The Office Equivalent of Your High School Yearbook

I have a vivid memory of sitting at my high school graduation, decked in my cap and gown with the other students who last name ended in “M” feeling pretty excited that I was finally done with that chapter of my life. I didn’t have a car in the world, until some kid marched across the stage and accepted a diploma as a fellow graduate of the Class of 2000. The problem was I had no idea who this kid was. And it wasn’t like I went to a large high school. I think there were about 300 kids in my graduating class. So why was it, after four years of schooling I had no idea who this kid was?

It was at that moment I decided I needed my year book. I have always been one of those people that if I don’t know you or can’t figure out where I know you from, I need to answer immediately. Otherwise it prevents me from sleeping at night and slowly drives me insane. (On this note: thank God for IMDB. It stops me from having to call my mom at 2AM to find out who the actor is in the movie I am watching…)

Flash-forward nine years and I still have this problem. Every once in a while a name is mentioned in a HR newsletter and I have no idea who they are. Or I call about a problem and I am told Joe can fix it which leaves me wondering “Who the hell is Joe?”

So when these situations pop up I turn to my handy company phone list which is broken down three separate ways – by first name, by department, and by region of the world that they represent. It is sometimes a lifesaver when I pretend that I know the person and then have to dash back to my desk to figure out who I just promised to e-mail the information regarding the Fun Committee to…

And once I have figure out where they work in my office, I can get a visual to go along with it because it is company policy that every employee have their photo taken and stored on out shared drive for all to access at anytime. So instead of wandering around looking for someone based on nametags we can wander the office looking for someone who was wearing a really hideous shirt on their first day at work.

~The Office Scribe