Laura Mayer > Quotes

“I don’t like work—no man does—but I like what is in the work—the chance to find yourself. Your own reality—for yourself not for others—what no other man can ever know. They can only see the mere show, and never can tell what it really means. Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness”
― Laura Mayer, Tryhard: A Cautionary Tale of Clocking In and Spinning Out – A Memoir and Satire of Workplace Culture

“I don’t know how I came across the book Games Mother Never Taught You: Corporate Gamesmanship for Women, but I did. The title was appealing to me, for one, as my mother didn’t teach me any games related to corporate gamesmanship or otherwise. Plus, I’m always looking to add to my work self-help collection. I bought it online. When it arrived—yellowed and gnarled by time and wherever it was kept—I put it in my freezer for three days to make sure any bugs in it were killed. I’ve dealt with bedbugs before not going to do it again. Even for this book.”
― Laura Mayer, Tryhard: A Cautionary Tale of Clocking In and Spinning Out – A Memoir and Satire of Workplace Culture

“Beer makes you feel the way you ought to feel without beer. Henry Lawson, Australian writer”
― Laura Mayer, Tryhard: A Cautionary Tale of Clocking In and Spinning Out – A Memoir and Satire of Workplace Culture

“As I rewatch Murphy Brown now, I realize that her nemesis was, in fact, the executive producer of the show, Murphy Brown’s boss. As, technically, an executive producer at a television network today, I have since become my own nemesis. But middle-age does that to us all, doesn’t it?”
― Laura Mayer, Tryhard: A Cautionary Tale of Clocking In and Spinning Out – A Memoir and Satire of Workplace Culture

“When the panic attacks are strong enough, my worst reaction is feeling as if I literally don’t exist. That I’ve evaporated and I’m watching my life from outside of myself. That’s known as depersonalization/derealization. These episodes are generally brief and respond well to certain medications. But, think for a moment, about how brutally fucked-up it is that I could allow my mind to make myself feel like it doesn’t exist, all because of something like a PowerPoint presentation.”
― Laura Mayer, Tryhard: A Cautionary Tale of Clocking In and Spinning Out – A Memoir and Satire of Workplace Culture

“Often, when I feel stuck, I look for things that delight me (and are, generally, completely unrelated to the job at hand). I then put my full weight behind getting involved with the delight target. It makes me laugh and feel like I am doing something with my time. And, sometimes, the forward momentum of a purehearted scheme unleashes a type of movement I didn’t know I could achieve. I call this move “procrastin-action.”
― Laura Mayer, Tryhard: A Cautionary Tale of Clocking In and Spinning Out – A Memoir and Satire of Workplace Culture

“Panic attacks, if you haven’t had the pleasure, are not fun. They’re spiritual heart attacks that feel like physical ones.”
― Laura Mayer, Tryhard: A Cautionary Tale of Clocking In and Spinning Out – A Memoir and Satire of Workplace Culture

“This is a work of nonfiction. The events and experiences detailed herein are all true and have been faithfully rendered as I have remembered them, to the best of my ability. Some names, identities, and circumstances have been changed in order to protect the integrity and/or privacy of the various individuals involved. Though conversations come from my keen recollection of them, they are not written to represent word-for-word documentation; rather, I've retold them in a way that evokes the real feeling and meaning of what was said, in keeping with the true essence of the mood and spirit of the event.”
― Laura Mayer, Tryhard: A Cautionary Tale of Clocking In and Spinning Out – A Memoir and Satire of Workplace Culture