I Am New and I Am Special

In My Humble Opinion
181

[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:174, topic:599333”]

Foxy40, I fail to understand how you have a problem with an employee who wants to save you the cost of buying him a chair – especially when he’s going to make himself more productive at the same time.

Have you ever spent a day sitting in a chair that doesn’t fit you properly? Sure, I’m not right in the middle of the bell curve at 6’5" tall and over 250 pounds, but if you put me in a typical cheap office chair, I will HURT at the end of the day.

I want my employees to be productive. You can’t feel good and be maximally-productive in a chair that doesn’t fit you. Forbidding employees to bring their own chairs is short-sighted, bad for the employees, bad for the company, and borderline cruel.
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He doesn’t spend the day sitting in the chair; he’s only in it for a bit at a time.

182

I say Foxy should let the worker bring the chair, and then take it for herself. Afte all, she’s the boss, and should sit on the nicest chair in the office.

If he complains, she should tell him to take his chair home, and stay there.

183

Sounds to me the proof of a good work environment is demonstrated by all the other employees who seem happy and get along just fine. It is hard to argue with these results.

Every workplace has a unique set of circumstances which dictate how they operate. Foxy40 appears to have her place running fine with the rules as they are.

And as an aside, thank you all for reminding me that at the worst of times my job does not have the suckiness that many others have to deal with. It is appreciated.

184

Wow - you’re sure inferring a lot from the original post. “Complete emotional exhibitionism,” “unguided and deteriorative defensiveness,” “an inability to deal with people,” “very fantastical,” “self-satisfaction,” and “I think you can see that…”

How about “supercilious assumption that you know more about the OP than she does herself”? Or “spurious pseudo-professional, quasi-psychological vocabulary flinging” ?

I didn’t see any of your accusations in anything the OP has posted. She came here with a question about the office she’s charged with running. Her way of doing so may not mesh with yours, but who - besides you - says your style is so much better? If your post is an example of how YOU deal with people, your descriptions of her apply better to you than to her.

As for my two cents, if the guy has been there for four months, he probably isn’t even off probation yet. Unless he has orthopedic or podiatric reasons for asking for waivers of the rules he knew about when he came in, I’d remind him of that fact and gently let him know that he’s being evaluated on how he complies with the company rules. He may think they’re silly - who hasn’t worked in places with silly rules? - but part of being in the work-force is learning to adapt. When he runs his own office, he can do things his way. Until then, he needs to comply if he wants to succeed.

185

Thanks you for your illustrations about the OP - what would we do without your greater insight into her character?

The list of “wild and unfounded” assertions that you made is included in my last post.

186

That’s just intentionally counter-productive. Small people with small amounts of power love to say NO because that’s pretty much the only power and control they have. There is no good reason to control access to gear that is critical to the work of the organizational unless you’ve hired thieves. And if you have, you have another set of problems that have nothing to do with Xacto knife blades.

I worked in a large government office where there was ONE copier per floor. Since this was in pre-PC days, it ran every minute of every day; people used to come in early and stay late and come in on weekends to get their copying done. It was a fairly flimsy floor model, never designed for that kind of traffic, and broke down constantly. Which meant that everyone’s assignments got held up, and some of them related to state and federal compliance.

When I mentioned to the office manager that we needed more copiers, and big heavy-duty ones, he snarled that there was nothing wrong with the copier we had - the problem was that we were using it too much!

In my managerial training classes, I used that as a perfect example of managers thinking that their job is to protect the rule-book/supplies instead of serving the customers by making the supplies available to staff. He was one who had no real power, but loved to say NO to absolutely everything, including a request that he expand supply closet hours beyond 15 minutes three times a week, simply because he could and it was the only control he had.

187

I think not. If the manager’s job is to create an environment in which the work can be done effectively, it’s necessary to have some standardization to accomplish that. Kowtowing to everyone’s personal demands would disrupt that. So setting a standard and making it policy may displease some people but if it works for the majority, it serves the purpose of creating an effective workplace. Complainers get to grouse for five minutes and then get back to work.

We had a secretary in the early '80s who brought a boombox to work and played it at her desk, which was in the large general workroom in which we all had cubicles. I could hear her music all the way across the room. I asked her to turn it down so I couldn’t hear it and she insisted that it wasn’t bothering me. (!) After multiple ignored requests and insistences, I went to the supervisor and asked, not that she not be allowed to bring it, although it seemed unprofessional to me, but that she wear ear-thingies so I didn’t have to listen to it because it was definitely affecting my concentration. She was told not to bring it to work again and from there on until she was transferred, I could count on her to sabotage my work. But we had a quiet workplace, conducive to getting the work done, and my co-workers thanked me.

188

Let me lay out my logic:

  1. I’ve read many studies over the years concerning office ergonomics. EVERY SINGLE ONE said that badly-adjusted or ill-fitting chairs cause physical problems. Common symptoms include sore backs, shoulders, and necks.

  2. Physical pain impairs productivity, and lessens the chance that an employee will put in extra hours voluntarily.

  3. Chairs cost money.

  4. Causing people pain is not good for them. Taken to an extreme (I suppose this is the hyperbole to which you refer), it constitutes cruelty.

If he’s not allowed to bring his own chair, it’s bad for him (see #4), bad for the company (see #2 and #3), and borderline cruel (see #4). The only “downside” to letting him bring his own chair is that you might have other employees who also wish to save you money and improve their productivity.

(Okay, you have some extra work setting up the groundrules for what’s allowed and what’s not so you don’t have some joker showing up with an 8-foot couch or a Barcalounger. I’ll admit that.)

I have not seen you refute any of those points, and none of them are even remotely “grasping at straws.”

If true, that changes the whole equation.

189

The thing is, at least with the shoes, it is a health and safety issue when you’re dealing with healthcare or foodservice to have a specific type of shoe. Non-skid/non-slip and able to protect one’s feet from potential nasties is a big deal in both workplaces, and having spent a day or two in shoes that weren’t non-slip when working foodservice, I can tell you that it does make a big difference and makes working safer and easier.

As for the chair, I’ve been in plenty of workplaces where an otherwise good coworker is petty about something that’s silly. It’s not always present in every workplace, but for someone who’s probably not spending more time in that chair than 2-3 hours (in 15 minute spurts ) in an 8 hour workday, it is not inhumane, cruel, or mean to have him use the company provided chairs. Foxy40 has already mentioned that she can and has made accommodations for those who need more support to have padding and adjustments made for their chairs. It just sounds like the New Guy wants to use his fancy chair and wear his fancy shoes because he can.

190

[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:188, topic:599333”]

  1. I’ve read many studies over the years concerning office ergonomics. EVERY SINGLE ONE said that badly-adjusted or ill-fitting chairs cause physical problems. Common symptoms include sore backs, shoulders, and necks.
    [/quote]
    The problem is you’re assuming that office-provided chairs are always going to be badly-adjusted or ill-fitting. This is not necessarily the case, it is not necessarily the case for all employees, and it is definitely not the case for the OP’s employee.

I have no quarrel with #2 and #4. I certainly agree with you that poor chairs can cause pain after long hours of sitting in them. But you first have to show that the chairs in question actually do cause pain, even if the proof is as simple as an employee claiming so.

This is what I mean by grasping at straws.

One, chairs cost very little money relative to a company’s budget in SMBs. Even if the company sprang for good quality $300 chairs for every employee, they’ll be comfortable and they’ll last long enough that after several years the amortized cost is minimal.

Two, if the new employee is filling a vacancy rather than being brought into a new position, the furniture is already there. It’s already a sunk cost. No money is being saved. Even if they’re being brought in, more than likely the chair has already been purchased and the cost sunk by the time the employee asks if he can bring in his own. The store the company purchased the chair from isn’t going to accept a refund after four months of use unless the workmanship turned out to be poor.

Exactly, and depending on the amount of time you have to spend creating that rule and then enforcing or adjudicating it, the easier it is to see it as a petty thing the company doesn’t need to be spending time on.

At our office, the thermostats are not set up well. One of them, which controls half the office’s AC, sits in a manager’s office. At the time, the manager using the office ran a department on the other side of the floor, but her thermostat affected our department. One of my coworkers was fairly sensitive to temperature changes, and the manager liked the temperature higher than the employee did. The rest of us didn’t care; the range being fought over was within our tolerance.

The coworker could not be productive with the temperature set too high, and frequently went to the manager’s office to either change it or ask to change it. Naturally this frustrated the manager, and eventually the senior management got involved. It was absolutely ridiculous watching the freaking owner of the company (it’s a small business, but not that small) hold meetings and institute policies on thermostat usage. (I personally think the manager should have sucked it up; the fact that the thermostat was in her office was an accident of design and didn’t invest her with sole authority over its use.)

The employee in question had good reason to complain, as it affected her productivity, but even then it just seemed like such a petty waste of time to hash it all out. Dealing with non-work-related policies when productivity isn’t even an issue, just personal whims, is even worse IMO. (Naturally, there’s exceptions where personal whims do affect productivity, but a game developer is going to have different needs than a warehouse or clinic.)

191

Who on earth thinks that executive chair = ergonomically correct chair? I work at a company that focuses a lot on ergonomics, and even the executives have functionally correct Aeron chairs in front of their computers rather than luxurious leather chairs (but they do have fancy, less ergonomic chairs at their office tables).

192

New Hire didn’t ask for a special chair because of health reasons; he asked to bring a chair his dad had given him.

He didn’t ask for the non-approved shoes because he has problems with his feet; he wanted to wear his cool new light up Nikes.

There is a big difference between wanting special accomidation because it’s necessary to do your work and wanting to be different from everyone else.

193

As it said in the OP:

So it had nothing to do with back problems, or ergonomics, or whatever. He just liked the other chair, that’s all.
And light-up Nikes? Please.

194

I have been in this situation. My office (and I only say my because I was the entire department - it had two doors and people walked through all day) had no windows and the thermostat. The sales office had a wall of windows. It was hot. My room was usually at least five degrees cooler AND I get cold when it gets below 75. However, I don’t like my coworkers to suffer, so I just dressed warmly (and eventually the boss got me a space heater, but that was about three and a half years into the four year job).

Regarding chairs: when I started my current job, I had a writing desk as a desk, a random selection of chairs to chose from, and an open room shared with another person and three offices off it. They redid it a couple of months ago with cubicles and nice chairs. It’s professional (and we have more privacy).

Professional is important, especially if you’re dealing with healthcare, and consistency is a big part of it. Sure, if you’re at your desk for eight hours you should be able to decorate (within reason), but the base should be the same - people should have the same furniture and the same computer unless there is a good reason otherwise. And this guy just wanted it to be special. Here’s a clue to the dimwit: prove you’re special by doing good work!

195

Foxy40, can you verify that the “light up Nike” comment wasn’t hyperbole? Because even though you said this, I’m having a hard time wrapping my brain around an adult wearing light-up shoes. Do they even make them in an adult size?

196

Here’s what I don’t get, Bosstone: WHY should I (or anyone else) have to prove that the chairs cause pain? There is no downside to letting someone have their own chair. Sunk cost or no (someone else can use the already-purchased chair, or replace a broken one with it), it’s either free or money-saving, and it makes the employees happier. It just seems petty to me:

Employee: I would like to bring my own chair from home.
Boss: No.
Employee: Why not? It’s comfortable and I like it.
Boss: Because other people might want to do it, too.
Employee: Why does that matter?
Boss: BECAUSE I SAID SO.

197

We’ve spent the last 4 pages explaining what the downsides are. I’ll happily add the qualifier in certain offices, but that doesn’t make the downsides any less meaningful for those workplaces.

198

Last four pages? The thread’s still on page one. (Ah, you forgot that everyone can set posts per page differently, I see…)

I understand that every workplace is different. Sometimes you have rules thrust down from on high forcing meaningless conformity, set by people who have completely lost touch with the workers in their own company (people who most likely chose their own office chair). Sometimes you have small companies that realize it makes sense to keep their employees happy, as long as it doesn’t cost the company anything. I’ve managed everywhere from a handful of people to about 65 at a time, and I’ve never refused a simple harmless request like, “let me bring in a desk chair from home, please.”

199

Riiight.

I think this is where we say you’ve got your opinion and I’ve got mine.

200

[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:196, topic:599333”]

Here’s what I don’t get, Bosstone: WHY should I (or anyone else) have to prove that the chairs cause pain? There is no downside to letting someone have their own chair. Sunk cost or no (someone else can use the already-purchased chair, or replace a broken one with it), it’s either free or money-saving, and it makes the employees happier. It just seems petty to me:

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What on earth are you on about? Ergonomics/pain are medical issue. And if you have a medical issue, the company is required by law to provide reasonable accommodation (you know, an ergonomic chair/keyboard/whatever). Why even bother schlepping your own chair?

I can’t even imagine trying to carry something that size for an hour on public transit during rush hour just so I could have my favorite chair (which is then not at home for me to use). Office chairs cost hundreds of dollars; and frankly one should never bring anything to the office that they’re not willing to lose permanently. I learned that the hard way.

And yes, at past company jobs, I asked for, and got, ergonomic accommodations for my cube (a monitor stand and split keyboard, specifically – I was even asked to go online and send them the links for the ones I wanted). I didn’t even have to “prove” that the straight keyboard made my hands hurt; I just said so and asked for the stand and keyboard.

Snowflake was explicitly asked if he had any medical issues in regards to the chair. He said no. If he was actually in pain, he should have been honest and said yes. I can’t fault Foxy for making a decision based on the information he gave her.