Utter Chaos

Just when you think you know something, new information comes to light that turns it on its head. Nowhere is this more true than in life’s most mundane arenas. I guess this is because it’s easier to get stuck in our ways there, or maybe it’s a matter of going on autopilot. 

Let me give you an example. I always thought that setting up an office space required a huge amount of strategic thought, mapping out of workflows, weighing up technological factors and endless other nonsense. That’s what I was led to believe by, well… experience and common sense, those two trusty sidekicks I never thought would let me down.

Then, up rocks this new office manager, Ted-Jason. First of all, who is called Ted-Jason? That’s not a name! Even if it is his name, it’s still totally not a thing. Anyway, in comes Ted-Jason and reshuffles every aspect of the office layout – and in an extremely haphazard fashion, at that.

I assumed he was some kind of Mary Bondo type of ring-in, as traditionally managers don’t go around upending the office fitout. Companies around Melbourne generally don’t stand for that sort of thing, in my experience, unless they’ve contracted someone specifically for that purpose. 

This grave misapprehension was quickly followed by another, which was my belief that Ted-Jason was going to reconstruct the space once he’d torn it apart. That was not to be. He even left one of the potted palms lying on its side, with potting mix spilling out into the foyer in a way that dramatically contravened OHS policy. That’s when I realised that he wasn’t some sort of avant garde office interior designer. Melbourne, progressive though it may be, would never stand for such impudent infringement of office safety standards. 

What happened next amazed me. Nobody said anything, and everyone simply accepted the new arrangement of things in all its chaotic lack of forethought. But what amazed me even more was the fact that it somehow seemed to work. How? There’s no telling. Some things, it seems, simply elude common sense.