I’m having fun, things are grooving along for my Instant Fiction Marathon that I call Flash August Fiction. Thanks for the reading, and the listening, and the sharing, and the liking, and believe it or not, this weird little niche podcast is growing, slowly but surely. I mean, I have stories about everything, so you’re bound to like something I write. You may as well just subscribe and deal with it.
Clancy’s cubicle was immaculate. He wasn’t the type to have tchotchkes, or a lot of flair. Drawing attention to himself was not his thing. He had a photo of his wife and daughter to the left of his computer, usually fresh flowers from his wife’s modest backyard garden to the right. Against the beige wall of the cubicle directly in front of him, a blank, dark blue board. This helped to keep his eyes relaxed as he stared at his screen all day.
Things around the rest of the cubicle are sparse and clean along the tops of the desk. Each responsibility for the physical actions he has to perform, has its own station, like divisions of a company within his cubicle. He’s squashing minutes. Work sucks, but he thinks of it as a game to help him get thorough it.
He uses CEO time management techniques for his personal scheduling. He’s a pretty focused guy. Even though he’s a middle guy in the hierarchy. He sets it up so all his daily tasks represent the activities of a company. Then he organizes for efficiency. Using this method, he is very productive, and he ends up with a lot of time on his hands because of organizing the way he does, he gets more done in less time.
His company tracking reports are very consistent in that way. His personal tracking reports that he sends himself from within each of his divisions of separate work responsibilities as the CEO of his cubicle, are far more detailed. That helps him pare steps and time, and he’s making a lot of time for himself.
So his dilemma is clear. What does he do with the extra time? If he does more for the company in the time he has left, he won’t likely be compensated for it. Either that, or his supervisor will claim the credit for it. It makes Clancy work, mostly, just as much as he has to, and a little more to secure bonuses, and when the heavy work comes in, he can complete it all before the weekends, so he can stay at home.
Clancy has to get real here, though. He has to find a way to make use of the extra time he has at work because of his efficiency. He works on a couple of side entrepreneurial things. He can’t do that at work, though, because he can’t bring his personal computer to do that activity at work, and he can’t do personal work on the company tech. So that’s off the table.
What he decides, is to start using the extra time to be more productive for his company, but to send his own personal tracking reports and efficiency techniques to his supervisor and also the Department head. This way his supervisor can’t claim his work, or take credit for the efficiency. Clancy’s production increases by 16%, while he’s sending his own logs and tracking reports two places up the chain, instead of one.
A couple of weeks later, he gets a complimentary email from the Dept. head, telling him what a novel tracking and organization style he has. On the same day, his supervisor tells him at his cubicle, that it’s not necessary for him to send those reports to the Dept. head. Well, obviously, Clancy’s not dumb, he knows the supervisor is jealous and intimidated. He returns an email to the Dept. head, telling him he’d be glad to show the others in the Dept. what he’s doing.
What ends up happening is Clancy does a seminar on how to better organize cubicle activities to think of the cubicles as their own, mini economic engines. Over which each employee is a CEO. And, to organize it as such. In the months following the seminar, the overall production of the Dept. grows by 15%.
Clancy is given the opportunity to replace his Supervisor. What he negotiates instead, is to continue to work his regular position at his current salary, but to consult on the organization techniques and tracking, separately, to be sure it’s optimal, on a contract basis. In exchange for maintaining his current salary otherwise, he will have the option to work from home for up to 20 hours per week.
Now, he can spend a little more time with his wife and daughter, and he’ll have the freedom to integrate his entrepreneurial aspirations into his daily CEO cubicle activities. He’ll be able to maintain his proficiency at work, and work on his own life and projects, simultaneously.
The End
756 Words
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