Tight Office Space
Posted by harlan on 14 Jan 2008 at 11:56 am | Tagged as: talking to the void
I woke up late Saturday night/early Sunday morning in a panic. Something had to be done. Since falling back to sleep was out of the question, I decided to drive into the office and fix the situation. In the middle of the night, I thought it would be a good idea to take Richard’s desk and all of his stuff and move it all out into an alcove in the hallway. By plugging everything in, I figured it might work. Maybe Richard would think someone in IS reassigned him to the alcove, or maybe he’d get the message, and I’d have the office to myself. Just as I was getting ready to move all the stuff off Richard’s desk, I noticed a well-worn copy of “Speaker for the Dead.” Either he bought the book used — which I seriously doubt because people don’t buy used books that are that tattered — or he’s read the novel several times. So I drove back home and fell asleep right away, only to be awoken by a disturbing dream. Since I’m writing this blog with a fake name, I’ve been open about my insecurities and shortcomings as a human being, but there’s no way I’m ever going to write about that dream.
Oh, and good news! I won $235 playing online poker! Don’t be surprised if you see me playing Texas Hold Em on the Travel channel.
Isolation Score: 3
I lend out my copy of Ender’s Game to anyone and everyone who will read it. As a result it looks like its been re-read 100 times. Perhaps “Richard” borrowed it from a friend?
Either way, he seems to have good taste in literature, maybe he’s worth putting up with? :)
Haha… too funny that you were going to move him on the D/L. I have 2 stories along those lines.
1) Before I worked here, a certain someone who wanted his own office waited until the office occupier went on vacation, and then just moved all stuff into the office adn all their stuff into a cube. Amazingly, things stayed this way, I guess management didn’t want the time wasted to have things switched back. If that were my office someone moved me out of while I was on vacation, and the management solution was “what’s done is done, move on, and get to work in your new cubicle” that would have been my last day on the job. I may have pulled a Milton, who knows?
2) A co-worker here permanently lodged his blinds up. Company policy is to put them down when you go home, to prevent thieves and whatnot from scoping all the PC’s and such. This bothered me because he goes home before me, so my workday ends after dark with anyone walking by looking in at me on display, all lit up, while I can’t see out. After a couple days and a polite suggestion to the coworker not to leave the blinds up overnight, I just dropped them myself one night when he went home. To this day he has not opened the blinds – I think he things management put it down and he’s afraid to get yelled at. No complaints on this end!
Anyway dude, good luck with the new officemate. You did the right thing not moving all his shit out, that cold have made for an uncomfortable situation. Just suck it up, and go have a drink with the dude after a particularly annoying day at work. Bonding and all that…
Guess he’s not such a bad guy. Maybe if you leave your copy of Ender’s Shadow out you guys could strike up a conversation.
See - He may not be the Jerk you took him to be.
I’m guessing that by the weekend you will have found out exactly what kind of jerk he really is.
Lets face it we are all jerks. Me, You, Office Buddy, everyone else. It is just a matter of degree.
Remember that even if he likes the same books as you, the chances are his views will still be different and (here’s the rub) EQUALLY VALID.
Truthfully you wouldn’t want to share an office with a carbon copy of yourself - Would you?
As another socially anxious person, it helps to remember that almost everyone wants to be liked. So he probably wants you to like him as much as you want him to like you.
Although if you’re contemplating furtively moving all of his stuff into an alcove, maybe you don’t want him to like you that much…..
why was the dream disturbing to you?
I’d like to hear about this dream. How did he dream make you feel? Why did it make you feel this way?
I hear to listen.
I .. cannot type =) lol
C’mon, tell us about the dream–pleeez…
Hey,
I came across your site from the bloggies, where I was chosen as a random panelist, and just wanted to let you know I really liked the site, it struck a cord with me, and I chose it as one in 5 out of 20-30 entries for the Best Kept Secret blog.
Good luck!
Annie-Kate
I think I know the dream.
Its the one where you walk in on your mom fucking your dad in the ass with a strap on right?
Knew it
wtf
I want to know how long it took you to identify an incredibly obscure book to reference.
I’ll bet 100 bucks that the book on the desk was actually “Human Interaction For Dummies.”
I’ll bet another $100 that the book was intended for you to see and read.