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!
ReplyDeleteOh, definitely getting this from the library!
ReplyDeleteI once had a running joke about bacon with several coworkers, and in hindsight I doubt others around us were anywhere near as entertained as we were, but we thought it was HILARIOUS. Someone even bought us a page-a-day calendar for bacon (yes, that really existed).
I've heard of this book before, but I can't remember where. It does sound really funny, AND I'm going to check out that podcast!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like just the ‘Office Space’ vibe I need in my life. Also, I clicked over and both of those dogs are clearly ADORABLE. At first I thought the Pom was the one who played fetch and I thought…huh, I’ve never heard of a Pom that plays fetch before, but then I did the actual thing where you read, and discovered no, that was the other sweetie. Did you know that Pomeranians are the closest genetic cousins to Keeshonden? My cousin and I saw SO MANY when we were in the south of France a few years ago, it’s like they were the official dog or something. I’m not sure we saw any other kind of dog, actually.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was teaching, each department was its own cult, and it was so incredibly obvious, especially the Art Department. Others were genuinely afraid of the English Department; take that for what it's worth.
ReplyDelete