Almost everything is where it is not normally supposed to be. Paper strewn all over stationary materials out in the most uncompromising positions, it was mess of the highest degree. It looks as a deliberate attempt of some sections was done to make the most unsightly office in this side of The Milky Way. As if something weird happened and no one knew what it was all about! Or maybe those extraterrestrial creatures sneaked through, God knows what, and made a mess of everything. They are after all of us, aren’t they? Any other scenario wouldn’t make it to the Hollywood studios. Blame is everywhere.
Some souls comment; “It was a hell lot of better before the new boss came. It was only after he came things got out of hand. You should have seen this office two years back. It looked like the office of some billionaire!” How does a billionaire’s office look like!
“Are you telling me just because there is a new face in the leather chair your office got messy?”
“Well sort of…”
Hey watch it smart guy! The new boss might not be just one of those bosses who’re out before you know they’re in. So no need to worry! And he might not like the idea of you talking about him and you don’t see the ax before it falls. But then old or new shouldn’t those guys be a little worried about the mess all over the offices. After all he’s the boss!
“Well he might be the boss. But he isn’t going to go into every room and tell those irresponsible workers how to set up their tables or to hide their sandals (yes, sandals!) in some out-of-view place!”
“No, it isn’t because of him. The thing is the administrative department staffs are doing their jobs.” And then there t are the pseudo philosophers; “How can you people miss the art in the whole thing!”
It’s really sad. I mean what you first see and what you realize as you get closer are completely different stories. Not even ‘chapter one’ ‘chapter two’ stuff of the same story line. By now you might have noticed the tables in every office you go are adorned with PCs, and original ones too. Yes we’ve entered the IT age. Yes that’s what it must be. I mean you have to show the world that you’re not as far behind as they thought you to be. The whole setting is the best for some photo opportunity or short footage for the evening news flash.
Then as you get closer you’re torn between multiple emotions. “Are these guys to move out to another location?” “Are the cleaning staff on strike or something?” It must be one of such things for any office to be so cluttered with everything from bungled and torn up paper to the used tea bag, to the nail clippers and what have you.
So the million dollar question is how come there are so many computers and only two or three are being used? If they’re there for decoration sake a couple of vases of flowers would have created much more ambiance. And the funny thing is you think the amount of funds used to buy so many computers and the office at the end of the year runs out of funds to buy even pens! A very queer business strategy must have been put in place!
Look, as of yesterday we’ve entered the annual tax season and thousands would be flocking to various offices to pay their taxes and set the records straight. This is the time when the most dependable organizational strategy is needed. At times things could be so disorganized you’ll enter the New Ethiopian year with newer ailments you never had.
In some places it seems something that would have been very easily accomplished by a single staff member three or four are clamoring all over the place. If you ask me I’m not sure if this happens because the staff members are so dumb or because they don’t listen to instructions, or still that’s the most recent way of doing things. It is like three barbers trying to cut your hair at the same time! By the time it’s over your head would probably look like a desolated landscape overhauled and terribly disfigured by a couple of tsunamis! (Many years back a single barber did almost that to me! He was mowing my Afro so erratically it was as if he was cutting dense shrubs! Ha! )
In some places from the guys at the front door to staff members casually moving around the corridors almost each one of them wants to know what you’re there for. “It’s none of your business you are good for nothing,! Mind your own business and I’ll mind mine!” I mean it gets on your nerve when you ask some staff member where the GMs office is located and they ask you why you’re there!
“Can you show me where the general manager’s office is?”
“When you reach the far corner of the corridor turn left.” And before you collect your breath to say “Thank you…” the ‘Good Samaritan’ cuts in, “Do you have an appointment?”
“Yes, I have.”
“About what do you want to talk to him?” Hey wait a minute. What’s this guy trying to do?
There were times when offices had clearly written names on their doors. Remember those months when cases which took you weeks or even a month or two were finalized in twenty or thirty minutes! (I wouldn’t be surprised if some among the younger folk took such talk as nothing but fairy tale seeing how they are treated in some places these days!) Staffs in almost every office were so keen to help you, the stranger you’d have a flash or two of what a VIP treatment really means. Those were times the customer came closer to being the king as the thousands of promotional materials would tell you. But like everything good this too just melted into the thin air and when one day you wake up from your sleep everything is back to square one.
Anyways, appearances might not mean everything these days but they mean a lot of things. Keeping offices clear, orderly and nice to be in tell a good story or two about the pace! Don’t push pole to say “Am I really in an office which is supposed to serve the public? And with all the mess!”
‘All the mess’ is not a good story!
Ephrem Endale: Contributer
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY EDITION 9 JULY 2023