I have to admit, I used to bring in a radio and a fan when I knew I was going to be popping popcorn for the theater. I didn’t clear it with management first, I just did it. And the second shift popper would frequently beg for me to leave the fan and radio for him/her to use, and I’d refuse, which did cause some hard feelings. But a lot of stuff walked out of that theater. Things like flashlight batteries, and flashlights, and all sorts of equipment. So I always said that I didn’t care if the other workers brought in their fans and radios, but I was NOT going to leave mine in the theater. The worker who used to beg the most was also the one who liked to browse the “lost and found” box and take anything that appealed to her. The manager would have allowed other workers to bring in their own fans and radios, if they were popping corn.
If I was popping popcorn for that day, I was also allowed to wear old, unattractive clothes, because the popcorn oil got EVERYWHERE, and it really didn’t matter what I wore. I had my uniform with me, though, in case I was needed elsewhere.
The fan actually was necessary, the popcorn room was impossible to keep cool. The radio was not really necessary, but I liked having it, and since I could pop more corn in less time than others, I was allowed to have it. And, of course, there was also the fact that the managers quickly found out that they didn’t need to inspect the room before I went home. I cleaned everything up perfectly, whereas the others usually had to be told to go back and clean up again.
I probably wouldn’t allow the shoes, unless there’s some medical reason, and probably wouldn’t allow the chair, either. But fans and heaters? If everyone in the area can agree on a temperature, I say let them in. Scentsies? No way. Radios? Only if the noise isn’t audible to anyone else. Nobody wants to listen to my metal, and I certainly don’t want to listen to anyone else’s country or soul. It’s a matter of what will affect the other workers, and customers.
Where I used to work, there would have been serious questions raised about the fire safety rating of the chair, plus whether it passed the health and safety tests (there was an issue where all the comfy chairs with a 4-prong base had to be replaced with uncomfortable 5-prong bases, as they were more stable). It would have been a no-no, definitely. Even to ask would have had you on the “suspected troublemaker” list!
And this was a fairly liberal highed education facility
Oh bullshit. You didn’t work there and you didn’t observe these people. Discuss it in a meeting? Please. Waste of time. That would have taken a year. I stand by my actions, and I don’t care that it hurt my widdle co-workers’ feewings.
Cat Whisperer: Re “good enough”: Hee-hee, you don’t even know how funny that is. One year they decided they needed a new mission statement. After extensive deliberation, suggestions, meetings, revisions, etc., the result was this: GOOD ENOUGH IS NOT ENOUGH. :dubious: Wow, THAT’S inspirational.
I’m done here. Back to work. I have clients to please.
No ipods? That would suck. I listen to music or podcasts at least half my day at the office. Much of the time, it helps me concentrate.
My office is pretty huge and, while they ordered all of us uniform chairs, we also sell chairs as one of the thousands of products in our stores. So naturally, there is a wide range of chair types throughout the office here - some really plain, some really fancy. The guy in the cube next to me had an Oakland Raiders office chair for a while. He recently upgraded to some kind of fancy ergonomic dealy. I’m in the chair that was ordered for my cube when they designed the layout. Doesn’t matter to me either way.
After reading the responses, I am not going to change my mind about not allowing the chair. I think Maserschmidt summed up the main reason.
If Skippy has the big executive chair, it will look like he has a more prestigious position to associates and patients. This will cause resentment of his office mates who have similar degrees and more experience in their field. “They can buy their own” isn’t practical to some people, especially in this economy. Besides I don’t want our offices to look like someone’s den. People expect neatness, cleanliness and professionalism in healthcare. Not executive chairs shoved into work spaces with different colors and in different condition.
On, and their task chairs swivel, roll and go up and down. They can play all they want. I also allow fans and radios (as long as the office mates can agree on a station, playlist or CD.), they can bring in their own pens and pencils, desk sets, calendars, plants, I even allow them to paint the office walls using approved earth tone colors. I would not allow microwaves but there are two in the full kitchen down the hall so that wouldn’t be necessary. I am not an ogre. Just trying to run a professional business with as little office drama as possible.
Well, I should say no earbuds. They often plug ipods into their radios and listen in their offices. What we don’t allow is people walking around with earphones listening to MP3 players.
I have a standard response to new employees like this…and, yes, I agree with the thread title I think it sums up the situation nicely.
My response is:
“You are constantly coming into my office with ideas about how our company can help you or do something for you.” Just once I would like to see you walk into this office with an idea about how YOU can do something to help out our company. I think you need to revise your thought processes when you are at work". “And, NO to the shoes, NO to the chair”.
There’s an economic concept known as a positional good in which an object is only valued by the possessor because it’s not possessed by others. The term was coined in 1976 by economist Fred Hirsch to replace the more colloquial, but less precise “neener-neener”.
Sheldon Cooper
That reminds me that I hired someone the same week as this guy. Last week she baked a large cake. She wrote a big note to thank everyone for the opportunity to work at such a terrific place with such awesome people. She constantly asked the right questions and goes above and beyond for her patients.
And her coworker, Skippy, who does his job but only that, wants his light up nikes.
I don’t think Scarlett67 was a front line office worker - it sounds like she is a trained professional of some sort - drafting maybe? Anyway, more skills than the average cubicle drone.
Your premise is false for many workplaces. When I used to supervise the work of typical front-line workers I was always delighted when someone would come up with a way to make things more efficient, or better, or whatever.
While I realize it’s nice and somewhat soothing to assume that everyone lives in cubical hell, there are actually managers in the world that are not total morons. Perhaps not at your company, and perhaps not at Scarlett67’s old company, but they do exist.
ETA: OP - I think you’re fine with the shoes and the chair decisions. If there was a medical reason for a special chair, fine, but not just because. I mean hey, I would like a Hello Kitty desk set for my office but it’s not really in line with the corporate brand my company wants to project.
Yikes. Do you find that this is effective in making employees productive? I’ve worked at many places to whom the answer to both questions would be a hand-waving “Sure, that’s fine” and if I got this type of answer from an employer, I’d be strongly reconsidering my career move. I don’t need a “No, and fuck you for asking” from my boss unless I’m asking for something ridiculous.
I understand that some offices are filled with drama, but doesn’t anyone work with professional adults who can handle someone with a different chair than they have? I can guarantee that I could be doing my job from a giant beanbag chair or an evil overlord style throne with skulls and nobody would complain to management about it. I’d probably get some good-natured joshing, but that’s pretty well it. If there are practical concerns, a frank discussion should be enough. “Sorry, but there’s not enough room in your workspace for everyone to have big executive chairs, so it’s not really fair to allow yours” or “It’s not really safe for reason X”.
If the employee is doing the bare minimum or otherwise isn’t good at their job, then that’s a whole different issue. However, I’ve definitely had the manager who bit back if you dared to ask for any sort of flexibility at all, and you know what? It doesn’t breed a work environment where people take the initiative to solve problems and improve things. If asking to bring my own chair gets a thinly-veiled-threatening response, I’m sure as hell not going to stick my neck out to try to get some thoughts on improving efficiency for the company’s sake, because I’ve come to not expect any sort of initiative or open-mindedness.
Yeah, there are office prima-donnas. I’ve been the supervisor who’s had to take people aside and have anywhere from a polite chat to a come-to-Jesus, wake-the-fuck-up session. I can’t remember ever coming down on someone for asking me something, because frankly I’d rather they bring a problem or a question to me than, you know, just wearing the shoes anyway, or whining constantly about how the chair hurts their butt, or going straight to upper management to complain about the furniture policy, or start rumblings of some kind of disability or harassment suit because of policies they find discriminatory about their shoes or chairs, all of which would be a huge pain in the ass for me to deal with. I wanted employees to bring concerns to me so we could discuss them like adults.
I believe most adults can handle a co-worker having a different chair. However, the one or two that do not can turn a smooth running work environment into a place that everyone dreads to be. Including the person with the special chair. Believe me, every office with more than ten employees has that one or two.
I once had a really nice and expensive office chair in my home; at work, I used what was provided by the company. I was given a nice promotion and a private office; after a week or so, I brought my own chair in. Instead of asking me a question about my “new” chair, people went to the president of the company asking for new chairs because I had one. (They went to him because I reported directly to him.). The president came to my office and after about a ten minute talk with him, I borrowed the company pick up truck, took an hour off work and hauled the damn thing home.
Bringing your own furniture into the office is, I guess, a bad idea. I never did it again, no matter where I worked. I side with the OP; the guy shouldn’t have his own chair at work unless it is for medical reasons.
Wow, reading the descriptions of the OP’s workplace (and other workplaces people have mentioned), they sound a lot like the daycare I attended… when I was 5. I’m really glad I work from home.
What i wonder, though, is why the solution to this problem is apparently to cave in to the disruptive, selfish, whining assholes, rather than telling them to pull their heads in and get on with their work. Why do the “one or two” get to make life miserable for the rest of the office?
It seems to me that part of your job, as manager, is to manage those people as well, and not simply smooth the way for their self-absorption by implementing draconian restrictions on everyone else.
While I think this can be taken too far–because otherwise it might be best if all the employees had to wear matching uniforms and sing the Corporate Pledge every morning–a large executive chair probably isn’t going to fit well in a typical open-office area. OTOH if the employee has his or her own office, or even if they share it with another person, it’s a different matter.
At the only job I’ve had at a huge corporation, they were pretty cool with however you wanted to decorate your office. I didn’t like flourescents, so I brought in a desk lamp and torchiere, and filled out a Facilities request to have the tubes over my desk removed (or the entire office, if it was mine alone). Similarly I brought in a couple of framed prints, and it was no problem at all to have someone come in from Facilities to drive a picture nail in the wall. Most of the years I was there, however, I was either in my own office or sharing an office with one other person. I doubt if my modifications would have been acceptable in a cube farm. This is rather unfair, but it’s one of the perks of having an office with a door–regardless of whether you have it because you’ve been promoted, or because it’s an old building and everybody has offices.
Because the one or two are different for every topic. With the chair thing employee 1 and employee 3 will be upset but they don’t care what you bring for lunch. Employee 4 and employee 9 hate the smell of Indian food and it makes them nauseous so you shouldn’t be able to eat it in the office but they don’t give a shit about the blinds. Employee 2 and employee 6 want all the windows open to let the sunlight in even though it bothers employee 8. Employee 8 wants to surf the internet on their downtime but employee 5 doesn’t like it. Employee 5 wants to hang up several thousand pictures of Jesus all over her cubicle and the break room even though 1/3 of the company doesn’t identify as christian. Every single one of these is a complaint I’ve run into in an office environment (except the chair thing) at some point or other and most of these people were excellent employees. They just had different standards of what is acceptable and what is not in a work environment so at some time during their employment with the company they ended up butting heads with their coworkers over their pet peeves. You can spend a third of your time managing people’s pet peeves or you can just set a basic office standard. Sorry, no outside furniture. Sorry, no pictures of Jesus outside your cube. Sometimes you can say, “Hey, please keep in mind how your lunch may smell to others” or “Please lower the blinds halfway” but for the most part setting a basic standard prevents you from having to deal with these squabbles over and over again.
As a manager, it is my job to promote satisfaction in the workplace. Being aware of human nature and how people react to certain situations is also a part of my job. Not giving the one or two the reason to make others miserable has to be the focus. If it is as simple as not permitting a newbie to have a special chair…small price to pay for harmony. It is about looking at the big picture and not catering to everyone’s desires but giving people what the need to do their job with as little distraction as possible.
