There's No Jon In Team

Tomorrow I have to go to an all day long meeting (8:30 - 5:30).
I’m not looking forward to it, even though, especially in conjunction with the all day training I’m going to next week, it will mean a lot of overtime on my next check.
The meeting is a department-wide “all hands” meeting, which means that it’ll be full of lots of people I’ve never seen before talking about things that don’t really directly apply to anything that I do.
We had one of these meetings last year and remaining conscious throughout the whole thing was one of the more difficult tasks I’ve been presented with in recent memory.
Of course, as a “team-building” exercise, and to “wake us up” we were forced to participate in pointlessly banging drums, triangles, and various other musical instruments.
It was loud, it was demeaning, it was irritating, and it was exactly the kind of stupid shit that people think is incredibly fun and worthwhile once they achieve a certain management level.
On Saturday our department’s VP stopped in briefly to say “hi” to us grunts working in the trenches, and he mentioned that we would not be repeating last year’s noisy pointlessness, but that there would indeed be some kind of team-building exercise.
As I mentioned earlier, many of the people who will be at the meeting will be people that I’ve never seen before, and will likely never see again, and who, though we work within the same department are not really members of my “team.”
Even if their regular business activities intersect with, or have an impact on, those of myself and my actual team (the people I work with every day), the odds at that, at best, the only contact will have with is a phone conversation that will be kept as brief as possible, since most of them don’t work weekends the way that I and my team do, and so have no desire to actually perform any work on the weekend.
So what is really gained from forcing me to interact with people I’m only likely to interact with again at the next all day long meeting by creating some artificial (and irritating) circumstance that, presumably, will make us a better team when we are not actually a team?
I’m just not much of a believer in the efficacy of team-building exercises anyway, even when they’re being engaged in by people who actually are teammates, but it makes it worse when I know that I won’t be engaging in the exercise with my teammates, and knowing that whatever the exercise is, it’s probably going to be boring and stupid.
I mean, at least if we did paintballing I’d get to shoot people while I’m failing to gain any meaningful teamwork skills.
Hmm….now that I think of it, maybe I’ll just bring a paintball gun with me ayway…
In any event I’m sure the day will suck, but as mentioned I’ll be getting some major overtime, and the food will probably be good. So that's something.
On the topic of things that don’t suck, last night found me watching the second episode of Cartoon Network’s new show Robot Chicken.
The show is part of the network’s “Adult Swim” programming line-up which includes such great shows as Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Harvey Birdman, Attorney At Law, and The Venture Bros.
Robot Chicken is very difficult to describe, but is very ease to laugh at…unless you’re easily offended, and if you’re reading Threshold, you can’t be that easy to offend (or to bore, apparently). Then again, even if you're difficult to offend, Robot Chicken might be able to pull it off.
Essentially it’s a manic sketch-comedy show done in stop-motion using dolls, action figures, and other toys.
The first episode featured my own beloved Rachael Leigh Cook spoofing her own appearance in anti-drug commercial (providing the voice of a doll made in RLC's image).
Among the highlights of last night’s show was a spoof of You Got Served featuring Voltron, and the story of how after he died Walt Disney’s head was attached to a robotic spider body and how the now-undead Disney (voiced by “That 70s Show” dad Kurtwood Smith) found sustenance by eating Cuban boys.
Running the company from behind the scenes, Mecha Spider Disney ordered a theme park be built in Florida so that he could be closer to his food supply. His horrible appetites were tended to and largely restrained for decades…until Elian Gonzalez captured the hearts and minds of the American people, and whetted the appetite of Mr. Disney.
Like I said, it’s not a show for the easily offended.
As an aside, “Buffy” fans can take note of the fact that Seth Green is an Executive Producer.
In any case, the fact is that so far I’ve enjoyed Robot Chicken a great deal and I’m pleased to see that the guys at Adult Swim haven’t totally lost it.
Admittedly, their last hit (as far as I’m concerned), the aforementioned Venture Bros, went out of the park, but since that time they’ve definitely been striking out.
Unfortunately that’s not how they see it. They’ve come up with a few new shows that they seem to believe very strongly in, even though the viewers can’t stand them.
To make matters worse, they’ve been dragging their feet on greenlighting a second season of The Venture Bros, even as they keep pushing unfunny shows like Tom Goes To The Mayor and Super Milk-Chan.
(Warning: I’m about to use a really, really, really gross and offensive metaphor)
As they fail to stand behind quality shows like The Venture Bros while simultaneously pushing the shows like Tom and Milk Chan, it’s almost as if the guys at Williams Street are jerking off into their hands and throwing their jizz straight in the viewers’ faces just to see if they can get away with it, and if we’ll keep coming back for more.
So that makes Robot Chicken that much more satisfying.
Sorry to be so gross, but it just seemed like an apt metaphor.
In any case, I have to get up early in the morning, and since the day will involve a struggle to stay awake I guess that’s it for now. I'm sure I'll have plenty to bitch about here tomorrow.