Office-induced Tourettes

Anyone not familiar with our office might think us all afflicted with some sort of disorder.

We'll be sitting quietly, keyboards clacking away, mouses (mice? I never know ...) clicking softly, the soft rustle of pages as a dictionary or stylebook is consulted (though I wish that rustle happened much more frequently than it does).

And then, out of the blue, seemingly with no cause ...

"SHIT!"

The sound and suddenness of it startle us, but the outburst itself isn't shocking. We smile, someone may comment, most of us just get back to work, knowing the episode will likely be repeated shortly.

And if you listen carefully, from where I sit, there's one person who mutters, over and over again, like an incantation, a bit of 21st century voodoo to keep her computer from crashing: "stoopidpeesuvshitstoopidpeesuvshitstoopidpeesuvshit ..." It seems to work, as hers is the computer that crashes least frequently.

My first night at the newspaper, one of the sports writers lost his entire story and swore a long and loud blue streak. Not knowing the temperament of any of my new coworkers, I became fearful (justifiably, I think) that he might throw his monitor somewhere. I just wanted to stay out of the way, but being unfamiliar with the room's setup and this guy's aim, I wasn't quite sure where "the way" was.

I had finally settled on ducking under my desk, should worse come to worse, when my new boss finally hauled him into The Room for a Meeting. She (my boss) was very happy that I came back to work the next day ... and the next ... what can I say? I aim to please. I've been coming back for nearly four years now.

All of that to assure you that none of us, to my knowlege, suffer from Tourette's Syndrome ... we just suffer from Deadline-itis and its respective stresses.