I no longer have an office – that is – an office with a door. I have a desk in the middle of a large area. Coworker S sits in front of me at a cubicle-type workstation. This had a little to do with the changes here in February, but they just needed to use the space we were in to house more people from another department.
It’s not a bad space. I used to sit in the same area when I first started here — when I was a content producer. It’s busy and lively, bright and cheery. I managed to port most of my decorations to the new area.
But come lunchtime, I really miss that door.
Because I’m doing that Atkins thing**, I bring my lunch to work now. I have a book to read as well. But the places to eat here don’t really work for me.
- I can’t eat at my desk — nobody respects the fact that you’re eating lunch when you eat at your desk. And they’ll try to do business with you as you sit with a mouthful of whatever. Or, you’ll refrain from eating, since there is a guest and you’re trying to be polite, and your lunch will get cold.
- So I could eat in the employee cafeteria. Tables, chairs. Great. BUT…it’s a half-step removed from eating at your office, and if anyone sees me sitting alone, even if I have my nose in a book and am totally engrossed in it, they will inevitably sit and chatter. And the chatter is sometimes welcome, but sometimes not. You can’t really turn someone away without looking rude. And many times, I just want to shut up and read.
- There are picnic benches outside. But they are old and splintery and there are only 2 to accommodate the 500+ employees here. Plus, it SNOWED this morning, after being 77 degrees on Monday. Not outdoors eating weather.
- My car! Yes…I’ve actually resorted to eating and reading in my car here in the parking lot. However, I work with the friendliest people ever. They will knock on my windows to say hello. They will peer into open windows and say hello. When I’m engrossed in a book, the above actions startle me badly — my heart races and my hands shake for the next hour. And I kid you not…one day someone opened my unlocked door to say hello. I nearly had a seizure that day. I won’t do the car thing here again — I’ll just go park in the mall parking lot when it warms up.
So right now I’m holed up in a spare office with a door, a PC, and boxes of stored files. The door is shut. I leisurely ate…paged through 1776…and now I’m blogging! Which is a habit I really need to restart. I miss my daily diary.
**Day 5. So far so good. This is truly much easier than I thought. I’m never hungry, and I passed up donuts today. Just didn’t want them.
Foods I miss: Mountain Dew. Starbucks chai lattes. And ketchup! You have no idea how I miss ketchup. I miss it more than Wheat Thins, which is amazing. I have no idea what to put on my scrambled eggs in the mornings.
I also need a quick-cook alternative to bacon to have with my scrambled eggs. Maybe Steakumm quick steaks?
My cellphone dinged..time to get back to work!
The obvious question is… if there is a SPARE office, why isn’t THAT your office?!
There is nothing like having an office. Cubicles totally suck – they are nothing but havens for germs to be spread and lack privacy.
What’s even worse is working at home. I hate it. Companies are saving hand over fist because now employees are incurring the burdens of “wear and tear” such as electricity, carpeting, etc. My company is encouraging working at home. What truly is lacking is a “team aspect”. When i need an office, I have to “hotel it” in a stinkin cubicle.
I want an office where I can put pictures up of my kids and shoot baskets in a hoop. Have some cute secretary in a short skirt bring me coffee… (ok my imagination is running wild…)
Tommy: Yeah…I hate cubes. Even with it, Coworker S now seems to have more workspace than before. However, Coworker D is now part of a department on the other side of the building. He ended up with about 1/2 the size workstation he had when he was with me. I should take a pic of the setup I have now to illustrate the openness.
Dr. Dave: The spare office belongs to somebody who’s out on long-term disabillity. My company is overall very nice and understanding when it comes to those things.
Well it has taken me eons to get back to some normalcy after vacating the desk in the space but I’m doing good since I left it. At least I know it has a good occupant now. I used to sometimes wish for walls but upon wishing for them immediately thought it was a bad idea as we know others will stand on the backside of said walls and listen out of sight… ho hum life goes on. You could always drift out to Arizona for a Wednesday lunch 🙂 Miss you bunches.