What Costume Are You Wearing?

It’s that time of year again. Yes, Halloween, when the office environment starts to convert into something that may be scariest of all to HR. Fortunately, my fellow bloggers have done a tremendous job covering parties at the office, your favorite spirits, dressing up at work and even memories from childhood. If you work in an office, you’ve probably already heard about the “awesome” and “crazy” ideas that your colleagues have planned for Friday. Some will love it, some will hate it, and some could really care less.

All this talk about Halloween made me think about this annual tradition of pretending to be something we’re not. But here’s the dilemma. As much as we like to believe that this is relegated to late October, most employees tend to wear a costume to work every single day.

For some, it’s pretending to be passionate about things we are not. We clap (not too loudly and maybe sarcastically) during the new product launch. We smirk (but never smile) at the “exciting” initiatives cascading from above. We participate because we must. We silently suffer, visibly forcing our eyes not to roll every painfully dull minute. And we have a sneaking suspicion that in the quiet moments even the office cheerleaders don’t buy what they’re selling.

For others, it’s a superhero-like double life. At work, we are the Marketing Manager. The IT Director, The Project Lead. The VP of Benefits. We have a title, we have a job, and we promised the organization that we would do it. But as the cubicle lights dim and the drive home begins, we quickly shed our office skin and morph into our alter ego. The Chef. The Gardener. The Adventurer. The Writer. Sure, some would call these hobbies, but if we could somehow support ourselves full-time in these activities, we’d resign in a heartbeat.

For nearly all, however, it’s the painful reality of daily betraying your true sense of self. The pressure of agreeing to something you know to be wrong. The tongue-biting when you wish you had the courage or opportunity to speak your mind. Putting up with subtle (or overt) racism, sexism and discrimination of all types. The wondering of how you ended up in this position and the seemingly insurmountable obstacles to change it.

At times, you wish you could scream. You wish you could curse. You just wish – from the bottom of your heart – that you could just be happy. But alas, that just seems too difficult. Too risky. You can’t afford to change your path. What if you get fired?…and in this economy? No, you’ll just keep your head down, hope things improve and earn your paycheck. It’s called “work” for a reason, right? So tomorrow morning, you’ll get up, put on your costume and try and get through another day.

Unfortunately, this is a sad reality for so many employees. And chances are that each of you have experienced this to some degree. Which begs the question…

What costume are you wearing?

Share your thoughts below and let’s keep the conversation going.

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