Den Of Psychosis

There are plenty of days where my job is a real drag -- and usually it's cubicle-, computer- or customer-related. But deep down, this is a great place to work. The projects are interesting, the people are a hoot, and the culture of the place is completely unlike most offices.

It will surprise no one that an office full of men feels completely different than an office full of women, and around here that's incredibly obvious. The men have us outnumbered 2-1 throughout the building, and 10- or 20-1 in any given engineering meeting. You learn to roll with it or you lose your mind.

Its very relaxed most of the time. Not in the Google-wear-your-pajamas-to-work sort of way, but definitely in the familiar-without-going-overboard sort of way. Makes holidays -- especially Halloween -- much more interesting.

Most of all, though, there are some incredibly quirky folks that I get to hang out with on a day-to-day basis. There's the crotchety old man who is actually much friendlier than he cares to admit -- and who is known for a) his smoke breaks (he smokes a pipe) and b) his working hours (he's regularly in by 3 or 4 in the morning). There's the other older gentleman that I share a wall with who is almost always singing to himself while he walks. There are the designers, who are a breed all their own (known for their noisemaking devices); the process engineers, who do things like put up saloon doors on our cubicles and hang up height charts; the mechanical engineers, who take peanut breaks every day at 10:00; and, of course, the overworked, overstressed, over-blood-pressured project managers. They don't have a unifying quality so much as each is known for his own quirks.

Then there are the lab techs, the pilot plant guys, the admin assistants, the purchasers, the quality folks, the shop guys, the bio group, the Zimpro group, the E-Scan group, the traitorous R&D-now-a-part-of-Corporate group ... Then you can throw in the other known crowds -- those who play sports on the company teams, the various groups that play cards over the lunch hour, the people that make popcorn every Friday, the old-timers, the United Way folks ... There's a lot of overlap there. Lots and lots.

And then there's the Cool Table, who I can claim to have helped started. We've become oddly famous, likely because we're almost exclusively under 30 and we tend to travel as a pack (and our weekly dinner habit is known by everyone). The Admiral suggested that at the next company function we only associate with non-CTers, and I think he might be on to something.

This is a place that is completely unlike anywhere else I've worked, both because there are a lot more people and because there's a lot more variation in personalities. Even the problems can have a degree of hilarity to them.

Speaking of problems, I need to finish dealing with the one so that I can leave sometime today. Off I go. Have a good day!