Finally. Everyone has pulled his or her last all-nighter in order to turn in that final paper or to study for that last final. The majority of wheeled suitcases have left campus. It’s officially summer vacation.
However, as we get older, summer begins to entail more than just sunburn, barbecues and general slothfulness. Summer means employment. How else are we going to fund our late-night Tuscany runs or our obsession with Wisey’s Oreo cookie cookie? (Yes, I wrote cookie twice. It’s pieces of cookie within a cookie. Check it out.) Oh yeah, and paying for our tuition and building our resumes may also be important. Regardless of your reasoning, chances are, you have a job. Therefore, you’ll need ways to keep yourself from getting bored during the daily grind.
Many Hoyas have summer desk jobs. Whether you’re working for an attorney or have a government internship, there are bound to be days when office work is comparable to imprisonment in Lau. However, if you can cope with the soul-crushing despair of a cubicle in Lauinger Library, you should have no problem functioning in the business world.
A great way to ensure a fun and productive summer at the office is to build strong bonds with your co-workers. First, you should find people who share your sense of humor. Try speaking entirely in movie quotes. Not only will it allow you to practice for all your late-night trivia sessions at the Tombs, but it will also reveal the identities of your fellow movie aficionados. Bonus points if your new friends respond with movie quotes.
Once you find friends at the office, you should have plenty of amusing ideas with which to entertain them. This way, they’ll appreciate your wit and will hopefully have your back in case any of your other office-mates do not value your humorous contributions to the workplace. For example, some spoilsport might not understand the amount of effort that you put into creating a new, non-alphabetical filing system. A few businessmen will likely be peeved by the scavenger hunt you created in order for them to discover the new password you put on their computers. However, your new friends will support your ingenuity. They may even join you when you answer the phone with a different accent each day.
If you are working some place slightly less structured, such as Georgetown’s Residence Hall Offices, you will have even more ways to combat your boredom. It would be fitting to begin your RHO employment with the quintessential NSO icebreaker, “Two Truths and a Lie.” To increase the excitement of this game, tell no one that you are playing. See how much bogus information your coworkers believe.
After you use this game to build a solid foundation of trust with your coworkers, they will be ready to join you on your quest for entertainment. I recommend trying the Harry Potter Sporcle challenge. After all, if you go to a school that looks like Hogwarts, you might as well know the names of the top 200 characters. If the Harry Potter quiz intimidates you (I mean, who knows everyone in the Ministry of Magic, anyway?) you could always frequent StumbleUpon. The source of many a Hoya’s procrastination, StumbleUpon finds random webpages based on your interests and is an easy way to waste enrich an hour.
After using various computer-generated activities, you could work your way up to something more daring, such as having a water gun fight with your co-workers. If it’s unannounced, it will be even better; as the only one in possession of a water gun, you will win.
If all else fails, you could do your actual job.
