March 12, 2018

How to win the office basketball pool

Back when I worked with real people in a real office today would be a real time-waster. Even though I have little interest in college basketball it would dominate conversation. The big office pool would be starting up. Everyone would be filling in brackets instead of entering orders, creating production plans, placing purchase orders, or reviewing engineering drawings. The morning coffee break would stretch past the allotted ten minutes and cross-cubicle kibitzing would increase. This is all before the first game is played.

It is no wonder I was surprised at my work output when I first moved into a solo office. I did more in four hours than I used to do in eight. Conversations with yourself tend to be short and to the point. There are no guys to meet down at the break room at 10:00. I confess I do miss vending machine coffee. There is no sarcasm there, I like vending machine coffee. Sometimes I miss the camaraderie of working in an office, of being part of the whole.

So get after those basketball brackets this morning. I feel for you. I threw my buck into the pot and I feel pretty confident I will recoup my investment when the tournament is done. After all, when you are the only guy in the office pool your chances of winning are pretty good.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Before I retired we were working a four/ten schedule. I always had my work done in the first two to three hours. I usually spent the rest of the days answering questions from the government staff that was available to them if they bothered to look at thier own system. The company that ran the contract before had a policy of letting salary employee's set thier own hours, we rarely had to go to overtime to get the job done. I learned a lot during those years. Ninety percent of the government staff actually had no real job, at least half of our salary staff was not needed. If I were king, I would do away with govenment unions.

James Old Guy

Roy said...

I just came to your blog today after following a link at Dustbury.

After reading this post, I think I have met a rare soulmate when it comes to college basketball. I find it about the most boring thing ever, and I live in a region that mostly lives and breaths basketball this time of year.

When the tournament is finally over, I breathe a sigh of relief. It's finally done for another year.

Don't misunderstand me. I don't actually hate basketball - everyone is entitled to their own taste in entertainment. But it's not mine, and about this time of year, I am really tired of it all.

Joe said...

Welcome Roy

I'm glad you stopped by

Consider everything here that is of original content copyrighted as of March 2005
Powered By Blogger