Annotated 45-24
FB: Needs more goose-stepping hyenas.
We’re doing a bit of a callback with Carol’s use of the word “riDICulous.” Each time she pitches the word like that, she’s lying…and this time, there’s clearly no one left to lie to but herself.
The end…of our 24-page limit! Flo’s more “unstructured” approach would dominate most of Guilded Age‘s remaining run, excepting only the last chapter, which is more “mine” than any other chapter in the last three or four years of the series. There are places where I think Chapters 46-50 could’ve been leaner (and we’ll get there). We could’ve restructured the story one more time into 52-54 shorter chapters. But overall, I’ll concede the more-is-more approach was probably the right call.
And considering relations between me and Flo at that point, it was pretty much the only possible call. Flo sent me an email around this point saying, “I need you not to fight me on chapter length anymore.” Where that once would have touched off a heated discussion of hours if not days, by now I barely rolled my eyes as I acquiesced. Guilded Age still mattered to me, but I was done with the fights.
Drinking gin on the rocks? That’s one tough lady, even if it’s Bombay Sapphire.
Especially in an office with glass walls, on a desk with no drawers, and not even anything to block line of sight. Just a bunch of open shelves.
Independent of the impossibility of hiding that bottle, having to work in that kind of office would freak me out, no matter if I was the boss or not. Which might explain some things that are done by people in such offices.
I once worked at an advertising agency. We had beer and wine in the kitchen, and I had a regular bar (gin, whisky, mixers, etc) at my desk. I expect Hurricane, like other places where maintaining creativity is essential, to have similar standards. I know the game developers in my town did when I visited.
Oh, so creativity needs alcohol? Maybe that explains a some “creative” ideas…
At one place I worked, the head of a research institute of ~120 explained he still had a bar in his office, for important guests. His predecessor had used it regularly, in the 1980’s and a bit later. But our cantina stopped serving beer (even during “oktoberfest week” it was all alcohol-free) sometime around 2005, and the last time that bar got used must have been somewhere around that time, when some Russian colleagues visited. I think he preferred to have his wits available to him when he could, and so did most others.
Generally, I think having alcohol constantly available and on display in a place where people are likely to be very stressed out and working too long hours, is practically inviting them to develop _very_ unhealthy drinking habits. Nothing against going for a drink after work on a Friday, but … regularly, at work, under stress? Sounds like a really bad idea.
Also, sitting in a glass cage like that, inebriated or not … nope. Not a place where I could be either productive or comfortable. I know people are supposed to want this stuff but the first thing I’d do is probably put some posters on the glass to the corridor, and maybe curtains on the big windows, so I don’t feel like I’m standing on a ledge or something. I don’t even get vertigo but … it doesn’t look right. Especially at night, when the windows turn into one-way mirrors.
We’ve obviously had very different experiences. In 30 years, I’ve never worked anywhere where people were “very stressed out and working too long hours”. Nobody’d look askance at a lunch time drink, and I’ve never seen a coworker drunk or otherwise affected. (Personally, I don’t even like feeling buzzed, but I like the flavors.)
I totally agree on the fishbowl. My current office is a lot like hers (but smaller), wide and shallow with interior glass on one side and exterior on the other. But my desk is mounted facing the sidewalk outside. I have people walking behind me, which freaks me out, so I have some mirrors that help a little. Next Christmas I think I’m going to paper the windows. The window outside is south facing, so it’s pretty bright and I have translucent blinds down, which also helps me feel less on display. Do appreciate the natural light though – I almost never have the fluorescents on.
I can’t speak for gin on the rocks, but I enjoy Bombay Sapphire with tonic, and better gin neat (Van Gogh). What works well for one doesn’t work for the other.
You shouldn’t have bought a Chekhov’s Gun if you didn’t plan to use it, Carol.