Zetetical Society Meeting Notes

If you work in a building that has other tenants in it, you sadly have to encounter outsiders, people alien to your way of life. Some might be scary, others might be annoying, some might not even be human. A conversation this morning got me thinking about some of the people and organizations that I’ve shared work buildings with.

The South African Mission to the UN – Cons: It was still the apartheid days, spooky security staff would suddenly tear keys out of the elevator panel if you got in with them. Pros: You get to tell the story about the keys years later.

Akami - Cons: 3 foot tall 12 year old rollerblades in the lobby talking on his cellphone. Pros: Mass layoff in Boston office results in Akamai taking space and newly unemployed developers in an instant, helping with nagging guilt.

Food Network – Cons: Suddenly having to decide how you feel about Giada di Laurentiis when she just looks so rich and so thin. Pros: Nobody at Food Network important enough to shut down the single elevator you share.

Sean “P. Diddy” Combs – Cons: Enraged Puffy gets in fight with your receptionist after getting off on the wrong floor and demanding to be allowed into his important meeting. Pros: Get to tell story about his off-duty police boydguards and their guns intimidating the jerks who worked the front desk. Never have any urge to wear Sean John.

The US Mission to the UN – Cons: Rumor of rare occasions when lobby is shut down for VIPs. Pros: It will be really easy to make that Darfur Protest on the 22nd.