The Office: More than Just the End to a Show

Today is not just any Thursday.  It's Office Thursday.  And, it's not just any Office Thursday.  It's the finale of one of the greatest shows of the past decade.  One that holds a special place in my heart, as well as those of anyone who appreciates ruining innocent sentences by spouting off with: "That's What She Said!"



Hey, I can have my own Office-Thon!

I have been a self-appointed uber fan of The Office since the beginning.  As those who know me best can attest, the humor of The Office is completely compatible with my general smart alecky outlook on the everyday.  It is the everyday after all where we all reside.  Yep, our days are filled with alarm clocks, thermostats, coffee, water coolers, copy machines, and the more than occasional paper jam. 

I so love The Office that when new episodes are being aired I go out of my way to make sure that my Thursday evenings are free of commitments, for I have a commitment with NBC to watch my favorite characters be completely ridiculous, and yet somehow remain completely relateable.  Anyone who's worked in an office can appreciate many of the subplots within each episode: fighting over thermostat temperature, the envy over how much better the ladies bathroom is compared to the gentleman's, and who doesn't want to master Flonkerton for the next Office Olympics?

I also love that the show was able to fulfill many plot lines and yet keep the show going without compromising the underlying humor and greatness that is The Office.  Jim finally got Pam (a modern day fairytale we can all aspire to), Michael got Holly (a more quirky fairytale, yet also worth aspiring to), in the end Angela got Dwight...and Dwight got a son (much to Dwight's chagrin, I cannot aspire to be a beat farmer)!

The office, however, holds a special place in my heart for another reason.  Around 2007-ish, NBC came out with Dunder Mifflin Infinity (DMI), which was an online game/social network for fans of The Office.  At that time my "social media online" presence was nonexistent.  Nonetheless, I was intrigued, so I joined the Medford, OR branch.  Initially DMI was pretty lame, and it took a few months for the DMI community to take shape. 



Kermyisgreen = Me!


The best way to describe DMI is: Facebook meets online gaming.  Each week there was a task to complete for which you could earn Schrutebucks, which you would in turn use to purchase items for your virtual desk, or gift to your co-worker's virtual desk. There was branch and then company wide voting on task submissions for which you could earn more Shrutebucks, and even really cool real-world prizes from NBC to the over-all company wide winners.

The more Shrutebucks you earned, the quicker you would advance up the company ladder.  Within your branch you could post to your branch's private forum, and if you were brave you could venture out into the public DMI forums.  Pretty soon a solid online community was formed.  To encourage social interaction, you could also earn Schrutebucks by posting in the forums, and on your co-workers profiles. During DMI's height, the writers of the show would place references to DMI within the show (every uber Office Fan's dream).

As is the usual case with me in every facet of my life, before I knew it what was supposed to be a fun non-responsibility filled endeavor, turned into a responsible commitment. For two years I served as Regional Manager (forum moderator) of the Medford, OR branch -  the home of the Rogue Beavers.  Our branch moto was: "We're Rough Around the Edges".  We were a small yet mighty branch.  The most employees we ever had at any one time was around 150 - 200, and of those only about 20 were active.  But still, I had a job to do.  No really, I did.  Every so often we had branch tasks, and it was my responsibility to coordinate the submission of  the tasks. Eventually it was also a part of my duties to appoint employee of the week, and employee of the month. And moderating the forums was a task in and of itself (no cyber bullies on my watch!).  Yep, my silly online game turned into work that sometimes kept me up late at night (don't judge).

What happened during those two years however, is that I got to know a really neat group of people from all over the country, and in fact even one cool Australian dude.  A small, but special, group from back east joined our Medford branch pretty early on, and two members of that group (Ame and Sam), really helped to make our branch fun.  We had several games to play in our branch forum (20 questions, for example), and eventually Ame started a video blog thread wherein several branch members (myself included) shared videos which captured a snapshot of our everyday lives.  Heck, we even held our own Dundee awards! Pronk & Bobuerto led our branch's fantasy sports teams, and from what I recall we actually did really well.

During the second year of DMI, a special camaraderie between branches was formed.  We hosted events in the public forums, and Medford co-founded L.E.C.O.M, which consisted of 5 branches (Lakeland, Erie, Canton, Odessa and Medford).  Together we planned and hosted an Office Olympics, Talent Contest and company picnic, which if memory serves me correctly NBC gave us credit for on the DMI homepage.  Winners were awarded nifty badges to display on their forum signatures, such as the nifty badge featured here.

 

I was able to meet Ame and Sam in person when they visited Portland in 2009, as is evidenced in a video blog Ame posted following their trip (note that apparently when I don't know what to say, I ramble about the weather...)

In 2010 after two and a half years of faithful service I resigned from DMI, because I felt it was time for me to invest in connections within my community. And in fact it was 1 year later when my current path of advocacy work began. 

I left the Rogue Beavers in the capable hands of Ame and Sam (just look at the cool DMI Medford website they made!). Eventually, however, DMI fizzled out of existence, but the bonds formed by it's members have not. In fact, I'm still in touch with several former Rogue Beavers. Some of them have supported my current projects with regard to Congo. Some beat me too often in Words with Friends, and a couple are on my Christmas card list.  And, of course, recently a "closed" DMI Facebook group has been formed so that we can reminisce about our ridiculously fun DMI days.

But all of them hold a special place in my heart, for you see when I joined DMI I was going through a difficult time in my life and needed a distraction which did not involve bonds with other people.  What I found instead was a supportive community of real-life people who unbeknownst to them helped me to refocus and regain my confidence.

And so today I lift my Employee of the Year mug to you: Ame, Sam, Travelcup, JoanofArc, Intheceiling, Ladystokecat, Ponk, Bobuerto, The Question, MellowD & the rest of the DMI community:


I bring this mug into my annual review every year--it gets a laugh every time!


 

So, you see, tonight is not just the ending of one of the best shows of the past decade, but the commemoration of the many friendships formed through love for the show. 

M otivated people who are driven to succeed
E xperts in the field to meet your every paper need
D epth of our commitment makes us stand out from the rest
F unny, smart, creative folks with whom you'll be impressed
O ffering you service full of dignity and grace
R eady for the challenges that we will have to face
D edicated to the goal of having lots of fun

 

At DMI Medford, we're number 1!

BEARS. BEETS. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA.