9 to 5, What a Way to Make a Living

I might be in the minority here, but I consider Dolly Parton a visionary. Not just for her physical enhancements and her "white trash meets two dollar hooker" fashion sense (I kid because I care, Dolly), but specifically because of her ability to put the feelings of the average everyday American into song. She's had hits with songs like "I Will Always Love You", and "Jolene" about love and its loss but one of her biggest coincided with a little film she did called "9 to 5". The movie, costarring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, is absolutely hilarious. It holds up even some 27 years later (can you believe it came out in 1980? The Rogue wasn't even born yet!).

One of the reasons this movie has continued to be part of the pop culture consciousness (other than the excellent casting) is that the 9 to 5 grind is one that almost every adult tax-paying American has to deal with. Everybody's got a boss that they'd love to see get his comeuppance, and co-workers that you'd help hide bodies. The doldrums of the office (and the escape from it through flights of fancy) are something that almost everyone can identify with. We've seen similar motifs and situations used in other films. "Office Space" from "Beavis and Butthead" creator Mike Judge told this same sad tale to a whole new generation and reaped the benefits by becoming a cult hit in its own right.

In 2001 the latest successor to the "Office Place Comedy" throne was developed by a couple of Brits, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Ricky's portrayal of David Brent (the lovable but completely incompetent boss of a paper company) resonates with anyone who's ever worked for anyone else. As much as we'd all like to imagine otherwise, there's a little bit of David Brent in all of us. As brilliant as "The Office" was, it was also distinctly British. The tone just a little too sarcastic and defeatist for American audiences and (sad though it may be) the fact of the matter is that the average American can't keep up with humor when it's delivered in a British accent. "The Office" was critically acclaimed worldwide, but it didn't explode commercially in the States.

Lucky for us, NBC was spending a lot of time watching BBC programming. Having spent several years looking for the successor to "Friends" they had spent a terrific amount of money and publicity on a translation (re-imagining?) of the BBC series "Coupling". It was billed as a married version of "Friends" and the original had enough pedigree to deliver, but it didn't connect immediately and NBC canned it without much of a chance. The important thing for us is that NBC and the BBC were now involved monetarily. NBC began looking at other BBC properties, one of them the huge critical darling, "The Office". Scripts were ordered (largely just changing the pop culture references and slang for an American audience) and six episodes were shot.

America didn't seem to notice. "The Office" was not exactly a flop, but it could not be called a success in America. On any other network it probably would have disappeared. But NBC was desperate. They had fallen so far from the time when "Seinfeld", "Friends" and "E.R" were demolishing everything that stood in their path, that they literally were hanging onto any shred of hope. While viewers didn't flock to this American version of "The Office" the critics had actually been impressed. The one camera sitcom had kept enough of the things that made its British forbearer groundbreaking to impress, while altering some of the more "British" and therefore alienating attributes of it. NBC gave it another shot, allowing the writers a little more leeway to "Americanize" the show (which was really a necessity since the original only had twelve episodes and a Christmas special).

Paired with "My Name is Earl" another one camera oddball sitcom, the American "Office" finally found itself (and its audience). The numbers weren't breathtaking, but for NBC they were trend altering. They had a hit, when those had been significantly hard to come by. Sweet and sassy, hilarious and high class, "The Office" American style had actually surpassed its British counterpart. Leaving behind the "gloom and doom" outlook that Gervais brought to the original, Steve Carrell and his co-stars brought an unshakable optimism.

Yes, life generally sucks, especially when we're at work. Yet there are all these wonderful people around us to share in the inanity of these workday doldrums. They're genuine, lovable and funny just like us. Some of them are ridiculous, some of them are sweet, and some of them might become more than friends (everybody likes romance). We all have to go to work, but some of us (if we really think about it, most of us) are blessed with the ability to work with people we truly care for, and that makes the whole bloody process much more tolerable. "The Office" does exactly what comedy television is supposed to do. It reminds us that even though we spend more time at work than at home, that is not what life is really about. It shows us that if we can't laugh at the ridiculous nature of our modern life, we'll drown in it. But most of all, it makes us laugh for thirty minutes or so every Thursday night. There are much worse ways to spend thirty minutes.

Here's a video that I found hilarious (it's what prompted this blog, in fact), a little teaser for this season's "Office".



It may be unproven when compared to "The Office" but based on the preview (and NBC's strong recent record with "The Office", "My Name is Earl", "Scrubs" and "Heroes" I'll take their word for it. Here's Chuck...



And don't forget to check out "Exclamations of a Drunken Rogue".

The Drunken Rogue and the Probably (But Not Definitely) Illegal Aliens

New Orleans is a city that is known throughout the world for its French influence. The Cajun patois (that's dialect for the uninitiated), the Creole culture, and names like Bourbon and Vieux Carre all scream French heritage. What many do not know is that there has been, throughout its history, almost as much Spanish influence on the Crescent City. As an example, the architecture throughout much of the French Quarter is actually mirroring Spanish design (ironic isn't it).

An even greater surprise to many people is that there is perhaps a greater Spanish influence on New Orleans today than ever in history. We (like many other parts of the country) are undergoing an invasion by Spanish speaking peoples. These probably (although not definitely) illegal aliens are everywhere. The common misconception is that they are all border jumpers from nearby Mexico. That may in fact be the way they got in, but they come from all over. Guatemala, Honduras, Puerto Rico, Chile and, yes, sunny Mexico were all represented in the Rogue's unofficial (and very unscientific) poll.

How did I get this info, and what inspired me to dive knee deep into the immigration debate? The company I work for (yes the Rogue has a day job) is currently in the process of relocation. We had three floors of an office building to pack up and move across town. It was the determination of management that even with all levels of our employees chipping in, we would not have enough manpower to get the job done in time to be out at the end of the month (as is required by our lease). So, we hired day laborers (the probably, but not definitely illegal aliens referenced in the title).

When I was told of this plan, I admit that I faced a bit of a moral and political dilemma. I am fairly hard lined in favor of changing (ie. strengthening) our immigration laws and border security. As a devout free economist I understand that immigration (and even somewhat open borders) are in our long term best interest economically, but I also know that many of our social systems are taxed to the limits and could not abide another massive influx of immigrants that sometimes (but not always) fail to pay taxes. Generally, I'm too much of a humanitarian (and have spent too long considering what I would do in a similar situation) to support deportation for most of the aliens currently in the country (the felons and violent criminals, on the other hand, should go yesterday), but I do believe in harsh penalties for companies that employ these laborers (thus increasing the demand for them to immigrate illegally). Does that same standard apply to my company?

In the end my moral questions took a back seat to my disinclination to lug all that crap across town myself (go ahead and give me the humanitarian of the world award). The Drunken Rogue is many things but a manual laborer is not (checking the latest updates...nope) anywhere on the list. So for the past several days, I've been sweating alongside roughly ten probably (but not definitely) illegal aliens, or PBNDIA (pronounced pub-nah-de-ah) for short.

First impressions? Holy crap! I now understand why there is such a call for immigrant workers. I say the following with no racial bias whatsoever, no white man in the history of the world (alright, the last 20 years) has worked as hard as the men have. These guys bust their butt constantly with little grumbling about the difficulty of the work and nothing but thanks for the pay (which to the credit of my bosses is very reasonable) and meals provided. In the past few days, they have taken apart furniture, hauled lumber, pulled up carpet, painted and literally anything else they were asked to do.

Most of our workers do not speak English, and since the Rogue took French in high school and college, other than the occasional "Bueno!" I'm at a loss for how to communicate with them. The ones that do speak English, Fernando, Jorge and Oscar are extremely nice and have interesting stories to tell. Fernando, for instance, has lived all over the United States (he's originally from Puerto Rico). He was in New York, then California, then Miami and now is residing in New Orleans. His wife and two children (still working in southern California) are planning to join him soon. He says that New Orleans is expensive (glad to know I'm not the only one that thinks so) but that the work here is good and the people nice so he will stay.

It's so odd to put faces and names on such a large national problem as (probable) illegal immigration. For years I've noticed the influx of Latino immigrants, the changes in store policies (I'm looking at you, Home Depot) to include Spanish on their signs, and the rising level of complaining about our borders. But now, I know Fernando, Jorge, and Oscar and it's not so easy to just say "Put up a fence, then send the ones that are here home." Sure, the borders must be secured, we cannot leave such massive holes in our defense against terrorists. But I'm starting to see why some (President Bush and John McCain especially) felt the need for a guest worker program and a path to citizenship for those already here. I'm not exactly converted yet, maybe you should call me an Almost (But Not Quite) Convert.

**Don't forget to check out "Exclamations of a Drunken Rogue" the funniest and most interesting bits of the internet all neatly compiled for you.**