Monday, November 9, 2009

That Guy

I have recently become addicted to the show How I Met Your Mother. I was late on the bandwagon, I know, and after watching tons and tons of reruns I'm really mad I waited this long to become obsessed with this show. Sidenote: yes, I have a crush on Jason Segel and no, I'm not ashamed of it.

So while watching one of my reruns the other night, I happened upon an episode where Barney Stinson (aka the greatest TV character of all time) gave a great nugget of info to the love of my life Jason Segel aka Marshall about how to not get laid off. He said, and I quote, "You just need a way to make yourself absolutely essential...You need a thing. Something that makes you fun and well-liked."

Which segued into the types of "those guys" in the office - the Food Guy, Toy Guy, YouTube Clip Guy, and so on. So in an effort to become indispensable Marshall became Fantasy Football Guy.

And while obviously this show is meant to be funny and not taken completely seriously, I started to ponder about this theory. Could it actually work in the work force? And I have to say yes I think it can. At my last job, there were tons of people who should not have been there but they had a 'thing' they were known for. Like I was indispensable because I knew how to work our mail system and where supplies were and sadly I could navigate our storage area like a pro. I had common knowledge of our office but it wasn't something that everyone could do. I had given myself a shield of some sort.

Recently at my office, a few people have been fired. And I know I'm not in HR so I can't say for sure they why, but of course it makes you think, 'Oh God, I'm next'. It's the automatic reaction. And I don't think I have a "thing" yet at my more recent job. I think my best bet is to become the Party Girl - not in that I get wasted all the time but that I always plan parties. Then I'll be golden!

What "guy" are you at work?

The Food Guy making tacos on How I Met Your Mother

13 comments:

alyssa said...

Love HIMYM :) We just got caught up to this season! Well my work is really small. I am the Everything girl. Haha :)

Caz said...

HIMYM is THE BEST show of all time. Seriously.

Anyway, I'm in a really small office and I'm "The Only Girl". Really. I work with 3 guys and I'm the girl that knows everything organisational etc. Like where files are, how we do things, when things need to be done. Seriously the boys would lose their heads if they weren't attached properly!

Content Director - Strong Female Leaders said...

LOL. I'm sure you are more than just a party girl. But I can see how party planning is important. When I'm at parties that are poorly planned, it's quite dreadful. At one of them I ended up playing with the cat. So good party planning skills are pretty essential!

Amy said...

Hmm. I'm not sure what I'm known for but now I'm curious. When I think about my office, there's one thing I associate with everyone. Accent Boy. Halo Boy (as in the video game, not angels). Short Girl. Pink Girl. Don't know where I fit in!

SouthernBelleJM said...

I started watching HIMYM last year. So funny!

Anonymous said...

Who doesn't love J.S. with all his sexiness? There is something about how big and manly he is that is a utter turn on.

Katie Hartle said...

For anyone who can't think of something "unique", just do this: be the person who is always upbeat, never complains, even about having to do a crappy task, and always has a smile on her face or a nice thing to say to someone.
It will make you priceless in whatever career you are in!

ThoughtsON said...

LOVE HIMYM! My husband and I were also late comers to the show. We started watching season one on dvd on a whim when he found it for like 10 bucks somewhere. We caught up with the entire series within about a week!
Just started a new job... so far I have noticed one guy who always organizes stuff for people's bdays... buys the card, gets everyone to sign, buys a plant or something for them. That's all we've got so far!

Allison M. said...

Seriously, caught it yesterday -it's too funny.

I'm the one who wears crazy clothes.

Jess P said...

I'm the comedy relief girl!

Katie said...

I just found HIMYM this year, too! I'm working my way through all of the seasons. Barney truly is the greatest TV character of all time. I had a similar thought about that episode, only my take on it is to not be one of those people who hide away and barely anyone knows or thinks of. Be friendly and nice and known by everyone in your office.

Anonymous said...

I LOVED this episode! I'm "the young girl". Most everyone in my office is over 50, so I get all the tasks that require youth and energy, ha!

ONE of THE GUYS said...

I'm a musician and teacher. I work at a school where all the other music teachers are kind of geeks. My boss understands that so he hired me to be the "cool guy." Seriously! And that's funny, because I can easily be as geeky as the next guy. But I happen to be able to talk the high school lingo, play hoops pretty well and of course I teach drums. Slightly different than French Horn.