I wouldn’t have even asked to bring a chair in. Last time I wanted a different chair I just did it. Fortunately my boss’s mental deficiencies did not extend to getting pissy about something so stupid. If someone I supervise asked to bring in a new chair I’d be mostly irritated for having my time wasted by the question.
Smooth.
Although I wouldn’t fire you, you would lose a half day pay bringing the thing home. The office isn’t your home that you can decorate as you see fit. It is a community shared with many people with rules to help that community run smoothly. However, you would give material for your coworkers to gossip about for a long time. “Remember that guy Ruken? He brought in that huge leather executive chair and crammed it in the clinic office without even checking with anyone. What nerve on that guy” At least you’d be giving the girl who decided it was okay to put her feet up on her desk and paint her toenails a break on the eye rolling for a while.
I have a feeling I have been spared this guy’s quirks since he started as I am not his direct supervisor. That person is out for some unexpected surgery so I am covering his management duties for a few weeks. Today special new guy turned in some insurance paperwork not fully completed. When I returned it to him, I was advised that he didn’t need to complete it all and what he has done was good enough.
Oh really???
It should also be noted that every workplace is different. The employees, managers, company goals, floor plan, and intended occupants are all different.
Some companies bring clients into the office all the time, while others deal with clients offsite or through phone and email.
Some companies deal in creativity, while others deal in steady production.
Some companies prefer their employees to be highly intelligent, autonomous, self-driven individuals, while others only need employees just bright enough to get the job done with managers overseeing them and making most of the decisions.
Some put their employees in separate cubicles or offices while others have employees share desks or rooms.
And on and on and on. What makes sense for Ruken’s work environment may not work so hot in Foxy’s, and neither might work well for mine.
…Yeah, that pretty well clinches it. Special snowflake who has trouble grasping that the rules apply to him too.
I don’t know what qualifies as “many”: I can count at least half a dozen offices that I’ve worked in. And yes, I’ve encountered that crazy person, sure. A good manager deals with the crazy person, not with the person trying to make the office more comfortable for themselves.
The manager sets the culture, and the manager can set a culture where people have the freedom to be a little idiosyncratic as long as the work is done, or a culture where nasty gossip serves to keep people from trying something new. Obviously I’d rather work in the former, rather than the latter.
Out of curiosity, how did he react when you told him it wasn’t even good enough to shove up his ass and set on fire?
It’s threads like these which remind me how lucky I am to work from home for 51 weeks out of the year.
Half the time I’m just working in a pair of shorts and nothing else. On days when I’m not feeling particularly well, I stay in bed and work from the laptop. I can only imagine the fits some people would have over that. Oh well. Sucks to be them.
This thread exemplifies inept management to a tee.
Picked for no particular reason other than that it provides a nice list.
Coffee maker: there are coffee machines (subsidized, so free) in two floors; Nespressos (also free) in two others.
Tea kettle: one in every kitchen.
Giant framed pics: nope, some people have a few printouts of family photos, or their kid’s drawings, unframed and stuck to the low dividers that run down the center of each 4-desk isle. No framed anything, no giant anything.
Pantry: food must be in the kitchen. Any food other than teabags and any tupperwares are tossed on Friday afternoon (well, the cleaning folk can take them if they want, but the former owner definitely doesn’t recover them).
Shoe rack: I would have thought “you’ve got to be kidding me”, but no, I believe you. Nope, no such thing here.
Fans, heaters: it’s an open design, no fans or heaters.
The other stuff: uh, no. One of the Authorizations coworkers has a stuffed pink elephant less than 1’ tall and one of the Finance guys has a plush Darth Vader, about 8" tall, which he grabs and smooshes when he’s analyzing a problem.
And this is the best office I’ve worked in yet.
I usually bring my own laptop (generally, I’m required to bring it; not for this job), keyboard, mouse and laptop stand/cooler; I’ve never heard of anybody bringing their own chair. I’ve had coworkers who needed special chairs but, both in Spain and in the US, these were provided by the company.
I agree with the OP but also think this thread could have been a hell of a lot shorter if we hand more information to begin with. It wasn’t until sometime on page two that the whole picture emerged and we learn that:
- The workplace is a clinic
- The worker in question deals with patients
- There is a dress code (including shoes) for workers dealing with patients
- The office area is visited by or visible to the patients
Knowing all this it becomes obvious that the OP’s decision was right and Snowflake is being a flake.
Foxy40, I know you didn’t mention what type of clinic this is or what type of patients your clients are. However, as someone who has spent time in various clinics over the years for various things (hmm, that sounds bad :eek:) I’d like to thank you for nixing the light up tennis shoes They are a bad thing for me as flashy lights aren’t my friend. It’s not just your staff that you have to think about with the shoes, the patients also need consideration. Were he my clinician I’d probably have to ask for another, which could be a hassle all around, cause hurt feeling and just be a mess.
I’m not saying that people shouldn’t be able to express themselves. My mom is a dental assistant (and awesome). I keep a look out for cool things such as jewelry and other things she can wear or keep on her person/ personal things around the office. Her workmates think its cool (and generally want to know where I get her gifts). 
He has off time, let him wear his light up sneakers there. (Yes, I am aware that I’m bringing my own personal (literally) problem with sneakers that flash to this, but most of us are bringing our own internal biases, it’s what people do.)
In all fairness, the OP does say (in the first post) that the tennis shoes didn’t match the dress code and the desks were only used for paperwork between patients.
This is an excellent point. I guess if our office was a creative type business it would be a different story.
I do find it interesting the people that feel a great management style is to allow people to do whatever they want and deal with any ramifications after the fact. To me, that is a recipe for disaster. And that is over 15 years of management experience talking.
I was going to defend the sneaker thing, (after all what difference does it make so long as they are non skid?) but then I saw that apparently they are the sort that light up? That is ridiculous.
Out of curiosity, do you guys pay for the “approved” sneakers? I ask because sometimes it’s hard to afford stuff for a new job when you, ya know, don’t have a paycheck. Most places I’ve worked where this might be an issue have had an unofficial policy of waiving certain points of the dress code until you get your first check. If money is tight and I have something fairly similar to the required footwear (clean white sneakers in good shape, in this case) I would certainly ask if about wearing those for a few weeks until money became less tight, if the manager didn’t bring it up themselves.
I think Foxy40 mentioned upthread that the employees buy their own footwear, but I don’t know if it has to be a special brand/style or just white sneakers with non-marking soles. If there is a special style required, I’d think it’s reasonable to ask, “Can I wear these white sneakers until I get my first paycheck to afford the required shoes.” Ditto if you need special orthopedics.
Snowflake Boy wanting to wear his fancy new light-up kicks because they’resofriggingAWESOME!!! is a whole 'nother story.
No.
Then let me be the first to wish you goodbye. Because if you carry on doing something a mod has explicitly told you to stop, they can and will ban your ass.
He certainly seems to be trying to bait Spectre.