Pretend Office

This is a wonderful example of the power of community. And how simple it can be to bring people together and give them something to do.

In the spirit of pretending (you'll see), I'll share this story in the form of a pretend interview, pasting in the explanation thus:


me:
So what's this all about?

Pretend Office:
"A few times over the past couple of years I’ve discussed with freelancing friends how we miss out on some of the aspects of working in a proper company: the Christmas lunch, the after-work drinks, the fire alarm tests. All that bonding."

me:
ok.....

PO:
"A couple of us thought that maybe we should start an email list to compensate in some way. So I set up the Pretend Office mailing list."

me:
Go on. I love your tie btw - is that real silk?

PO:
"A weird thing happened. With no planning, we all started acting as if we were people in a real office. Almost immediately we began to adopt characters and send officious announcements. Soon we were referring to characters in the office who didn’t exist in real life. Meeting rooms were booked, couriers arrived, servers went down, timesheets were requested, and embarrassing emails were accidentally sent to everyone in the company."

me:
That's awesome. I think I love you.

PO:
"After the first few fun days I was a bit worried that we’d used up every office topic. But several weeks in and we’re still going."

me:
Have you got any snippets of dialogue to share? Maybe something featuring a meeting room named after a celebrity?

PO:

Sorry James - I meant desk not deck...

Obviously I'll be first in line for Pamela
Gerridge-Smythe's 'Typos and Teepees' talk
tonight at 6pm in the Orlando Bloom suite.
See you all there!!!!!!!!

- Cat

Awesome.

Read more here and here.