Ed
The Oxford office snowball fight
February 7, 2009 12:00 AM
Whenever there is the smallest amount of snow on the ground, the Osprey offices have a bit of a tradition. We all pile out of the office at 12.30, wrapped up as warm as possible, and have a massive department vs department snow ball fight. It is a very serious affair. Prior to the event the internal emails are buzzing as departments try to form allegiances, individuals discuss tactics, plans are made, debated, improved upon and disregarded. Some people even go so far as to raid the Osprey Archive, to dig out some of the Elite Tactics books (this year Elite Street Fighting Tactics was a huge favourite, and every copy in the office seemed to mysteriously vanish by 10am).
As lunchtime drew nearer the tension grew... and the final alliances were drawn up... the Sales Team and the Marketing Team made up one side. The Editors and Designers made up the other. And in amongst that were a number of rogue agents from IT, Admin and Finance, who seemingly switched sides at will!
12.30 struck, and there was a sudden rush for the door as we all tried to grab the best, most snowy spots, and the limited tree cover. Without warning a pre-emptive strike was launched and within moments snow balls were hurtling around Botley, whilst the lawyers and bankers in the buildings near us looked on disapprovingly!
Joe quickly established himself as a man to watch, leaping out of cover, firing off a rapid succession of snow balls before vanishing - guerrilla warfare at its best.
Phil went the other way - deciding on the 'hit it once and make sure it stays hit' philosophy, which seemingly involved picking up as much snow as physically possible, charging towards an opponent and dumping the snow over his or her head.
Mike was more interested in getting someone to take photos of the fight to post up on the blog and on Osprey's Facebook profile, but an unfortunate early 'white on white' saw the cameraman flee without any photos, and leaving Mike surrounded by editors and covered in snow.
The contest ended in a bitter(ly cold) stalemate as alliances were smashed, the rules of engagement were tossed out the window, and our battle descended into a bit of a free-for all.
When we all eventually traipsed inside for bowls of soup and cups of coffee we tried to come up for a rousing name for our engagement. The best we could come up with was either The Battle for Botley (the part of Oxford our offices are in) or Operation Frozen Fingers...neither of which run off the tongue terribly well - do any of you have any better suggestions?
COMMENTS
You folks are great. I love the sense of humor that Osprey's employees have, if only every company had this carefree approach then life would be much better!
PS: I sent a friend request to Osprey's Facebook account. I am so glad to see that I am not the only GenYer to have an appreciation for Osprey's books.
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I'm amazed by your sense of fair play. You publish books on the Russo-Japanese War and the Six Day War, and nobody figured out a pre-emptive strike!! No one brought "lunch" in an insulated lunch bag? No one stocked the fridge with snowballs? All's fair in love, war, and snowball fights!
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Not tho' the worker knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to gather the white,
and make it fly!
Snowballs to right of them,
Snowballs to left of them,
Snowballs in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Many were aimed well,
Resulting in a few
"Bloody Hells!"
When can Osprey's glory fade?
O the wild snowball blitz they made!
All the world wondered.
Will a Campaign title of this skirmish be made?
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Faganator: we have accepted your friend request - now all that remains is for Osprey to set up a Twitter account!
Deankal - we won't be making that mistake again, pre-emptive strikes are already being planned for next year!
And Gene - thanks for your comment, not sure we can turn it into a Campaign....but maybe a Raid!
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