Fun fact: at work, we are allowed to enter our own titles in the company address book. I realize there are a lot of ways that particular fact could lead to some amusement, but keep in mind that this is a corporate job. So, all in all, people tend to keep it pretty tame. Basically, people write down something like "Manager" or "Business Analyst."
There are a couple of reasons for that. First of all, it's a business casual outfit. You may not have to wear a suit and tie, but you do have to keep it professional. Secondly, and more importantly, other people can see those details. That's sort of the point of an address book: you should be able to look people up (it's a big company, and I don't always know someone's phone number or email). So, if you put down "The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread" as your title, someone is eventually going to notice. I'd even venture to say that a bunch of someones are going to both notice and laugh about it.
Knowing all of that, I once joked with a friend that we should pick out fun work titles and put those down. Now, she and I are both the fairly serious types, and we knew it was all in fun. Still, I laughed my head off when she called dibs on "Smartest Woman Alive." I, on the other hand, went with something a little less grandiose: Grand Poobah of IT. Tell me you wouldn't laugh if you saw "Grand Poobah" on a business card. I'm not even sure you care that there are more words after that; as soon as you see "Grand Poobah," you know roughly what my temperament is like.
Still, that was all a joke. As it turns out, truth is stranger than fiction. I recently joined a new project, so I have a new role on that project. Effectively, my title has changed. Let's just call it "Gizmo Checker" for funsies (to be clear, that is not my actual title, nor do I actually say that). For one particular conference, one of my coworkers had to sign me up. He decided that not only am I a Gizmo Checker, I am the Chief Gizmo Checker. Yup, he promoted me to the head honcho over all of the Gizmo Checkers, at least on paper. So, when I show up to this thing, my name tag is going to say that I am far, far more important than I actually am.
As my other coworker joked, everyone is going to wonder how the heck some punk kid like me ended up as the Chief Gizmo Checker. Maybe I should've stuck with Grand Poobah.
There are a couple of reasons for that. First of all, it's a business casual outfit. You may not have to wear a suit and tie, but you do have to keep it professional. Secondly, and more importantly, other people can see those details. That's sort of the point of an address book: you should be able to look people up (it's a big company, and I don't always know someone's phone number or email). So, if you put down "The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread" as your title, someone is eventually going to notice. I'd even venture to say that a bunch of someones are going to both notice and laugh about it.
Knowing all of that, I once joked with a friend that we should pick out fun work titles and put those down. Now, she and I are both the fairly serious types, and we knew it was all in fun. Still, I laughed my head off when she called dibs on "Smartest Woman Alive." I, on the other hand, went with something a little less grandiose: Grand Poobah of IT. Tell me you wouldn't laugh if you saw "Grand Poobah" on a business card. I'm not even sure you care that there are more words after that; as soon as you see "Grand Poobah," you know roughly what my temperament is like.
Still, that was all a joke. As it turns out, truth is stranger than fiction. I recently joined a new project, so I have a new role on that project. Effectively, my title has changed. Let's just call it "Gizmo Checker" for funsies (to be clear, that is not my actual title, nor do I actually say that). For one particular conference, one of my coworkers had to sign me up. He decided that not only am I a Gizmo Checker, I am the Chief Gizmo Checker. Yup, he promoted me to the head honcho over all of the Gizmo Checkers, at least on paper. So, when I show up to this thing, my name tag is going to say that I am far, far more important than I actually am.
As my other coworker joked, everyone is going to wonder how the heck some punk kid like me ended up as the Chief Gizmo Checker. Maybe I should've stuck with Grand Poobah.
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