my succulent little garden snail

Mike: Good morning, Roz, my succulent little garden snail. And who will we be scaring today?
Roz: Wazowski! You didn’t file your paperwork last night.
Mike: Oh, that darn paperwork! Wouldn’t it be easier if it all just blew away?
Roz: Don’t let it happen again.
Mike: Yes, well, I’ll try to be more careful next time.
Roz: I’m watching you, Wazowski. Always watching. Always.

 

It’s not that Monster’s Inc. is my favorite movie, but I LOVE the character of Roz, the cranky office manager.

When I first saw the movie, I laughed harder at her more than anything else — and I wasn’t even in the work world at the time.  She’s a classic character and I believe we all know a Roz.  As my job goes, I interact with at least two Roz’s a day.

Inflexible, small minded, difficult, quick to judge and slow to give grace.  If you left all your Roz’s in a room, they may line up by age or height, just to feel more organized.  They’d join together in a chorus of eye rolling we-know-better-than-upper-management grumpiness, but they’d stay in that room until their tasks were completed.

In my experience, Roz’s are great once you’re in.  Prove to a Roz that you’re a real person with sincere intentions and she’ll hook you up with all sorts of great stuff. Once the Roz of a client company likes me, I can count on an extremely long term relationship from her.  So while I can list all of her negative attributes, I can also say that Roz is loyal, reliable, unwaivering and refreshingly real.   She probably has a tomato garden at home.

The Roz’s that I know give me a chance, everyday, to love the unlovable.