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Out of context: Reply #28311
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- SkyPoo0
When I first moved into this building I was, naturally as per my disposition, quite friendly and jovial. Then a number of things happened:
1. I found that people liked to stop by at other people's offices to chat and pass the time. it got to be 6 people, twice a day. One of whome would be here at 7:30am and if I had an early start due to a panic deadline, she would sidle in and start talking at me incessantly until about 9:30am.
2. I found that everyone was always complaining about the building and getting very angry about being badly treated by the people who run the building.
3. I found that there was a weird bitchy / gossipy undercurrent and I was unwittingly finding myself agreeing with people's vaguely spiteful mutterings for lack of a better response.
4. I found that if I said one thing to one person once, a week later somebody totally unconnected would ask me about it.
So, given that I was way too busy to have a stream of people dropping in to ask me to explain to them what exactly it is I'm doing, and why, and who its for, and how do I do it, and how do I find my work, and whether or not I do the work, or whether the computer does the work, and so on... I decided I would have a closed door policy and limit my social involvement to smiles, hellos, bare minimum chitchat and no involvement in the aggressive action commitees that spring up to tackle issues such as 'the kettle', 'the toilets', 'the rent' etc, but then rapidly dissolve again before any action is agreed.
It really funny to see that various people ( namely the ones who clearly like a bit of aggro ) have taken this 'closed door Spooky' thing very personally indeed and now do their very best to try and blank me completely in the communal areas.
What I like about that is that having said a cordial hello and received a schoolyard blanking, I then repeat much louder "I SAID HELLO" at which point their resolve crumbles and they have to do a bit of acting to pretend they didn't hear me.
And I'd love to make a video of those moments when ordinary people employ acting as a social mechanism. I think it would be great.
Me and an old friend once tried to make an art film called "When the laughter stops"... which would be an ongoing series of edits of only that few seconds when someone who has been laughing eventually comes to a stop and has to step of the escalator of mirth back on to the solid ground of self conscious seriousness.
I wish I was an arty film maker sometimes.