E Factorial

A couple of days ago, I dropped by the E! Entertainment offices to meet with some supervising producers and say hi to a few friends. I usually drop by 2-3 times a year, and every time I sit in the courtyard out front, I run into twenty or thirty people that I know. I've come to realize that E! is like a high school from which I've recently graduated. I spent enough time there that I know hundreds of people, most of whom are still there. It's a very comforting feeling to see all of these people milling about. I can grab bubble tea from the deli and show up in friends' offices to print out my scripts.

I'd like to know whether anyone else has the same type of comfortable relationship with their former company. I love dropping by, despite the fact that I complained my way up the ranks to producer and then quit with two weeks' notice. Many of my friends have quit working at Google in recent years, and I would think that even in such a relaxed Silicon Valley environment, former Google employees would be less likely to drop by to socialize or print stuff. Am I wrong?

So now I'm wondering, why is it that E! and I seem to get along so well post break-up? Is it because E! was my first? Is it because, like high school, E! was both a place to work and a place to socialize? Perhaps because they threw company parties on "campus" with Kanye West or Ludacris to win us over? Because E! had a fierce 120-person softball league? Is it because when I first started working there, I was put at a desk next to Scott Baio, and working there was surreal?

The funny thing is, I never thought I'd look back fondly at E! I was always a fish out of water there. When I started, I knew nothing about pop culture. I was very serious and very intellectual. I spent all of my lunch breaks and evenings working on my scripts. But now that my time there has come and gone, I did take away a few key things. I learned how to write, produce, and edit for TV. I know everything about celebrity gossip, and I love 7 Jeans (these were basically uniform for women - from production assistants to producers).