I have it so good right now. I’m stuck in the back cubicle next to the printers. It’s mildly distracting when the printers start up, but a printer running all day is less annoying than a human mouth doing the same.
The two cubes nearest to me are empty because people left and weren’t replaced. The more distant cubes are inhabited by relatively quiet computer jockeys.
But alas, this is too good to last. We’re wasting space. My company, in its infinite wisdom, is going to consolidate us into “collaborative work spaces” with low walls, no privacy, and Calcutta-level population densities. My only hope is to find another job before the move date.
We have one part timer that everybody just LOOOVES. She doesn’t do a damned bit of work, but goddamn can you not ignore her when she talks, which is all the time. She’s incredibly loud, judgmental, and lazy, but she’s just everybody’s damned favorite person in the world. On Thursdays I can’t take my lunch break reading at my desk because I know she’s going to come in and distract and annoy the living hell out of me.
This is why I’m really happy my office is located where it is. I’m not isolated, but neither the location nor the layout of my office lends itself to casual dropping in for a chat, much less cubicle-surfing.
When I was in corporate Hell, I was subjected to the “en masse” smoke-break. These cows would actually go around and round up people to go downstairs, stand around and smoke, gossip and whatnot. Usually about 5-7 people, for about 20 minutes, about 4-5 times a day.
Meanwhile, me and the other few non-smokers were left to handle the phones, process the deals and generally “work”.
Of course the alternative, I have discovered, is watching “Law & Order” reruns with no health insurance. :dubious:
We only have 5 people in the office so to stay out of something like this looks really really bad. I’m still trying to come up with a way to get out of it.
God, I could have posted that. How do these loud ‘n’ lazy types keep their jobs? The designated l ‘n’ l at my workplace has just returned from a fortnight’s annual leave. The last two weeks have been bliss.
I feel for you. I mean, what if this person has a horrible husband or a mean dog or shrieking kids, or any number of things that you would not choose to subject yourself to? What if you’re allergic to their cat? OMG that is just the worst thing ever. If they MUST create bonding events, they should do it on neutral territory.
I’m surrounded by early 20 something’s. Conversation, repeated daily, “like, I was, like, going to buddy’s house, and, like, I was talking on my cell phone and I, like”. Or, “like, I’m ssssoooo pissed off, like, my girlfriend and I were talking, and, like, all of a sudden, like”
What is it these days with everyone being pissed off, irritated or mad? Or the word “like”?
I’ll tell you what bothers me - this woman’s office is a mess. I mean, stuff piled up everywhere, boxes and DVDs and VHS movies and clothes and crap that should be at home. This is her office. I shudder to think what her home must be like - and I am supposed to eat there?!
This would be my concern. These are the same people who see nothing wrong with manhandling all the donuts in the box before taking one, or who don’t understand why it’s bad to sneeze/cough on your hands…and I’m supposed to eat something from their kitchen?
Being a morning person (sorry), I don’t just object to working late: I know, positively, and it’s easy to prove, that after a certain hour I’m just worth shit as a worker. So having me stay late because someone else couldn’t be arsed do his work on time isn’t just bad for my morale: it produces worse work than if I’d been able to do it during regular work hours!
Don’t get me started on bosses who expect me to stay late with nothing to do, in order to… dunnow, make sure that the person working late doesn’t feel lonely or something. I had two of those and they aren’t anywhere near my list of “favorite bosses.”
Oh, and I would like to make sure our esteemed Moderators know that I am most definitely not a sock of Athena’s, although I’ve been known to be on track (even ahead) while the rest had managed to get behind. In my case, it was linked to time spent reading up on soccer (me none, they several hours a day), days off with “the morning after the night before” (me none, they one per week at least) and in one case (who didn’t care about soccer or drink heavily) just plain ol’ inefficiency.
Er, is this during a scheduled break? To me, 10-15 minutes sounds like a hella long time to be not-working while on the clock. I’m sure your coworkers are worse, and I don’t want to sound like an ass, but if I worked with you I’d probably lump you in with all the others.
Some days I’m glad I work in a factory. People find all kinds of ways of being lazy (the two most popular being “pretending to be an idiot” and “actually being an idiot”), but it’s hard to get away with chatting for more than 30 seconds at a time.
The 10-15 minutes is usually when we are all heating up our lunches or whatever in the breakroom. And honestly, one also has to look at the culture of the office. If I didn’t talk even that much I’d surely be labeled as a snot and too good for everybody else. I am not - I’m easy-going. But we work in an office, and an office of all women, and it’s expected to at least chat some, during the slow times of the year anyway. I am almost looking forward to event season again so the talking will go down.
I wouldn’t care if they talked ALL DAY if they:
Finished whatever work they have to do that relates to me
Kept their voices down just a bit
IKept their embarrasing personal conversations to themselves
Dolores, I am considering it - but again, it would be distressingly obvious. I may still do it, and take a few days sick time off.
Oh my fucking GOD. The woman just stood literally two feet behind me at the desk for an HOUR chattering a mile a minute with one of the security guards and a patron. RIGHT THERE. So since I was doing my job it was unescapable. Jesus Christ, one more minute and I’d be walking out of here wearing her skin for a suit.
On the other hand, she’s about to go and take her hour long break with all her little buddies, so there’s that.
Since I’m now on a three day week, I only have to chat to the cleaner on Mondays since Thursdays I’m not in. The chat is nice, but I always have to cut her off to start working. She can chat all the way through her work but I can’t. Today being Thursday - I’m off - so what does she do - she calls me on my cell.