Office Survival Tip: Window Gazing

Office Survival Tip: Window Gazing

Never do something stupid outside an office building.

You know that eerie feeling you get sometimes that someone’s watching you? In my opinion, you get that feeling because someone IS watching you. Next time you get all creeped out, look around and see if there are any office buildings nearby. If so, you’re spidey sense is probably spot-on. Depending on the size of the office building, you could have multiple someone’s on multiple floors scoping you out. And if you’re tangled up in any kind of embarrassing moment, you could even have clusters of someone’s congregating and commenting on your situation. Feel self-conscious yet?

On the flip side of the coin, a good window gazing can be a great way to beat the office doldrums. It’s kind of like bird watching, only instead of searching for birds, you look for anything even remotely interesting. Also like bird watching, it get’s dull fast if you don’t have goals (I assume here. I can’t say I’ve ever even a remote inclination to bird-watch.)

Here’s three fairly universal goals to help you get started. You can add more appropriate or entertaining window gazing goals according to your specific window’s characteristics.

Check one off whenever you see:

-Anyone engaged in any kind of heated dispute on their cell phone. This can be especially entertaining if they’re a dramatic gesture-er.

-During storms, any brave, desperate soul who bursts from the lobby in a mad, awkward, umbrella-less dash to his car. (Bonus if they get to their car and realize they didn’t pull their keys out first, and then bumble around in their briefcase in the pouring rain searching for them.)

-Anyone with unusual/extreme car trouble. For instance, we saw someone this week rip the front bumper half-way off their car by pulling out of their parking spot. (Bonus if they make things worse due to their own ineptness. For instance, after ripping the bumper half-way off their car, they attempted to save face and drive away, thereby fully ripping the bumper off their car)

Because window gazing can be such effective boredom relief, any office or cube with a window vantage point is prime real estate. My first cube was a single with a view of the window. It ruined me forever.