Office Space

Marvin is my office mate at work. We have a real office, not a cube, with a door, which is great. We also only have one computer, which is not great. We survive this fact because Marvin is awesome. I thought last week while he was working from someone else's office, on someone else’s computer, that Marvin is so awesome, he deserves a blog post. Some people spend 40 hours a week with their office mate, I don’t. Marvin is one of the Program Supervisors for one of our group homes, and he and I are both frequently out of the office taking care of kids. Despite this, I spend the most time with Marvin out of everyone at work. Here are some of the reasons Marvin is an amazing office mate. Careful, after reading this, you will all want a ‘marvin’ too.

- He engages in hand stand or cartwheel competitions in the hallway when it’s been a stressful week.

- I’ve never seen him respond defensively, which is amazing in the stressful/ blame filled industry we work in… and super refreshing.

- He sometimes starts humming without realizing it during meetings….. until everyone else has stopped talking and has started staring at him.

- He sweats on the mouse and keyboard… so crazy gross, but he feels so bad about it that it’s kind of endearing.

- When I’m fuming mad, he emphatically agrees with everything I’m saying, maybe not in reality but in the moment, which is exactly what I need.

- He led me into a swearing/ cursing rant the other day when something went wrong with a kid. I couldn’t do it very well, but he spurred me on. I didn’t get much beyond, “sh*t sh*t Sh*t @ss sh*t!! “—he added, “you forgot a few, mother f*cker!” It didn’t work because I was disappointed rather than angry, but I appreciate the effort nonetheless.

- He stocks up our office with paleo friendly snacks every time he goes to Costco. He always offers me some of his food even though I have never accepted because it is most of the time breaded, fried, sugary, or all three.

- He waters my plants because I won’t. He accepts blame when they die even though it’s my fault.

- He sends text messages to remind brian when the Chargers are playing and it’s airing in Chicago.

- He doesn’t know how to use google. Seriously. He’s always amazed I can find answers to things using google.

- He cleans his desk with hand sanitizer. He pumps it into a napkin and then wipes off his desk. It is weird.

- Marvin let’s me correct his grammar. When explaining that he asked one of his staff members to come to the office, he says, “I’ll have her to come up here” instead of “I’ll have her come up here.” I always tell him he’s just adding a word and making his life more difficult. One time a few weeks ago, we were having a meeting with the house therapist, and Marvin made some other slight grammatical error.. then paused. I waited a second, then looked at him. When our eyes locked, we both burst into laughter. I don't know why I like correcting his grammar, I usually don't do this. But I like that it doesn't bother him.

- He has his hair cut every single Saturday. I don’t even know how to explain this one, but he has a standing appointment at the barber shop every week.

On Thursday he was checking emails and I updated him that I was up to 64,000 on my game of bejeweled. I happen to know that his record is around 30,000. While keeping his gaze at the computer screen, he shot back, “I hate you Patience.” Without missing a beat, I responded, “I hate you back.” That’s how you know you have a great office mate.