Desperate to find an outlet for their prejudices and a way to prove their superiority, people have turned to paper clips as a measure of worth. You see, in every office, there are net gainers and net losers of paper clips. Some people constantly run out of them and have to go to the supply sergeant for another box. Others can’t open their desk drawer without sending a thousand clips sloshing back and forth.
Now here’s the tricky part: In some companies, gainers are the object of scorn, in others, it’s the losers who are considered losers.
In some places, if you’re the one who’s always accumulating paper clips, it means you’re the one who’s getting things last. You’re the one who has to unclip everything, then file it (or throw it away, or both). Everyone in the office knows everything before you do. Everyone in the office thinks you’re a gofer.
In other places, it’s the losers who are looked down upon. After all, they’re the ones that actually have to send stuff out. They have to clip things together so others can look at them and act upon them. They can’t decide anything on their own, they have to wait for others to act.
Here’s the good news: You can change your status – you can come in early or stay late and sneak paper clips into (or out of) other people’s desks. If you’ve been running out, you can slip off to an office supply store and buy an box, and thus avoid the humiliation of being clipless and, by extension, clueless.
Here’s the bad news. How do you know whether gainers or losers are better? Worse, how do you know if you’re excluded from certain meetings and after-work parties because you’re on the wrong end of the paper clip process? Maybe it’s because nobody likes you and thinks you’re a loser….Too bad no one will ever tell you.
Have a nice day.