German “Sometimes Silent” Productivity

I'm not sure how to accurately describe the social scene of my office. When you enter my office, it is almost dead quiet. Part of that is because there are three rooms for only 4 employees, so we are spread out. Another part is because my office is German...very German.

That means that, for the most part, there was no small talk or chit chat. Even between friends and family. I didn't even know that my supervisor was married to the woman in the office next door for two months. They would also be in the same meetings and barely even acknowledge each other. The air of seriousness in the office would've led most to assume that everything was about business. Not exactly.

To understand why the office was unproductive, I first need to explain the political party I was

working with. The GUE/NGL is the smallest and by far the most liberal party in the EP. Their members range from moderate to communists. They are incredibly diverse and open-minded, so they can almost appear as...hippies. Some members dress in suits, others dress in UGG boots and see-through mesh shirts. Their lack of consistency is refreshing, but some in the EP tend to not take the party seriously.

Their unconventional manner and small size mean that the party must work double the amount, and sometimes use political stunts to draw attention. Sometimes they succeed, but a lot of the time, their ideas are overshadowed and dismissed by the more dominant parties in the parliament.

The party's laid back attitude and unconventional policies are what made me sometimes wonder if I was actually accomplishing anything. The floor I worked on was made up of five separate MEP offices from the same delegation. This means they belong to the same party in Germany and in the EP. My delegation was all over the place. As I explained earlier, the offices were generally quiet and focused, then they would suddenly erupt. Everyone would be running around and talking and laughing. Some fellow MEPs would walk into my MEPs office and speak to him for hours about non-work related topics.

The funny thing when that happened was all of the assistants that would frantically search for their MEP just to get a signature or approval on a document. I remember one specific day where my coworker Julia spent hours hunting down my MEP to get him to sign a reimbursement check. After one failed attempt to get his attention, she sat down back down at her desk and vented to me about the hardships of being an MEP assistant. I remember her saying, "I already did the work, he just has to give a signature. It takes one second, but he won't breakaway."

I thought about her frustration. In reality, the assistants and interns in the parliament do the bulk of the work. Don't get me wrong, the MEPs face a lot of pressure and work hard, but those behind the scenes spend all of their time making sure their members save face. What I experienced in the workplace was that there was no time for socializing if you were not a member of the parliament. The MEPs did their job BY socializing, and that is where they were the most productive. An intern like me did my best in the office when I was focused on the abundant amount of information on my hands. I couldn't make an error that would jeopardize my MEP’s reputation. It seemed to work best that way.

Kendall Gilcrease