If you weren’t there, you couldn’t possibly understand.
It was just us in the beginning, building a scene out of nothing but sweat and vision, trying to inject some kind of life into this decrepit post-industrial town. We were a handful of outcasts in tiny, crowded rooms.That’s where my band, BeingTowardDeath, found its voice, which in turn became the voice of a community.
To this day, it takes a very specific kind of person to really appreciate what a fucking legend I am around here, which is why I’m not even going to bother trying to explain it to my co-workers at Greater Madison Office Solutions.
I’ve made my history available, of course. I’ve asked the sales girls if they’re into music, mentioned that I was a local opener for Rollins Band in 2006, and told them that I’m trying to get some cool shit going in the back alley basement after hours. They were confused and unimpressed and Barry in HR told me to stop being a creep. Whatever, I guess if it didn’t happen on American Idol it didn’t happen at all for these people.
If I were to feel anything about this office’s tragic philistinism, it would probably be a deep, empathetic pity. But honestly, if the good people of Greater Madison Office Solutions can’t appreciate local artistic transcendence when they see it, then much like vendor agnostic consulting for the modern workplace, that’s their business.
Do I ever wish, particularly when Steve is up my ass about effective time management practices again, that my co-workers could see me killing it at a B➡D show? Well, I can certainly imagine that if they ever did catch a show, then yeah, it might subtly dawn on them that life beyond the workaday umwelt is arguably more real than Steve’s time management bullshit. And that I’m not such a fuckup when it comes to what really matters — but then I don’t give it too much thought, honestly. I’m perfectly content to labor in anonymity, unrecognized and unappreciated by everyone here at Madison’s top choice for systems analysis and productivity optimization.
That said, I did notice that the new receptionist has a Misfits patch on her bag, so who knows, maybe she’ll get me.
Do you know how do deal with being an under-appreciated scene legend in the workplace? Let us know in the comments below!