Weeks that Begin and End Crazy

You know it’s been an insane week when you start inventing alter egos named Sir Bradley Fitzwalter III with the Psychedelic Cape of Power. Yes indeed, Sir Bradley’s job is to answer the phones...or at least we talked about it. Don’t worry, I highly doubt you’ll ever have talk with him. Anyway, the craziness all started last week.

Thursday evening, Sarah (one of our designers) called Stephanie (the CEO) to ask about a book Stephanie wanted. Sarah promised to give Stephanie the book the next day. However, Stephanie mysteriously replied, “If you can find me.”

Friday morning, there were only four cars in the parking lot. Sarah, Kate (the marketing director), and I met in our office. Aside from one person in the office above us, the entire building was completely dark and deserted. It was especially eerie considering Stephanie’s words, “If you can find me...” What was that supposed to mean?

The mystery was solved on Facebook. But in all honesty, I was working. I am creating a press kit for Crossover, and needed some pictures which I knew were on the Crossover Graphics’ Facebook page. Anyway, Stephanie had posted a Facebook picture of her new office. Sure enough, after we’d all left on Thursday, Stephanie’s office had been transported down the hall and around the corner. We left a sticky note on Stephanie’s desk - “We found you!”

Sometime Friday afternoon, Kate came into the office gingerly holding Stephanie’s iPhone. We were supposed to make a video blog describing daily life at Crossover Graphics. We all looked at each other, and then at the iPhone. How many blondes and brunettes does it take to work an iPhone? Apparently more than four. After scrolling through the calender, the calculator, and the phone log, Lindsey (the receptionist), found the video button. We filmed four storylines, accidentally deleted one, and finally returned the phone to Stephanie.

This morning, we all walked into the office to discover boxes and papers and filing cabinets all over the place...or at least in places they had not been before. Sarah freaked out when she discovered an unfamiliar man in the CIO’s old office. Sarah, Kate, Lindsey, and I all wandered back to Stephanie’s office. Stephanie could only laugh at our lost faces, and then she took us around to meet the new people. Crossover Graphics just acquired a local marketing, advertising, and design company - hence the new employees. Stay tuned for more details about the exciting opportunities this acquisition will bring!

This week and the coming months will bring much change, and some of it will be crazy and challenging. However, without change, there could be no growth. Alan Cohen, author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books, said, “It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.”

--Ashley High is a PR Intern at Crossover Graphics (www.crossovergraphics.com)

A Glimpse of Monday Morning

The clock is blinking 9:45 a.m. and I’m sitting at my desk after having a meeting with co-worker. Hmm. Let’s take a glimpse into a brilliant Monday morning in the Crossover Graphics world. Outside it is already melt-your-hairspray humid and hot enough to cook an egg on the sidewalk (has anyone actually tried doing that?). But inside it’s perfect, even according to Sarah, one of our graphic designers who is perpetually cold. The lights are still off because the sunlight pouring in from the two large windows in the room provides a gentle, natural light.

Kate, our marketing director, just finished making a pot of tea out in the reception area. Yes, I said tea - it’s our office’s speciality. However, we are far from being tea snobs. Every few days, someone will dash up the road to the very prestigious McCafe at McDonalds for some iced mochas with extra vanilla.

Everyone just had a panic attack. Stephanie, the CEO, was checking Crossover’s Facebook group and discovered that Facebook won’t load. Wails of “all my pictures are on Facebook; I can’t lose them!” come from all across the office. Ben, our IT guy who’s loading software onto Kate’s computer, just laughs and assures us that a company as big as Facebook will be back online shortly with everything intact.

As Ben works on Kate’s computer, Kate suggests plans for an evening office outing. Sarah, who’s busy typing away on her computer, wants to gets pedicures. Ben grimaces and says anything involving food would be better.

My phone rings. Apparently my direct line used to belong to Farmer’s Insurance or General Motors because I keep getting calls for them. Or perhaps the huge lightning storm last week tangled up phone lines. Goodness knows what havoc the storm caused - it managed to fry my home Internet and phone last week.

The office has an interesting smell this morning. It turned out to be one of those wallflowers. It’s plugged into the wall near Lindsey, the receptionist. It’s suppose to smell floral, but we all agree it smells more like men’s cologne.

Keyboards clicking, voices buzzing on the telephone, people running and bouncing down the stairs, the printer whirring, papers crinkling, little clicks and murmurs and indeterminate rustles and ripples. These are everyday sounds, but they’re good sounds. Life sounds.

It’s Monday morning and there’s a brand new week ahead of us.

--Ashley High is an Intern at Crossover Graphics (www.crossovergraphics.com).