The Seventh Level
An office post. Oh, bother.
Having been firmly banished to the depths of purgatory, I have one thing to say: People are a nosy bunch. And they love to look at roadkill.
So I've been moved. I no longer occupy the lovely, private, quiet, isolated greige cube on the 4th floor. I am now the resident of a dark teal, open, noisy fishbowl masquerading as a cube in what is the main artery of traffic on the 3rd floor. this presents some problems. the main one being that I work with friendly people. When I worked in Timbuktu on the 4th floor, this wasn't a problem. I could be social on my schedule, making the rounds to visit, affirming that I was indeed at the office and not goofing off somewhere on company time. I did this when I needed a break, or when I came to a natural stopping point in my work, or when I felt like I hadn't made the rounds in a while.
It's not that I'm anti-social or anything. It's just that I don't like being interrupted when I'm elbow-deep in work. I'm much more efficient when I can plan my work breaks when I need them and not when someone walks by and wants to talk, or when someone walks by and looks over my shoulder, or when someone walks by noisily. And since I'm on the main artery of traffic coming in and out of the office now, people walk by often. I guess I want to be friendly on my schedule.
I think my problem is that I'm friendly. I can't say no to a good conversation. And since the rest of the office is just as friendly (if not friendlier), there is much more talk and visiting in my work day now. And it's interfering with my productivity.
Another problem is the cube walls themselves, which is twofold. First, they're teal. But they're not just teal, they're eye-searing, light-sucking, room-darkening, life-draining dark teal. think of the teal that was popular in the 70's (which is when these cubes were made) and imagine it darkened in patches by smoke and age – you'll come close to the color of my cube walls. Which goes lovely with my red chair, light purple-grey dry walls, and brown carpet. I've covered as much of the teal cube walls as possible with papers. I'm bringing a poster to work tomorrow to cover more. And they smell. they were in storage for over a year and they smell like it. I think that the last time they were used smoking was allowed in the office, so they were in storage for some time.
And the cube walls are open. Very open. And they're low; I can easily see over them when standing. To make matters worse, my cube is a double. So when someone new is hired, I'll be sharing the space with my back to whomever they hire. I'm definitely not used to that. It's bad enough that my back faces the cube opening when I'm working at the computer. It's not that I'm afraid that I'll be stabbed in the back or anything, it's just that I'm afraid that I'll be stabbed in the back.
Completely irrational, I know. But there you have it.
Having been firmly banished to the depths of purgatory, I have one thing to say: People are a nosy bunch. And they love to look at roadkill.
So I've been moved. I no longer occupy the lovely, private, quiet, isolated greige cube on the 4th floor. I am now the resident of a dark teal, open, noisy fishbowl masquerading as a cube in what is the main artery of traffic on the 3rd floor. this presents some problems. the main one being that I work with friendly people. When I worked in Timbuktu on the 4th floor, this wasn't a problem. I could be social on my schedule, making the rounds to visit, affirming that I was indeed at the office and not goofing off somewhere on company time. I did this when I needed a break, or when I came to a natural stopping point in my work, or when I felt like I hadn't made the rounds in a while.
It's not that I'm anti-social or anything. It's just that I don't like being interrupted when I'm elbow-deep in work. I'm much more efficient when I can plan my work breaks when I need them and not when someone walks by and wants to talk, or when someone walks by and looks over my shoulder, or when someone walks by noisily. And since I'm on the main artery of traffic coming in and out of the office now, people walk by often. I guess I want to be friendly on my schedule.
I think my problem is that I'm friendly. I can't say no to a good conversation. And since the rest of the office is just as friendly (if not friendlier), there is much more talk and visiting in my work day now. And it's interfering with my productivity.
Another problem is the cube walls themselves, which is twofold. First, they're teal. But they're not just teal, they're eye-searing, light-sucking, room-darkening, life-draining dark teal. think of the teal that was popular in the 70's (which is when these cubes were made) and imagine it darkened in patches by smoke and age – you'll come close to the color of my cube walls. Which goes lovely with my red chair, light purple-grey dry walls, and brown carpet. I've covered as much of the teal cube walls as possible with papers. I'm bringing a poster to work tomorrow to cover more. And they smell. they were in storage for over a year and they smell like it. I think that the last time they were used smoking was allowed in the office, so they were in storage for some time.
And the cube walls are open. Very open. And they're low; I can easily see over them when standing. To make matters worse, my cube is a double. So when someone new is hired, I'll be sharing the space with my back to whomever they hire. I'm definitely not used to that. It's bad enough that my back faces the cube opening when I'm working at the computer. It's not that I'm afraid that I'll be stabbed in the back or anything, it's just that I'm afraid that I'll be stabbed in the back.
Completely irrational, I know. But there you have it.
1 Comments:
At 11/18/2005 10:24 PM,
emily said…
i used to work in an office, since my son was born i have been working at home. it's amazing how much work you can get done without all the social obligations of an office. (but i do miss all the gossip).
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