Daniel Orozco’s “Orientation” Critiques the Modern Workplace
Most people at some point in their life will begin a new job and immediately feel overwhelmed by trying to memorize new responsibilities, new expectations, and new names. “Orientation” is Orozco’s satirical take on the modern workplace, which narrates an employee’s bizarre experience with a training session on the first day of a new job. In addition to minimal instructions and procedures, the new employee is given a brief history of the social crimes committed in the workplace, ranging from intentionally using the wrong bathroom to serial murder. With humor and imaginative visuals, Orozco criticizes the typical workplace’s emphasis on gossip and office relationships over the quality …show more content…
There is nothing revealed about the new employee who endures this first day, making it fun and easy for the reader to step in and accept that role. Meanwhile, the person who facilitates the titular ‘orientation’ also has no distinguishing qualities. Rather than shine the spotlight on the narrator or on a single supporting character as might be expected in short fiction, Orozco instead chooses to give little details about each employee that hint at the overall atmosphere in the office. In this way he is able to reveal intimate disturbing details about the workplace and how the issues are handled. Employees are categorized by their social role and intimate information rather than by the job they do. For example, one employee compulsively steals due to emotional stress caused by the sudden loss of his wife, another man gets a thrill out of using the women’s restroom. The people in this office know these things, but they are not allowed to let on that they know. “If you let on, you may be let go, (p.485)” is a significant direction in the orientation process. It seems to be more important that these characters keep quiet about issues than to actually follow the rules and social norms. The repeated, extreme emphasis on social rules, like not mentioning these disturbing happenings, implies that the actual work done in this office is unimportant or irrelevant. The unsettling nature of some the behaviors that are excused in this workplace make it clear that Orozco isn’t praising this
Most people at some point in their life will begin a new job and immediately feel overwhelmed by trying to memorize new responsibilities, new expectations, and new names. “Orientation” is Orozco’s satirical take on the modern workplace, which narrates an employee’s bizarre experience with a training session on the first day of a new job. In addition to minimal instructions and procedures, the new employee is given a brief history of the social crimes committed in the workplace, ranging from intentionally using the wrong bathroom to serial murder. With humor and imaginative visuals, Orozco criticizes the typical workplace’s emphasis on gossip and office relationships over the quality …show more content…
There is nothing revealed about the new employee who endures this first day, making it fun and easy for the reader to step in and accept that role. Meanwhile, the person who facilitates the titular ‘orientation’ also has no distinguishing qualities. Rather than shine the spotlight on the narrator or on a single supporting character as might be expected in short fiction, Orozco instead chooses to give little details about each employee that hint at the overall atmosphere in the office. In this way he is able to reveal intimate disturbing details about the workplace and how the issues are handled. Employees are categorized by their social role and intimate information rather than by the job they do. For example, one employee compulsively steals due to emotional stress caused by the sudden loss of his wife, another man gets a thrill out of using the women’s restroom. The people in this office know these things, but they are not allowed to let on that they know. “If you let on, you may be let go, (p.485)” is a significant direction in the orientation process. It seems to be more important that these characters keep quiet about issues than to actually follow the rules and social norms. The repeated, extreme emphasis on social rules, like not mentioning these disturbing happenings, implies that the actual work done in this office is unimportant or irrelevant. The unsettling nature of some the behaviors that are excused in this workplace make it clear that Orozco isn’t praising this