Hera Mifflin Infinity

Once or twice a year my employer holds what are essentially feedback sessions. One or two staff members from each department are sent as a representative of their office to the discussion group. The idea of the forum is that mid to lower level staff members are given the opportunity to meet with the president of the organization and the head of Human Resources and discuss any items they would like to see changed, are concerned about, have questions regarding, etc. without fear of their immediate supervisor being present, should they have the desire to air a concern about their boss/department. If the item at hand is deemed appropriate to take action or discuss with other upper level management staff members, it is then taken back to their monthly meetings and discussed without mention of the staff member who brought it up.

In theory it's a good idea and it works...most of the time. I have seen it backfire on staff members though. Their name was in fact brought back to their boss and it wasn't exactly a pretty situation. No one was relieved of their job out of it, but things were definitely tense for awhile.

Given that, when I was designated to represent my department at the last panel I sat tight lipped throughout the entire meeting. One idea was presented though that I thought was a rather good one. A suggestion box could be placed in each office location so that staff members can leave items they would like to see addressed while truly remaining anonymous.

Yesterday I went to the mail room as I needed to check my office mail and also make some copies. Upon my entry into the room I noticed the above idea had been put into place.

Behold (names and logos have been blacked out):


Up close and personal:


Your eyes are not deceiving you. It is in fact a shoe box covered in construction paper, Scotch taped down (on the front of the box), hand-written in pen, with a free-form square cut out for the oh so inviting place to "drop your ideas here". Not to be missed--hiding under that big blacked out square in the lower right hand portion of the box is the company logo cut out of construction paper and drawn on in pen as well.

I've said in the past that I really do like my job. Like everyone else in the world, I do have days that are very frustrating and stressful, but overall I'm happy. I like my boss/Vice President very much, I have two great friends on the staff (one is leaving in a week though, boo!) and am uber thankful to have employment that provides food and shelter.

However, there is one particular VP in the organization (not my own boss) who is just in a class all their own. Now I can't say that I saw this suggestion box being made or know for certain who made it, but I have a very strong inkling whose idea it was and which department it came from. The aforementioned VP comes to mind. After all, this is the same VP who has given us things such as the Going Green Committee, the Safety Committee, the Fun Committee (yes, a real thing), a team building rah-rah breakfast that was not only funded by the staff members but also cooked by staff members in our board room during what should have been productive office hours, and even Diversity Day.

Yep, there's a VP in my organization who HAS to be a direct descendant of Michael Scott.