Parents at Work

Tidy up your desk. Don’t talk with your mouth full. Tuck your shirt in. Be careful with that. Don’t sit so close to the screen. I’ll treat you like an adult when you start acting like one.

Sounds familiar? It should do. It’s your parents. And this week I bring the terrifying news that they’re heading to your workplace.

If there’s anyone to blame for the development, it’s Judy Markey and Kathy O’Malley, two Chicago radio presenters who in 1999 dreamt up Take Your Parents to Work Day. It didn’t begin promisingly: Judy’s son, Adam, refused to participate. “There’s no way to bring her into an office without creating a scene,” he was quoted as saying.

But the idea took root with some companies anyway, morphing into “Take an Older American to Work Day” in some cases. Now mums and dads are slobbering at the windows of US workplaces like zombies from Dawn of the Dead…

Read atTimes Online