And, how are you?” – “Thank you, everything is fine.” A quick cup of coffee in the tea kitchen, astonished questions: How, why, how can it be that someone happily says they are fine?!
– This is followed by discussion, contradiction, pressure to justify.
Good feelings in these inhospitable times?
Yet one crisis follows another, and there is still war.
The usual year-end hectic had the workforce in a stranglehold in the past few weeks, here a time-consuming round of planning, there a handover with imponderables (sick leave!), messed-up travel expense reports and overdue Christmas mailing lists.
The office climate is in a low mood like us and the working world is a vale of tears.
"She's not," insists the colleague, who doesn't have the reputation of dallying through life as a naïve, optimistic, smooth-talking woman.
Ursula Kals
Editor in business, responsible for "Youth writes".
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But she has arguments ready: We have work that is enjoyable for the most part and is well paid, sit at the table with pleasant colleagues and can usually avoid the less pleasant ones.
We have had a new, fresh perspective on things since the pandemic shock.
While the infantile Christmas party secrets used to get on our nerves, we now look forward to sticky mulled wine babble and gossip about the 3D reindeer sweater with crocheted knobby nose and bling bling.
Ironically, colleague Meier slipped it on, the same man who usually executes careers with an evil smile.
Same procedure as every year.
No, we haven't had that for two lonely years!
"Normality is a good state," insists the colleague and thinks mindfulness exercises may be overused by half-silk coaches, but they are not wrong.
Instead of a gratitude diary, one or two cinnamon stars in the tea kitchen would do the trick.
In the Nine to Five column, changing authors write about curiosities in the office and university