I Am New and I Am Special

Did you even read Foxy40’s post #37? Granted, it’s the Internet and we don’t expect the OP to furnish us with documentation of how her company has grown and succeeded over the years. Taking her statements at face value, which is a reasonable thing to do in the absence of contrary evidence, I would have to assume her ability to work well with others is quite good.

I appreciate that. I will admit that when I first was asked to be part of starting this business back at the end of 1995, I was a little green. I made many managerial mistakes and most were related to making a big deal out of things that didn’t matter in the long run. I went to this seminar years ago and the leader said something that stuck with me. “If you see something or hear something that you think must be addressed, ask yourself this question: Will it matter at all tomorrow? If the answer is probably not, leave it alone”. That was some of the best advice I have ever been wise enough to take.

Contrary to what CrazyCatLady said, we don’t normally instaban for this sort of thing. But blatant disregard of moderator instructions is a warnable offense, and you are therefore so warned. Keep in mind that this warning is strictly for the post quoted above, and not for the earlier posts which led to my earlier moderator note.

I’ve worked in offices with IT people (programmers, database administrators, system administrators) for businesses and/or software companies. In this environment, no one would think twice about an employee putting personal stuff in his or her cubicle/office or bringing in their own chair. e.g. One group of guys had a big pirate flag and table hockey in their area, that they brought in themselves. I couldn’t imagine working in an office where you’re not allowed to put personal stuff in your work area. I have a collection of Lego architecture models, pictures from my kids, art prints, and a bunch of other stuff. No one cares.

It’s a little wonky, true, but a chair is different from personal knickknacks. A chair is office furniture which is ostensibly supplied by the company, and it’s something of a status symbol. Not a big one, but it is in a way that pictures and such aren’t.

I have nothing against personal decoration. One of my employees has literally lined the tops of his cubicle walls with painted Mickey Mouse figures. You stand in any one point in the office and it’s easily the most colorful part of the workplace. Others have plants and pictures and stuff. Nobody minds, and I surely don’t. And I’d still be put off by someone asking if they can wheel in a nicer chair than what the company gave them. I don’t actually know what my answer would be to that, but I suspect it’d be close to Foxy’s.

in other words, somebodies shoes or chair style/magnificence won’t really matter at all tomorrow, will it? Think about it. I mean, I’ve been to a ton of doctor’s and dentist’s appointments (not sure what area of healthcare you are in) but I can say for certain that I neither remember nor care what anybody’s shoe didn’t match the company style, not that some chair was leather and some other one was covered in cloth.

Personally I think you are being incredibly petty here. This thread really speaks volumes about your managerial style, and the company/team culture you have created and are solely responsible for, if in fact you have worked at this company for 16-odd years as you say you did. If allowing such inconsequential rule exceptions raises such drama volume at your office, then you have only yourself to blame for creating such a working environment.

Unless it’s some kind of safety hazard due to its size, I can’t imagine what all the fuss is about. Who the hell cares what kind of chair someone else brings in? These are adults, right?

Oh man, not only will it matter tomorrow, it will matter the next day and the next and continue to matter until either I get everyone the same chair or Skippy brings his home. Not just everyone is the medical providers’ office, oh no. AR department wants those high back leather chairs too, and what about the front desk file clerk? I mean, she only makes ten bucks an hour and clearly can’t afford her own chair so why should she have to sit in a task chair while others get better seating? Is it discrimination due to her ethnicity? Well, if the front desk people get an executive chair, the unit clerks should have them… And on and on and on… Next thing I know, I’ve spend thousands of dollars and hours of aggravation simply to keep peace and harmony within the ranks when a simple “no” would do the trick.

If you don’t think stuff like this happens everyday, you’ve never worked in a multi tiered office environment. My office is fairly peaceful because we promote fairness and communication. If you can find 27 people that work in one office that don’t care if their underlings have better work accommodations than they do, I will quit tomorrow.

I’ve worked in 2,000+ person offices where no one cared what their underlings did to furnish their cubes with their own money and/or effort.

Your belief that “this is just the way workplaces work” is incorrect. It is obviously the way your workplace works, and it may be the way most or all workplaces in your industry/region/nationality/other subdivision work, but what you are describing is by no means universal.

There are so many people in this thread telling you that this isn’t how it is, and if it is how it is in your office, it’s because you’re a terrible boss or your workers are immature idiots. I’ve worked in dozens of offices in my 16 years as a temp, from tiny ones to huge ones and everything in between, and I agree with you completely in this thread - it would go EXACTLY like you’ve said.

Maybe the people disagreeing with you in this thread are arguing how things should be, not how they actually are.

Ok, leaving the chair out of it - you think New Hire should just walk in and decide not to follow the dress code. The dress code he admitted he wanted to break? What if the girl on the front desk decided she wanted to wear cut up jeans to work - is that ok, too?

Dress codes exist for a reason. If your office personel are in view of the general public there is a reason for wanting them to look professional. Unless it’s a kid’s doctor’s office, light up shoes are not anything close to professional.

Then again, I worked in a monitoring station for burglar alarms where we had to wear scrubs. I don’t mind scrubs, they are comfortable. But scrubs?

I’m no longer in a position to make such decisions, but I would have allowed the chair, but not the shoes. If I thought people were going to complain to me about the chair, I would have the requesting person draft a short memo that would be sent to all relevant employees about what is and what isn’t permissible when it comes to bringing in furniture, then I’d edit that the way I wanted and send it out.

Worked for me.

I think both those cases are actually fairly good. When you start at a new job, take a second to look around and adapt to the environment. If everyone is sitting in the same chair and wearing the same shoes, it should probably clue you in. Better yet - when you INTERVIEW, use your eyes. Is this the sort of place I’d fit in? How are people dressed? What cars are in the parking lot? What does the atmosphere FEEL like? Walking in as a new hire with “hey, can I” shows a level of cluelessness I wouldn’t be eager to make comfortable.

And yes, if you go into your boss’ office frequently with “what are you going to do for me today” and never with “hey boss, look what I did for you today” - I’d be more than simply verbally dismissive of the request.

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.

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

Forbidding employees to bring their own chairs is short-sighted, bad for the employees, bad for the company, and borderline cruel.
[/QUOTE]
Bollocks.

Wow. That was an absolutely stunning display of logic and a textbook example of how to refute an argument.

[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:176, topic:599333”]

Wow. That was an absolutely stunning display of logic and a textbook example of how to refute an argument.
[/QUOTE]
I know, I was rather impressed with it myself.

But no, your post wasn’t an argument, merely hyperbole and grasping at straws. “Borderline cruel”? “Save the cost of a chair”? Seriously? Look, if someone needs an ergonomic chair for medical reasons, the company absolutely should spring for it. I think the company should spring for nice chairs for everyone. But forbidding personal furniture barring good reason is hardly idiotic.

[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:176, topic:599333”]

Wow. That was an absolutely stunning display of logic and a textbook example of how to refute an argument.
[/QUOTE]

I dunno; I thought Bosstone did an excellent job of refuting it. :slight_smile:

I should clarify, because hey, I haven’t taken this thread seriously enough yet. I don’t have anything against the mere idea of bringing personal chairs and other furniture into the workplace. If that’s how you want to run your office, by all means. It’s probably a pretty fun and relaxed place. But that doesn’t mean choosing to forbid it necessarily results in an oppressive gulag that decorates its windows with dreamcrushers*. Depending on the office, it can sometimes be the wiser choice in terms of both productivity and atmosphere.

*Like dreamcatchers, but with molars.

A few years ago my boss asked me to purchase non-slip steel toed work boots for every one in the team… Boy did I screw up. Man, seriously I unwittingly wound up getting the most uncomfortable bear trap boots ever. Nobody ended up liking them, because I made a mistake when choosing them, and they did not age well.

So, moral of the story is, when dealing with items of comfort, especially shoes and chairs, it’s best to allow people to choose what fits their body geometry the best, and each individual is best positioned to make that judgement themselves.

Now, since that fateful day when I walked out of Target with 60 pounds of boots (for four people) :smiley: my company has graciously allowed people to buy their own boots and reimburse them for them. And they also contracted a professional office supply company to come in and demo office chairs. People were allowed to pick the style they liked best. And these are all chairs in the $700 range.

So anyway, since you are manager office culture is set by you, so as I said earlier, if having different chairs causes such drama, it’s really just a reflection of your dramatic managerial style.