I don’t remember much about the movie Office Space except the iconic scene in which three employees take out their frustrations on the office printer. Fed up with the repeated error message “PC LOAD LETTER” among other office things, the colleagues take the printer for a ride and destroy it with bats in a field.
Office Space aired in 1999, but even now, 26 years later, the printer remains a source of much frustration for many. At least, it is for me. I cannot count the number of times the printer has lost jobs, randomly jammed paper, or run out of staples at the most inopportune times. This morning, in fact, my home printer decided not to connect to my son’s computer for the few minutes we had to print his book report before leaving for school. Moments like these make the Office Space scene relatable.
To be honest, printers are not usually the original source of my frustration. They just tend to make an easy scapegoat at all the right moments. In the movie, the printer was the scapegoat for employees feeling unfulfilled and unnoticed at work. This morning, the printer was the scapegoat for my frustration with running late and the mounting pressure of the fall season for my family. The printer probably does not deserve to be yelled at, let alone taken to a field and destroyed by bats in the middle of the afternoon. Whether it is a printer or something else, I think we all can identify that thing that leads us to lose our cool when we are feeling on edge.
Ignatian spirituality teaches us to reflect on the deeper causes, but that kind of reflection is not always possible in the moment. So how can we temper our frustration in these unexpected moments of chaos and not take them out on inanimate objects (or people)?
This morning after I verbally lost it at the printer, I noticed my son watching me. Ashamed, I paused to pray the following prayer:
God,
I am frustrated in this moment at this printer,
and though I know I need to reflect
on the ultimate source of my frustration,
at this moment I just really need your grace.
Help me recenter myself on what matters.
Amen.
It calmed me down like pausing for a quick prayer always does—and I think the printer was grateful for the divine intervention as well!
Photo by Ana Rivarola on Unsplash.