Hola, Sneakers! Welcome back to Sneaky Dragon, the podcast from the future of the past!
This week: numbers game; dried out; safety hands; publishing crawl; office copies; disappointing stationers; don’t quote me on this; tithed up; feather-weight; cynical giving; off-Broadway hymns; lowered expectations; megachurch; the real Oscar outrage; sucker punched; shine on, you crazy diamond; when life gives you Leno; done growing; grace herpes; skip to my Luigi; so tired; busy bees; nervous exhaustion; calling Dr. Google; falling apart is hard to do; stretching a point; nerd gym; lapping it up; TV workouts; virtually fun; vampire-free; zoo eye; acting Relic; here comes the judgement; idle music; all about pigmeat; going daffy; nary an Atari; Lil’Tractor; going mentor; gone prawn; Americans want shrimps; masked music; new catchphrases; totally fungible; and, finally, severance.
Question of the Week: What was your best work environment? And your worst?
Sub-question of the Week: Are you a gym rat?
Thanks for listening.
Here is a comparison of Langely City in 2004 and 2019. Near the bottom of the top image in the centre, you can see the old SOS office supplies building and its weird property configuration. In the lower image, you can see the new road, plowed through the old property in all its odd, curvy glory. (As you can see, Langley City is too old to have been built on a road grid system.)
We referenced Shake Hands with Danger. If you haven’t seen it, check it out!
You can find Under the Influence here – a fascinating history of advertising hosted by Terry O’Reilly.
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1. My best work environment is where I currently work, hence me being here since 1995 (except for one year). The facilities are bright and well maintained; the people in the building, students and colleagues alike, are generally kind, hard working people; the neighbourhood is safe and attractive; the pay is decent; the employees are generally well treated and respected; the hours are liveable; and the work is fulfilling. There are some downsides, most currently having to do with the commute.
My best work environment was also where I currently work, but about ten years ago. I was the only person in my department who did not apply to be Department Head, but admin gave the position to me (I accepted reluctantly) as the rest of the people were all at war with each other, and the world in general. Not a recipe for a healthy or productive work environment. I left, but then came back. Things were better as some people had been moved on.
2. I wouldn’t say I’m a gym rat, but I do go regularly. In the summer or when on break, I try to go at 7 days a week, and during busier times in my life, I try to go 4-5 times a week. My philosophy is that even if I can put in 15-20 min. of work, it all adds up at the end of the week.
I can remember working at Lone Star Comics and hearing my late friend and co-worker Sean say, “This is the greatest job we’ll ever have.” He was right, we had it all, it was easy and we knew exactly what we were doing. The only difficult task each week was to make room for the new comics and our manager did that, we just fell in behind him and worked the weekends for him. We were good at it. My manager didn’t try to start a cult but he sure belonged to one, The Church of the Sub-Genius, a local cult/church/organization/something started by Doug Smith a.k.a. Reverend Ivan Stang. They “worshipped” J.R. Bob Dobbs, the pipe smoking, smiling retro 50’s Dad-like Icon, all I can say is man, were they interesting. My manager worked for them on the weekends and was on the Sub-Genius radio show, “The Hour of Slack.” You’ll have to Google this crazy shit because I still don’t understand it but it made for some fun people watching.
Since you asked for the best “environment”, I choose Lone Star even though it was a short term college job of almost three years, but if you want professional work “environment” it would be when I worked for Tic Toc in downtown Dallas. I took the train, had a huge office space with a gigantic window overlooking Dallas from the 19th floor, it was magnificent. Tic Toc provided me with anything I needed to perform my work, all I did was ask for it. My co-workers were kind and supportive but at the same time there was something wrong at Tic Toc, an underbelly to the business that I couldn’t shake. So after only two and a half years, half the company was let go due to mismanaged accounting for the upcoming year, there just wasn’t enough back log to support us all. It was a really great place to work and I had more freedom to Art Direct than any other job to date, but sadly Tic Toc went down like a sinking ship.
I’ve never been a gym rat, in fact the only time I’ve ever used a gym was when I was at Dr Pepper. Our new headquarters they built for us in 1998 had a really nice gym with everything you could want, so when my doctor at the time told me I needed to lose some weight, I used the gym after work. The gym was so popular that after a few years, they doubled it in size for us, it was the perfect setup with television and a treadmills with headphone jacks so you could pick up the television audio. There was a sit-up machine, the kind with no weights or pulleys. It was the kind that used your upper body weight at an angle to sit up while your ankles were secured around cushions at the highest point. I used that damned machine so much, my fellow work-outers called it “The Ed Machine.” Those few years I used the Dr Pepper gym worked, I lost the weight and never gained it back. I called it my “Dad Weight”, the kind I gained after my first child was born. I was so involved in rearing my daughter that I neglected caring for myself, so I gained weight due to that inactivity. Lots of eating and sleeping along with sporadic hours being the culprit.
Enjoy the blessings of a beautiful Easter weekend and remember to sneak quickly during any egg hunts!!
Hi guys!
I missed the window to post for last week, so I will answer both weeks in this post. First off, congrats to Dave on the promotion at work! Yay!!!
I really enjoyed the Top 5 playlist + bonus last week. Four of the tracks were completely new to me and fun to hear. The Jimi Hendrix song sounded amazing on my car stereo which means a special thank you is in order for the fabulous audio quality. The Bill Monroe track was my favorite of last week’s playlist. I have to confess that I might have done a lot of drumming on the steering wheel to keep beat with the bluegrass song. Thank you!
539 QOTW: The Nashville Public Television Station has a program called Tennessee Crossroads where they travel all over the state to feature fun attractions, restaurants, festivals, historical sites, collectors, and artisans who make neat things. There have been many places we’ve visited because they were featured on the program. I also keep a list of places we’d like to visit and when we watch other TV programs or movies, if my husband says “write that down,” I do.
I have a close friend and mentor who was a teacher, but she wasn’t one of my teachers. I used to help as an aide in her classroom and a friendship developed. She is amazing and I am grateful that she took time to invest in me and introduce me to many cultural activities outside of my little bubble.
I won’t say that I’ve had a miserably bad vacation experience, but it usually rains… no matter when or where we go. I’ve been to Monticello twice and it rained both times. Mammoth State Park in KY, Gatlinburg in TN, Colonial Williamsburg in VA… it rains heavily throughout the trip.
QOTW 540: My best work environment is my current environment at the library. I work some amazing women who have become not only great co-workers, but also great friends. And maybe the success is that I don’t view myself as their superior (even though I hired them), but as equals because they all bring something to the table—a skill set, a core characteristic, and unique life experiences that help makes us all a stronger. The worst? I once bad a boss who made everyone miserable because she was hurting from bad life experiences.
I’m not a gym rat, but I am trying to be more active. Like Ian, my husband has been diagnose with some medical stuff that can be managed with diet and medicine. In addition to trying to eat really clean right now, I am trying to get him to be more active by my being more active. I don’t expect him to do yoga with me or do an aerobics workout with me, but I hope that if he sees me putting forth effort than maybe it will encourage him. I’d even take a little guilting if hit gets him moving.
Have a wonderful week and a very hoppy Easter to all! Whether you observe religious or secular traditions.. or no traditions at all, I hope everyone is having a joy-filled spring!
I just finished reading The Giver of Stars and thought of you and your coworkers, Crystal. The packhorse librarians of Kentucky who inspired the novel certainly knew the power of books (especially a hardcover.)
My best work environment was probably also the worst. When I was working on a youth magazine TV show, I got to write a lot of parodies of movies and TV show. The crew was great. They’d whip together sets, props and costumes on a shoestring budget. The actors, directors and editors would do a good job of matching the style of whatever we were spoofing. We had a great musician creating sound-a-like music tracks. It was like working on SNL. But eventually the workplace got toxic. There were creative differences and personality clashes. Then a dedicated producer left after being passed over for promotion. Their replacement was fired partway through the next season for being such a jerk. Everyone thought they were the only one who was being belittled and disrespected. I think that’s why I find The Morning Show on Apple TV very relatable. When people are afraid to speak up for fear of losing their jobs or ruining their careers, they will stay silent when they are being harassed. Or they’ll look the other way when they see it happening to others.
My present work environment is almost perfect. It’s quiet, the coffee is cheap, and I have an easy 14-stair commute to my writing room. Speaking of purrfect, I loved the new Sparks! book. If I could change anything by going back in time, I would probably warn my younger self to leave that TV job two seasons earlier!
Hey dragons, and sneakers everywhere!
Back in my mid-20s, I got a job I was sure I’d love: working for a publicly-funded agency promoting cultural events in small towns and villages that were generally off the circuit for live arts performances. The object was to bring drama, music, art exhibitions etc out of the cities and into some fairly deprived communities, and in the process hopefully inspire audiences and broaden their horizons.
This was right up my alley. The only problem was the boss. I’ll call her Bridget because, well, that was actually her name. It’s possible she might have believed in the work we were doing to bring a range of accessible art to people who might otherwise never have the chance to experience it. However, her level of purely personal ambition was way off the scale and all her decisions were based on what would benefit her and not the communities we were meant to be reaching.
This led to a workplace culture that would nowadays be called toxic. If you could help Bridget achieve her personal goals and would do her bidding without question, you were one of the favoured ones. But if you had different ideas, and maybe some concerns about the way she ran things, your card was marked.
When I saw my chance I got out, which was a shame as I really believed in what we were supposed to be trying to do. It was a real eye-opener as to how organisational culture starts at the top and one bad apple, if it’s in the wrong place, really can spoil the whole bunch.
On a happier note, though, this was also my best workplace, as it’s where I met my significant better of almost 30 years now, Diane.
As for gyms, I’ve been a regular in the past and might go again sometime – I can take it or leave it. Currently, my fitness routine involves daily yoga, some cycling, and romantic lunchtime walks. I recommend them all.
Lastly, hi to Laurel! So glad you enjoyed seeing Star James Watson in all its daffodilious glory. Yes, we just had two blooms this year, but that’s two more than most previous years. It was nice to hear you’re trying not to be an evil grandmother. On the other hand, isn’t that exactly what an evil grandmother would say?