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View Full Version : Blogger's down and I need to vent.


FruitsAlive
10-23-2006, 06:07 PM
I woke up early this morning and in a good mood. I started my job last week and it had been fabulous. I'm only part time, but that's rapidly changing...and I'm head of my department. They gave me an awesome office on my first day. I even asked them if this was my new home since they didn't really specify at first. The HR Director said it was and apologized for it not being nicer...which surprised me because it's awesome. There's a couch. There's a desk. It has it's own bathroom. Which, let me tell you, I thought was really cool until I found out that it's where everyone goes to poop when I'm away from my desk.
So I walked in this morning in a fabulous mood...early even. I had pictures of my family and the random tchotchkes in my bag...all decked out in my professional clothes that make me feel like I'm a little kid playing dress up. I'm sure you can see where this is going. There was crap all over my desk and the walls as if someone had moved their entire life in to my space. There's a throw on the couch, pictures on the wall, business cards on the desk...and here I am standing there with my IT Director getup wondering 'What the f***'. Half an hour later the owner of said s*** walks in with her bag and coffee mug to apologize and say that she was only *temporarily* using the office until they find a desk for her. I was nice to her...said it was fine...blah blah blah...suppressing the smoke emitting my ears. I let it go.
Until I went upstairs and HR director said that there was some oddness going on and that she might move me upstairs to share a cubie with the secretary. A cubie with the secretary! Now, had they not treated me like a real live department director when I came on last week, I probably wouldn't have thought twice about them putting me in said cubie. But, you don't dangle a ginormous office suite in front of someone, tell them it's theirs and then whoopsie, how'd you like to share a cube.
I don't know whether to be angry or cry or just let it go...maybe I'm over reacting. They still haven't resolved whether I have the office or am being moved. I put my tchotchkes back in my bag and resolved to leave the personal artifacts at home.
Even the ride home was horrible. I was in such a bad mood that I, for the first time since moving out of L.A., informed a driver that it's the long one on the right. And when I came home, just for good measure, the pup decided to rip my new cutting mat to shreds...which just so happened to be an integral part of the activity I was planning to get my mind off of work...and lousy drivers.
So far, I put her outside, cracked open a guinness and resolved not to bawl like an infant. Maybe I should just go to bed before this day gets any worse. If any of you actually read this whole, boring diatribe, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

avariell
10-23-2006, 06:43 PM
:o eep... have another beer !!

i think you should talk to the HR person about it... in my experience HR people are pretty good at, if nothing else, being understanding. i would be up front about "not caring" where you end up but just that you would like to know so you can get settled.
then again... unfortunately... you probably know better than i do about the mood of your workplace and whether that would be well-received. hang in there! i just found out a guy who recently joined my office can't stand me ... workplace stress can definitely wear you down. :rolleyes:
good luck!!

Peweh
10-23-2006, 09:48 PM
I read it all, and it was not boring! I hope venting helped alleviate your immediate frustration. I agree with Avariell you need to just go to the office folks and find out the status quo, so you can either accept it and move on or reclaim your gigornimous office!!

Regardless of the outcome, I hope your new job is rewarding for you no matter what office real estate you end up in!!

And as for the cutting mat... I can sympathize. I just now came back to my favorite overstuffed chair to find it's suddenly got one arm panel SHREDDED by one of my cats. :eek:

Edited to add, PS I am having a beer with you!! Mine's Bass, we could make a nice Black and Tan!!

lindrusso
10-24-2006, 05:56 AM
I hope things get resolved to your satisfaction and that you have a MUCH better day today. :)

CompassRose
10-24-2006, 08:45 AM
Oh, what a hellish day! I sympathise, although I'm not the director of anything.

You definitely should talk to HR. Even if they can't or won't give you your suite back, I don't think any director should be sharing cubies with people; there's confidentiality issues and such if nothing else.

Robyn1007
10-24-2006, 08:58 AM
Eeek! I agree, the whole office thing was handled very poorly. Have a conversation with HR and I agree that as a director you have confidentiality issues and shouldn't be sharing a cube. You may end up in a cube but it should at least be your own. When I started my new job, they called me the Friday before because my local boss was going to be out of town. He joke that he was getting a cube together which would have been fine with me. Instead I found out that I would have an office. Now, it definitely doesn't have couch and a bathroom (and why would people find it reasonable to come to a private office bathroom to poop? :eek: ) but it does have a large desk, guest chairs, bookshelf et al. I would have been pretty disappointed to come in a few days later and find myself moved to a cube.

I hate commuting and I spend at least 2 hours a day doing it so I feel for you there and I was awakened at 4 this morning by my cat shredding papers so I understand how frustrating animal antics can be!

I hope today is better!

livelychef
10-24-2006, 10:31 AM
I do hope the vent and beer helped you unwind from an awful day. HR must have crossed their wires and not communicated about the office and the new occupants. I do hope you are able to find a better place than a shared cube. Even with your own cube, there could still be some issues as you need to speak on the phone about information that others do not need to hear.

Hopefully today and the rest of the week will get better!

FruitsAlive
10-24-2006, 11:43 AM
Thank you everyone for your kind words. :) Today I had a little perspective walking into the office...having drunk three bottles of Guinness last night and realizing that I'm going to bleed any day now. DP kept telling me I should quit which is totally out of the question. Everyone has bad days and poor departmental communication sometimes. Not to mention that if we're going to start a family soon, we'll end up having to spend yet-to-be conceived child's college fund getting pregnant. :o
When I sat at my desk, I found that my computer had taken a major dump and decided that I'm delegating it to someone else to fix and going home to work as soon as I talked to HR. I nicely told them to call me when something is decided or if they need anything.
If I have indeed been office-jacked, I've resolved that the new occupant will undoubtedly be sorry when she realizes that some Stinky McSkidmark sneaks into the bathroom when she's not paying attention...unless, of course, she is the mysterious Stinky McSkidmark. Hadn't thought of that.
I told them I would really insist on not sharing with anyone for the reasons you guys mentioned. I do have a lot of confidential information and with HIPAA being an issue, I really should be confined. Not to mention that at my last job, I shared an office with a labotomized neanderthal who made way more than I did and spent his days playing WOW as I ran the department for him. :rolleyes:

Peweh - Sounds like we'd be perfect black and tan partners! It was a revelation when I had my first one...and I still remember that night fondly. :)

Angelina
10-24-2006, 11:50 AM
Can the bathroom door be locked? Or your (future) office? If you have confidential information, I would lock the office door when leaving, if nothing else to stop the poop people.

Or maybe trap the bathroom door with a bucket of water! That way you can tell right away who the guilty one is...

Angela

FruitsAlive
10-24-2006, 02:41 PM
:( It's the cubie for me. Is it too early for another round?

livelychef
10-26-2006, 03:38 PM
Bummer! :(

Is this temporary? I am trying to find the silver lining in all of this.

At least you know where the bathroom is :o

FruitsAlive
10-26-2006, 04:36 PM
Bummer! :(

Is this temporary? I am trying to find the silver lining in all of this.

At least you know where the bathroom is :o

I wish I could say it was. I guess the bright side is that they might move to a new space in the next two or three years.