was required (my company's wording, not mine). Fish! is a video about the Pike Place Fish Company in Seattle. It is a Fish Market, with a "revolutionary" philosophy: to have fun at work!
If you feel sick already, you are not alone. This is a 17-minute video, which costs over $100 to rent for a week, and costs, I believe, around $700 to buy. It features a bunch of dudes who work at a fish market. The basic premise is, they joke around with the customers and throw fish to each other instead of handing fish to each other. This premise is expounded in 4 points:
- Play: throw fish!
- Be There: be at work mentally, not just physically!
- Make Their Day: be nice to customers!
- Choose Your Attitude: you choose to be at work, so be happy!
I like to call this the Who Moved My Cheese phenomenon. The packaging of stupid simplicity in inspirational trappings seems to be a growing American trend. Someone needs to explain to America that constant happiness is not possible or even ideal. It's not human. Anyone who pursues happiness as the equal of health will wake up one day with a nasty hangover. It's time somebody stood up and embraced a concept of health that involves complexity!!!!!
Ok enough of that. Anyway, what was even more mystifying was a
conversation I had with a couple of co-workers later that day. I was
leaving the office to pick up some lunch, and one of the receptionists
struck up a conversation with me by saying, "Lunch time?"
I replied that it was indeed lunchtime and complained that I didn't get
anything done all morning because of the "Fish thing" (the meeting in
its entirety last an hour, we had discussions about the movie). The
receptionist replied that she hadn't had her Fish! session yet. I
leaned in to the desk so that no one but the two receptionists could
hear me, and whispered, "It's a waste of time."
The receptionist pointed at the other receptionist and said, "Lauren liked it. But she was a psychology major"
And Lauren said, "Yes, so I thought it was interesting."
I was a bit surprised. Perhaps she thought it was interesting that
people were taken in by it? I decided to test her.
"I thought it was reallllly obvious," I said.
"Oh," she said, and she was a bit offended.
Speaking of offending people at work, I've decided that saying-those-things-that-you-really-shouldn't-say is really awesome. I mean, I've gotten to know most of the people I talk to at work well enough that they know I don't mean it when I say ridiculous things, but sometimes I say things to people who really don't know me at all.
Last week at lunch time I was eating with some people that I know in
the kitchen at work, and this girl came in, who I met for about a
minute once and pretty much all I ever said to her was "Hi."
This one guy said to her "So, how is he?" (of course no one but he and
her know what he was talking about).
She replied, "He's doing OK, I think he's in a lot of pain, but he's
trying to mask it. His mouth is wired shut so he can't have real food
and stuff."
Immediately, everyone in the room perks up. A different guy ventures,
"Who are you talking about, what happened?"
The girl sort of rolls her eyes and tosses her head. "Oh, this guy I'm
dating right now."
"Long story?" different guys ventures again.
"Yeah. he was all over NY1 News this weekend."
"You're dating the Upper East Side Rapist?" I said. Everyone looked at
me. "Uh, sorry, I was joking," I added. (Well, he was all over the
NY1 news over the weekend).
"Nooo, the Brooklyn Terrorist." she said, then turned back to the
original guy and started asking him about whether the county had to pay
his medical bills because he was under arrest while in the hospital.
"Whoa," said different guy, "now I don't even want to know."
"Now I REALLY want to know," said Sex in the City Girl.
After being told by the original guy that the county probably wouldn't
pay his medical bills, the girl left, leaving the rest of us with a lot
of unanswered questions.
The answer to all (or most) of our questions lies here:
Blast, landmark photos in flat spur terror fear
By CARRIE MELAGO, JONATHAN LEMIRE and DON SINGLETON DAILY NEWS WRITERS
An explosion in front of a Brooklyn home coupled with the discovery of maps of city landmarks prompted fears of terrorism yesterday but it was only a performance artist's project gone wrong, officials said. Authorities who responded to 217 Butler St., found a badly burned Christopher Hackett, 31, as well as a cache of weapons and explosives in his third-floor Boerum Hill apartment, police said. The firearms, including two rifles, a shotgun and a machine gun, and pyrotechnics were eventually determined to be part of Hackett's performances, said NYPD Deputy Chief on Counter Terrorism John Colgan. "It appears the gentleman is an artist and uses these devices in the course of his work," Colgan said. "They're not real guns. He'll form them into different things," said neighbor Richard Nelson, 15. "He'll take an AK-47 body and turn it into something else." The cache came to light when a "spud gun" - a 2-foot-long pipe that Hackett had rigged to fire confetti - exploded, injuring him, Colgan said. Hackett was treated for serious facial burns at Lutheran Medical Center after the 11:15 a.m. explosion. Counterterrorism investigators were called in when photos and maps of the Brooklyn Bridge, the World Trade Center, the Croton Reservoir and other landmarks were found in Hackett's flat. But NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said, "There was no indication that he was looking at any targets or infrastructure." Instead, the folders on New York landmarks belonged to the woman who shared Hackett's apartment and did research on the history of the city, a law enforcement source said. Neighbors said Hackett, arrested on weapons charges, had appeared on the TV show "Junkyard Wars."
