September 30, 2009
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I Want To Be Like The Plants In My Office
The past few days at work have been long but not too pressure filled. I hate to be one of the sales guys right now. It’s been a quiet quarter end for me and others too. This is not a good sign. I have a funny feeling the pressure will be ratcheted up the next quarter. I can hear the tension in people’s voices. Emails are concise but also curt. I think there are daily floggings of the sales folks to bring in more business. The relentless pressure to meet the street’s estimates.
As I walk around the office, the only person that doesn’t look stressed is the guy who waters and looks after the indoor garden in our office. We have several large plantings, including some tropical looking trees. This guy just calmly goes about his job, checking out the leaves, the soil and other things that gardeners look for. I saw him looking up at the canopy of the trees. Although I’ve been in this office many times, I’ve never bothered to take it all in. So today I looked up and marveled how healthy and green they looked.
As I look back at him, I notice he’s my age and also Asian. He moves quietly and efficiently. I think he’s the guy with the lowest blood pressure in our building. He doesn’t pay attention to me as I watch him. I don’t think he even notices us office types who are so full of ourselves. He’s just focused on his plants and making they stay strong and healthy. I should focus on the same thing.
Comments (28)
What’s your plant in the office?
@Wangium - I have no idea what the names of the plants are. The trees though are about 30 to 40 feet high, sort of like palm trees.
No, I mean, metaphorically speaking…
Plant guy is to plants as Matt is to…?
i don’t know… taking care of plants is nice, but it’s sort of a thankless job as well; nobody notices when you do a good job, but everyone immediately gets upset when you do a bad job. perhaps that’s what it really boils down to; learning to be satisfied with not hearing complaints about your work, rather than needing positive commentary in order to feel appreciated.
It’s funny that we whip ourselves into such a frenzy every day over these purely arbitrary social constructs when it’s really the plants that have it all figured out: we take nothing when we leave this world, so might as well spend every day drinking in the water and soaking up the sun. The plant guy is in on their secret, of course!
The cricket sound in a busy street!
@Wangium - I’m a bit slow today… I’ll have to think about that one. (besides, you’ll start to analyze my answer and I feel vulnerable when you do that).
@kunhuo42 - yeah, I don’t need accolades to keep me happy. But I do want feedback and direction.
@dynamiqvision - true… now you got me thinking about my mortality (in a good way).
@ZenPaper - I don’t think I’ve heard a cricket from my condo. The street noise just overwhelms everything.
Nice story. Yes, it sometimes seems as if we’re running around in a hamster trail, not really accomplishing anything worthwhile. Working with our hands, working with plants and animals, doing something constructive would be more satisfying. But, then, that’s a romanticised notion, isn’t it?
Is he single? LOL
The old saying that the grass is always greener on the other side. I have plants on my lanai and I tend to them daily. You know at times I get more concerned about them than I realize. Yes, there is always the good feeling when I see some blossoms and it is good to do some physical work after talking to a computer most of the day.
You have plants that tall in your office? Must have some pretty high ceilings.
My office has 2 pathetic looking plants. They kind of make me sad.
Things are rough everywhere. This economy sucks
I hope it gets better soon!
vegetations = on nom nom nom!
I don’t really analyze it, really
I am kidding.
You should go up to him and tell him how good the plants and trees look. He will feel like a king that day.
The economy have been slower. So the sales has been soft, going on Quarter 4. I don’t have confidence that we will have a great end of they year. The company introduce a new entree, hoping to re-create the product life cycle. I just wait and see how that will helps the growth of sales on Q4.
Plant guy’s job sounds nice.
It’d probably still stress me out. I’d be worried that all these stressed out people around me are going to lose thier jobs and that the company wouldn’t need my services anymore. xD
I would want to take care of plants more but I have a black thumb…
i wonder if we’d think of the plant guy differently if he was paid $100,000 a year.
very interesting comments you have here, matt.
there’s a toilet cleaner at my uni who smiles at everyone and talks to people. he’s really nice.
i think the only reason i want to get an accounting job is because others will think i’m doing something right.
@christao408 - sometimes at the end of the day, it’s tough to see the progress of my work. If I was in construction or landscaping, I can at least look back and see the results immediately.
@CareyGLY - hahaha – I don’t know.
@Fatcat723 - yeah, come to think of it – I should take better care of my plants at home.
@secade - there’s a few areas in the main floor where it’s wide open (vertically). It’s like an indoor garden.
@TheCheshireGrins - I hope so too.
@yang1815 - you’re always so cheery! hahahaha
@Wangium - hahaha… I was just kidding too.
@ZSA_MD - I will do that next time I see him.
@vsan79 - it’s gonna be a very rough 4Q. Every company is just fighting for a few cents here and there.
@HoneyandSaliva - interesting point, but he seems to have survived even though we’ve cut back a lot in terms of staffing.
@brooklyn2028 - you’re exaggerating. You’re so careful when you cook or bake – I’m sure you’ll do well with plants (as long as you don’t put them in the oven).
@stepaside_loser - what would you really like to do? Talk to a few people who are in accounting and see if you’ll like it. Talk to others in your field of interest and find out more about their jobs.
@ElusiveWords - I am so not exaggerating. My grandfather gave me a cactus once and it died.
@brooklyn2028 - that’s because you tried to hug it every day.
Gosh, you’re up early (I think you’re at work already).
@ElusiveWords - this is how we do it~
@brooklyn2028 - I use to have a bunch of cacti (cacti? cactuses?) when I was young, and my cat ate them all.
@ElusiveWords - Indoor garden? i want to work there
my ‘office’ is a oddly shaped alcove with too much junk that I’m not allowed to get rid of. i hate my workspace 
The plants in our office are plastic…
that really should say alot about my place of employment. Ha…
Have a wonderful Monday Matt. I will be thinking about you
as you gaze at the real deal.
*~matthew~*
@bleuzeus - start watering them and see how people react. I’ll be thinking about that on Monday. Have a great week.
Interesting observation. There’s an employee who only water plants in your office?
@mmmagination - I’m pretty sure it’s subcontracted out. It’s a pretty big building with a couple of small indoor gardens.