Office Socialism.

I can really feel the atmosphere in there, I mean REALLY feel it. I would say that the atmos in question is a shade short of literally palpable. Labeling it as the "daily grind" has everything to do with it; but this revolves around the point that it's inescapable for most people who are inclined to make money. I mean, you've heard the lady, "Wouldn't you like to make more money? Sure we all do" (TV ad).

The office setting draining wills.

I work for a major television network. For the most part it's sweet/a breeze. I honestly don't mind schlepping across the city to go to work for several helpings of small-talk, but this largely depends on my mood, which can be said for some-to-most-to-all mammals. It is understood why people gossip and largely converse about the same three or four things, but I have little tolerance for conversations that do not need to take place. Therein lies electronic mail. We are so spoiled in the 21st century. “Hey, did you get my email?” And then regardless of the answer, the initiator 100% every time continues to state exactly what is in said e-mail, usually by saying something stupid such as, “Oh OK, because….” Which obviously defeats the entire purpose of electronically mailing the person in the first place. And now the subject cannot be dropped since just broaching it causes enough damage.. It makes absolutely zero sense. The worst part about this whole thing is that more than likely a response to the initial email has probably already been written, and in light of this conversation, nullified. This kills me. And people get offended if I say that I replied to them so there is no purpose in our currently discussing it. The mood becomes increasingly awkward as if there is no other topic on the entire planet worth talking about other than this now infamous email. Easily the most irritating part about this is that from time to time I have also been a perpetrator.

Sometimes emails are sent with “high importance”; in the event that I see the email and deem it too lowly on the scale of my attention span. I cannot foresee a time where we as a society are so incredibly busy that we have to impose a system of hierarchy in our company Microsoft Outlook. How is not every email, at the very least, a little important? Even if I see the little red exclamation point that accompanies a super important email, I don’t read it before others. I refuse. Perhaps if the red punctuation was instead a Batman symbol, then I’d read it lickity-split. Yes I’d be fooled every time into thinking it was an email from none other than the Dark Knight himself, but the sense of urgency accompanying the email would be unmistakable.

This is why I frequently send emails with a "low importance" blue exclamation point. I don't think my recipients have noticed (does that mean it works?). After all, if an email were of true dire importance, it would be a phone call, no?