Reflection - Life in the Office

By Dylan Morrill

To me, being a member of Team Care Force is almost too good to be true. Our job seems semi-manufactured, close to imaginary; as if it is the product of a long brainstorming session designed to find the perfect job for an adventurous, altruistic young adult. Each member of Team Care Force has the unique ability to experience the euphoria that comes with the balance of altruism and excitement. As members of Team Care Force, we travel around the country to different cities to lead volunteers in inspiring and transformative community service projects; all while exploring the cities that we are privileged to work in. Too good to be true.

When Team Care Force 2011 started its year in mid-July things started moving. Fast. For the rest of summer and the whole fall, Team Care Force traveled constantly; we flew from city to city leading service projects. We got used to being on the road; it became our home. Hotels replaced our apartments, planes replaced our subways, and interesting restaurants replaced our ramen noodles. The semi-generic comfort of a Holiday Inn bed seemed more home-like to me than the comfort of my “Bob-O-Pedic” bed in my apartment in Boston. Life on the road became very natural for all of Team Care Force, borderline innate. We all got very used to the traveling lifestyle quickly. It only took Team Care Force about four months to hone the unique and elusive ability to channel our inner George Clooney from the movie “Up in the Air.”

We quickly became traveling service warriors.Then the fall ended. Winter enveloped Boston slowly and mercilessly. For Care Force, the cold weather of winter also ushered in a “slow season” of projects. The frenetic lifestyle of TCF was replaced with a slower, colder lifestyle. The “Bob-O-Pedic” bed slowly became my own again. Our bathroom products were no longer travel-sized. Most importantly, our hours became constant; 8:30-5:00 every day at City Year Headquarters. The lifestyle of the traveling service warrior had come to a halt.

We were now stationary service warriors.

After five months of exploring the country and feeling like a service rock star, working daily in an office building for a few months was the last thing that any member of Team Care Force wanted to do. The idea of office work immediately conjured up gray, boring images that carry an undeniable similarity to scenes from the movie Office Space.

Our days would consist of sitting in front of a computer screens in our own personal cubicle and working on various tasks that Care Force staff members supplied us with. Personally, I was frustrated with the fact that I would have to be doing this for a few months.

However, my frustration was sophomoric; unrealistic. I was frustrated because I saw the blunt difference between our life on the road and our life in the office. However, I did not evaluate the difference; I simply didn’t like it. No matter what our winter lifestyle would consist of, I didn’t want it. In short, I wanted it to be fall again. I wanted to be on the road.

So, for the first few weeks an underlying animosity permeated my feelings around being a member of Team Care Force. I thought, “I’ll trudge through the work in the office and just hold out until we can get on the road again.”

However, as the days became weeks, I became more and more accustomed to the office. The dust had settled and my initial animosity toward my abrupt change in lifestyle faded. I began to look around. I began to explore what was going on in the office. I stopped trudging and started jaunting.

I started looking at the work I was doing for what it was. I was doing interesting, creative things and learning a lot while doing it. I helped make a training video and create five new designs for different landscaping projects. I worked with Care Force staff members closely, and my desk was just feet from the office of Charlie Rose, the Dean of City Year. I even lead a team building activity for a City Year Headquarters staff meeting. My new roles and responsibilities slowly became less of a roadblock between me and the spring and more of an adventure and a great learning opportunity. I realized I was doing pretty awesome things.

I also discovered that City Year Headquarters (HQ) is a fun place. Every Wednesday morning a different department at HQ hosted a themed breakfast for all to attend called Stone Soup. The different departments go all out with decorations. Some of my favorite themes this year were “The Super Bowl”, “Spring Break”, and “City Year High School”. We have even had a few local celebrities show up. One of the highlights of my year was the Stone Soup breakfast that Team Care Force had the privilege to create. We were able to turn the entire third floor into Care Force Studios and run a “Minute to Win It” style game show.

Some Wednesdays when there was no Stone Soup, there was a “Muffin-Off” baking competition one for anyone at HQ where the winners get things like the “wooden spoon of idealism.” There were also screenings of movies about community problems and civic leadership every week in the Lavine Civic Forum on the first floor. All in all, I found City Year HQ was full of people who work for City Year full-time; and people who work for City Year are fun. Naturally, these fun people are going to make sure that they work in an environment that is enjoyable. Therefore, despite being an office building, City Year Headquarters is a real melting pot of idealism.

It is currently early May; the unofficial end of Care Force’s off season. Two members of Team Care Force are in Philadelphia for a service event and I leave for Tampa in a week. Even though my “Bob-O-Pedic” feels as comfortable as ever, I am happily wiping of the dust on my suitcase to once again become a traveling service warrior.