Desk jobs are primarily humdrum. Busy or not, monotony reigns. This, I suppose, is a deeply-rooted explanation for office (or non-office for that matter) gossip. Our fast-paced, multi-tasking world cannot cope with a stimulus-free moment. Humans are obsessed by all cases of drama—whether directly affected or not. This addiction has become so viral and pervasive that even something like this exists.So for deskies who actually avoid such pettiness, what can slay the boredom? Music? Water coolering? Walks? Lunch? Surfing? But these all have limited effectiveness; fulfillment fades and the lull returns. In time though, one adapts to survive and eventually learns to find great pleasure with the otherwise completely ordinary and inconsequential. To illustrate...
One of last week's lunch coupons: two Single Stackers and two small fries for $2.99. I ordered to-go and ate the yum-yums at my desk. I pwned the meal, tidied up, and went back to “work.” A short time later, I noticed my grease-spotted BK bag had not yet found the rubbish bin. As I customarily rummaged through it for contents of redeeming value—napkins, utensils, or sauce packets to be properly catalogued in the extra-supplies-scavenged-from-eating-out drawer—I came upon three stray French fries…
And oh, how glorious they were! There they lay in a magnificent posture with light refracting from throngs of sodium chloride, blasting arrays of sweet savory and gratification. This luster, in addition to the awesome aroma, warmed my bosom. Oh, the jubilee! My heart grew much more than three sizes that day. But was this miracle a vision or some Escherian illusion? NO. Boredom had just received a beat-down by a bona fide French fry bonus.
These are in fact the types of small, yet great, pleasures found only by stopping to smell the French fries.
