Everyone knows that I LOVE THE OFFICE. Parks and Recreation got off to a bumpy start, but I really like Amy Poeler and after a while, the show really grew on me. It was a subtler humor, not as sad or as sardonic as the office, but kind of light hearted and zany. And some of the humor is SO abstract. I love Ron. He is my favorite character, I think. I love how he loves breakfast foods, enough that there is a mention of it in almost every other episode (how there is a larged framed picture of eggs and bacon as his decor. I too had a picture of a banana… committing suicide…).
I love how Parks and Recreation is different. All the main characters on the show are quirky and weird, but in a different way than in The Office. I like how, “Middle America” it is. I like how it’s a departure from the British-based show and something completely different. I like how both shows are feature bosses/management being completely passionate about a thankless job that most people wouldn’t think twice about. I was really skeptical about the show, but I think it’s really well conceived and has finally developed a great identity. I’m just afraid that it doesn’t have too many fans as of yet… (And I am secretly afraid it is turning into a show that focuses on romantic relationship/melodrama… instead of awkward encounters and other work based quirky work relationships.)
And really, work is just like The Office and Parks and Recreation (and even 30 ROCK!). Seriously. People get really bored. For example, at my last job… I had an on-going “cube war,” with the guy who shared my neighboring super cubes. (As people left, we would poach and take over other cubicles, as F-ed up as that sounds.) One time, he spent … I don’t know how long, making like hundreds of tiny paper balls. And then waited until precisely the right moment to ambush me showering me with it all, shouting, “CUBE WARS.” Unfortunately I was in a really foul mood and he almost made me cry. :P But yes, this was also the same guy that made creepy masks of people in the office so that a bunch of us could wear it and walk around being … a group of really creepy people.
You know, fun times.
I think work comedies are a really good idea, because it kind of forcibly brings together a diverse group of people, the audience can definitely relate to most situations, and zany shit really does happen.
One time in one of my other jobs, someone high up was getting fired. As one of the managers of the IT stuff in the office, I had to watch her pack up and walk her down. In the process the woman took out a crystal ball (and I all ready knew she had some zany new age stuff up her sleeves) out of her desk, and asked me to keep it for her. An awkward exchange happened, where I just said, “No.” And she was trying to be sweet and leave it behind. Yeah. Don’t ask. I think she pawned it on the controller until around 6 or so months later when she had some random guy pick it up.
Everyone has odd coworkers, right? When I was in my government job, there was someone everyone referred to as “Inspector Gadget,” because he was a hoarder and would go dumpster diving. All the weirdest stuff (like when I needed to get my key altered (cut/trimmed a little), you would go to him and he would have EVERYTHING and the most random-est shit ever.
Everyone has crazy work stories. Next time, over a few beers, ask me about the time I came back from the Consumer Electronics Show and had to deal with a bleeding crack addict in my work elevator… coming at my coworkers.
I am convinced that I have enough true life material to come up with at least a season’s worth of materials. I really do.
(Hey I noticed something funny. I’ve worked for a sales oriented company, aka. a Dunder Mifflin, a government office/branch, like Parks and Recreation, and am currently working for a network… kinda like 30 Rock!)
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