Cruisin’ for a Schmoozin’
Yesterday was the first day back to work after the long holiday weekend. I share my office suite with three lawyers and one physician. No one has been in the office since Friday.
In the old days when a coffee shop meant a place to eat a hamburger and fries, returning to the office after a long weekend would include a few minutes — maybe one minute — of good-natured chit-chat. “How was the weekend?” “What did you do?” That sort of stuff.
Not now. Chit-chat? Hilarious. That is so done-zo.
Why don’t I get it? Isn’t it obvious there is so little time (to be civil)? No hellos, no how are you, no nothing. Everyone is back at their desk, staring at the computer, oblivious to the people (okay, me!) around them.
Have I been living under a rock? When did it become acceptable to be brusque and self-absorbed? Even if you weren’t terribly interested in what people were doing, you feigned interest out of politeness. That too has been jettisoned.
Frankly, I’m sad. I need a little schmooze in the morning.
You’re right: Humanity takes time. But it’s good for the soul. We need to turn away from the computer screens and smart phones. We need to look one another in the eye searching for the unspoken. In an age of electronic devices where a device trumps a relationship, it’s nearly impossible to “only connect” in the words of novelist E.M. Forster but we have got to try.
[Delete "we have got to try," substitute "we must do it" and go look for new office space. -- Ed.]