Making the workplace enjoyable

P. G. Bhaskar :
Going to work every day in the middle of a concrete jungle might not seem like a very interesting thing to do, but it actually is. One just has to keep one’s eyes and ears open. There’s plenty of fun to be had and many little observations to be made. Corporate life after all, involves people and technology and where these are involved, there will be issues, confusion, foibles and weaknesses.
At the expense of sounding terribly evil, I must say that one of the most jolly thing you can possibly start your day with of course, is to find that the parking card of the chap in front of you isn’t working.
He initially holds it stylishly and nonchalantly. Then finding that the barrier remains firmly in place, he moves the card around a bit still retaining some semblance of calmness. His confidence level is still high. Then he raises the card, turns it, bends his body and stretches his hand forward towards the windshield. A solitary toot sounds from behind, encouraged by which, others start honking as well.
Now a mild scare sets in. Our man waves his card desperately and holds it at various angles. His hope belied, he lowers the glass, sticks the card out and shakes it vigorously. By now he is getting a little hysterical.
The hooting behind him grows louder. In a mad frenzy, he reverses his car (you honk in panic) and then pulls away. Whereupon, you drive up and hold up your own card nervously. The barrier goes up and a broad smile of relief almost splits your face into two as you drive in proudly. Of course, you could easily have been the person in front, but hey, it’s the weekend. We shall talk only about happy things.
Within the office, it is interesting to observe every worker’s desk. Some have not a shred of paper on them but some desks can hardly be seen at all for all the paper that covers them. Rooms and desks also symbolise status or wannabe status; a golf putter, an outsized, shiny name-plate, a sculpture, a painting. I had a boss once who liked to appear ‘intellectual’. His desk had Tolstoy’s ‘War & Peace’ on it. It remained there for the five years that I knew him.
For women in offices, it appears there isn’t much of a dress code in Dubai. One has seen all kinds – from western style to Indian, from smart casual to the catwalk look – at work.
As for men, one can often notice the transformation from being all stiff and formal in their best suit on their first day on the job to the unbuttoned collar, loosened tie and sleeves folded and pushed over the arm, six months on.
It is amusing to observe colleagues who need their belongings carried to and from their car. I even know one man who dictates while his secretary types his emails. I also enjoy the ‘dude’ who wears his shades right until he reaches his desk.
The lift, too, is a good source of amusement. People have completely stopped smiling at or greeting strangers in the lift these days. Given the haste with which they pull out their smart phones and stare at it intensely, you’d be forgiven for thinking they were all CEOs, every second of whose work on that instrument makes millions for their companies.
It is also enjoyable watching people – women especially – looking at themselves in the mirror without making it seem too apparent. Some of them simply can’t take their eyes off their reflection and keep staring in a smug, narcissistic kind of way.
Have you noticed how a person who is casually humming or singing in the lobby clams up as soon as the lift door shuts? That’s because the voice suddenly sounds louder and the singer turns self-conscious! Or how people who are in a conversation in a lift often sound rather stupid? That’s because they are aware that everyone is listening, so they use code words, eye contact and gestures, which is lost on the others. Their purpose is served but unfortunately everyone else thinks they are dumb.
But the most fun part about working in a multi-storyed building is when you get to see some pompous corporate type folks walk out of the lift in a lordly fashion only to sheepishly scamper back in, having discovered – much to their discomfiture – that they had stepped out at the wrong floor.
(P. G. Bhaskar’s most recent book ‘Mad in Heaven’ has been published by Harper Collins. Please visit www.pgbhaskar.com to enter his world.)