Festive Fridays

It's that moment when the lights dim, the sky is dark, but there are no stars. It's a Friday night and it's a bit chilly. Last week, as I marched from the office, I saw something I had hardly ever seen before: it was the Friday night life of the surrounding offices.

Due to the job we had to do - okay, I had to do -  I stayed late at the office finishing a rather large document so that my boss could check it over on Monday morning. The office was pretty much empty, save by some people I don't really understand what were they doing there. Those typical arrive-late whose projects and tasks seem assigned directly by the CIA, because nobody, really nobody knows what are they doing, nor can they say what they are working on, and in fact, you never see them doing any work. Well, it seemed that two arrive-late needed extra time to spend at the office, which they religiously do, so it seems (perhaps covering up for the late-arrival time?)

Most of my coworkers are busting-this-joint-as-soon-as-I-can types, often escaping away before their time is due. In a discouraging sucession of events they drag themselves through the tight mornings, up from breakfast to gossip, to meetings that are turned into bitching parties, dodgind responsabilities with skills far more amazing than Neo's bullet dodging ones, lunch, bitching-meeting, or short-meeting-to-escape-the-office-early, coffee break and then the Office Break, stellar with last minute marks, engine purring, the car already out of the perimeter. Life is like that for many, and many of them run tired from the office to home, to their kids, whom they might love, whom they might pretend to love but fight all the time, whom they pretend to adore when they really hide their inadequacies behind them, ignore the blatant billboard of their failure and pretend that "it has always meant to be like that". Numb and unhappy with their job because it "demands too much", or " doesn't motivates them enough" when all they do is dodge like the professionals, only to go home to a quarreling wife that sees them as unfaithful, useless bastards, to a husband who fails to arouse them anymore, with whom sex is another obnoxious chose she has to do, to a boyfriend that treats her like a whore, with whom she behaves like a whore, exchanging sex for trips, clothes, money, cars. Home to a quite life locked in a fish tank, home to a tv, home to pick up the phone and talk to the coworkers because they are the only life they have, the only friends. Home to pretend to be such an uuhhh and ahhh because she or he has such a great job at this great company.

I strolled the sidewalk and I saw the same buildings, lit with the room lights, offices made transparent like little doll boxes, mute tv screens with life and late work, overtime going on. In a close restaurant-bar men with their ties on, shirts crumpled from the day's work, women in their office suits, backpacks, messanger bags and purses arround their feet, and hanging on the back of their chairs while the tables cluttered with an array of beer bottles. Relieved, happy voices. A week was finally over, the project was finished, and they were preparing, celebrating the long waited weekend ahead.

It made me realize that our office don't have that. Everybody hurries to rush out, nobody really stays behind to do the job. Teams don't go out for a beer with teh camarades. Life outside the office, away from the office is more important, even if it is just as chocking as that they lead in the office. They dodge. Dodge kids, dodge the husband, dodge the chores, dodge the wife, the boyfriend, the girlfriend, the family, the responsabilities the same way they do at the office.

Today I leave at the regular time. 16:36. I have a meeting with a friend downtown, so I'm not staying late, but last week, I saw the life that could be lived at the office, the life taht could make the difference, and it was hard, it was tiring, it was demanding, but damned if it wasn't festive!

Happy Friday for you all.