Rayleen said that Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke was one of her favorite books of last year on the podcast Books Unbound. I trust Rayleen because she is full of good recs. (The other host, Ariel, just spent an entire episode waxing poetic about how great she found The Hobbit, so while I respect her as a business person with some hustle, her reader credibility is very low with me.)
This book is told entirely through Slack messages at a New York-based public relations firm.
Gerald has been uploaded into the firm's Slack channel. His body is just sitting in his apartment, but Gerald's consciousness is in Slack. Gerald asks his co-worker Pradeep to help him figure out a way to return to his body.
Meanwhile, the rest of the company thinks this is a bit Gerald is doing to be allowed to work from home more. Also, there's a crisis with a dog food company that has to do a recall because Pomeranians are dying. (Not Pomeranians!) Two employees are knockin' boots and destroying office furniture and another employee is hearing howling all the time. What is happening at this company?
There's a running joke about a dusty stick emoji that is exactly like the potato emoji in my office chat. My boss went to Nova Scotia on vacation and came back with fudge made with potatoes. From that moment on, whenever someone brings treats back from vacation, we all use potato emojis. It's HILARIOUS to me, but even as I'm writing this, I realize it's not funny. ANYWAY.
Will this whole Slack thing be dated someday? Probably? Will it still get to the heart of office culture and politics? I sure hope so.
I thought this was snort funny, clever, and unique. I loved every word. 5/5 stars
Lines of note:
what is a workplace but a cult where everyone gets paid, really? (page 67)
LOLOLOL. This is the second time in a month I've read a book that suggested my workplace is a cult.
cacophony of noise and drudgery but like
something worth returning to (page 216)
This sounds really funny!
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