An Extreme Case of the Mondays

I know it's Tuesday but I had to relate an article I read this morning regarding the epic lengths some of us apparently feel the need to go to in order to miss work. The title of today's blog comes from the classic office comedy "Office Space". Anyone who has spent a moderate amount of time in an office will know that there are so many typical moments in that movie that you immediately begin to relate to it. One of the classic lines in the film was regarding a particularly depressing morning and how that look translated into 'a case of the Mondays'. Now there are times when you get up and drag yourself out of bed to start the day. There's nothing quite as hard as that. You're like an actor seeking motivation.

For 26-year-old Brandy Killin of Kearney, Nebraska, she was struck by what must have seemed like a bolt of lightning when she hatched her scheme. Working for credit card service, First National Omaha, she was expected to report for work at 10 a.m. Now for those of us who are at our desks by 7:30, this seems like a heavenly time to arrive since you would be getting extra hours of sleep. Even for those of us who come in at 9:00 or even 9:30 this seems like a good time since it again means a little extra sleep. Apparently is wasn't enough for young Ms. Killin who then proceeded to call her employer and make a false bomb threat. Calling about 8 minutes before her reporting time, Killin reportedly called from a pay phone and indicated that an explosive had been sent to the office.

Now anyone who watches a bit of TV these days knows that in this highly charged and security conscious atmosphere we now live in, it's nearly impossible for the average person to pull a fast one on the cops in this way. I mean there are most certainly ways that a clever person could make a phone call without being caught but it certainly won't be as easy as going down to the pay phone in front of your place and making the call. Naturally the building was evacuated after the call and work was cancelled for the day but once the investigation began, it was quite clear to the police who was responsible for the call.

I will admit, there are days when I am so tired or sleepy that I literally fall out of bed and crawl my way to the shower to get started for the day. Statistics have shown that a large number of people have made false sick calls to get out of work and they continue to do so. I remember in elementary school there was a day when both my brother and I were just feeling plain lazy and didn't want to go so our dad and mom also stayed home and the four of us enjoyed an impromptu day off. I remember going to the library with my dad and brother on that day (hey... it may seem nerdy but I am an avid reader so what can you do) and the librarian checking out our books asked if schools were closed today. He knew that we had skipped school that day and although I wasn't freaked out or concerned that I would get in trouble, there was that small feeling of guilt that motivated me to want to go back the next day.

It's that guilt of missing work or delaying some project that motivates the majority of us to work through our cases of the Mondays and get to the tail end of the week. I can only surmise that being desperate enough to make a bomb threat, even a false one indicates a severe lack of understanding and imagination on the part of coming up with an excuse or indicates someone who is very very very unhappy with work. If your job is that bad and is leading you to make false bomb threats or bio-terrorist attack threats, then I would suggest the easiest thing would be to start searching for new work. Mondays can be bad enough, it doesn't help the rest of us get through if we are dealing with false bomb threats... then we begin to question ourselves too. "Why oh why didn't I call in sick this morning?"