Welcome to the WhatsApp Factory – Where Productivity Meets Thumb Power!

When I joined this company, I was quickly introduced to its most vital department: WhatsApp. Oh yes, you heard that right. Forget production floors, board meetings, or even control rooms – the heart of this organization was buried deep within the endless cascade of WhatsApp notifications.

Let me paint you a picture. There were double-digit groups. No, not two or three, but enough to make me question whether I had mistakenly joined a social media management company instead of a manufacturing plant. My first thought was, "Okay, maybe these groups are for quick coordination. Cool!" But boy, was I in for a treat.

And no, this isn’t the kind of company where the MD is in every single group, sending motivational quotes and reminding you to "give your best." Oh no, that would have been easier to digest. Instead, this was a place where my Plant Head actually scolded me for not reading messages fast enough. 

"You need to be active!" he declared, as though my very existence depended on keeping up with the speed of WhatsApp’s dinging symphony. Apparently, it's good that people were so active. I was told with great pride, “Look at them, they respond to messages immediately.” 

Indeed. Very impressive. Except, when I actually looked closely, I noticed something curious. You’d often find two people sitting together—yes, face-to-face, real-life proximity—and yet, instead of speaking, they were furiously typing away, playing what I can only describe as the corporate version of "message tennis." 

Ping. Pong. Ping. Pong. 

A groundbreaking conversation happening right in front of each other, but exclusively through their phones, as if the very act of speaking had become obsolete. And God forbid you didn’t check your phone for an hour – you’d return to 238 unread messages about critical topics like lunch menus or someone's car blocking the gate.

The thing is, the official groups weren’t even the problem. They actually served a purpose. It’s the sheer dedication to messaging—whether relevant or not—that left me baffled. Apparently, in this new era of professional excellence, staring at your screen for hours on end and typing faster than you can think is the gold standard of efficiency. Everyone's head was down, thumb scrolling, emoji-laden conversations about everything and nothing.

Isn't it fascinating? Productivity, you say? Oh no, here, responsiveness is king. Forget solving real issues on-site; if you can't respond with lightning speed to a meme someone shared on the group, you're failing the team. 

Honestly, I’m not sure what impressed me more – their lightning-fast thumbs or their ability to simulate a digital office environment while sitting right next to each other. Perhaps the time has come for me to upgrade my skills, not in project management, but in group management – the WhatsApp kind, of course.

Ah, what a brave new world of communication we live in. Truly, it's a place where silence speaks louder than words... via messages.