February 25, 2005

Stand in the place that you work

There's an entry for yesterday, as well.

I posted on TUS to a thread asking what our desks at work were like. I thought I'd make my answer into an entry, expanding a bit upon it. I'd show you a picture, but we're not allowed to have cameras on campus unless we have a camera pass. And how would I ask for that? "Uh, yeah, I wanted to take a picture of my desk for my on-line journal..."

My cubicle is a 9x6' affair (or maybe it's 8x5?), one among a sea of other 9x6' cubicles, in a building with two floors of 'em, next to two other buildings that have four floors of 'em. There are 10,000 employees on our campus. I used to get lost a lot.

The walls are high enough that I can't see over them (unless I hop up and down, like when I hear someone walking by that I need to talk to and want to spot 'em, and then I get made fun of), and the "door" (opening) faces into a isle. Across the isle from me is a tech "bullpen" where all the guys hang out and tease me and talk a lot and read the newspaper and talk about the war and current events and I have no idea what they actually do for jobs. Well, yes I do, but they sure to socialize a lot. It's cool, though. They're a good bunch. On one side of me is a very sweet, quiet girl whom we only occasionally force into our banter. On the other side of me is a guy who is always on teleconferences talking about his particular realm of expertise, which I could now do better than him after having to listen to him all the time. Thank God for headphones and LaunchCast.

Just outside my cube on either side of the opening are some stuff I put out there to amuse people who come to talk to me but have to wait a minute while I'm finishing up with someone else (there's usually a herd around my desk, for some reason - very rarely do I string the "Do Not Disturb" chain across my door. People ignore it anyway, asking, "Do you really not want to be disturbed?" Dumbasses.). There's a sign that my sister sent me that says "Laura's Room", plus some jokes that I print out from various sources and rotate out there.

My desk is U-shaped along one long wall and the short wall, with a two-drawer file cabinet at each end - where all the junk is so I can pretend to be neat. My computer is at the bend, so my back is to the door. I have one overhead shelf and one overhead bin - the shelf is full of pictures and gifts that overseas counterparts have given me. The bin holds various manuals, reference books, and some backup disks, and the door that closes over it has a ski map of Park City, Utah.

I have a whiteboard on the non-desk wall, which currently is clean (except for my name and pager number up in the corner) but usually holds my "to do" list. Oh, and notes from friends who stopped by that say, "I was here, where are you?". And I write where I am, if I'm going to be away from my desk for a long period of time. There's also a map on that wall of San Francisco, and a bunch of postcards friends have sent me. I also have a calendar that currently features Lighthouses of America.

At last count, I had 27 different pictures of the family - some framed, some pinned on the walls. I also have a collection of Shel Silverstein books and "The Blue Day Book", both Christmas gifts from Heather, sitting on my desk. Folks occasionally borrow them to regain their perspective and sense of humor.

Sounds like a lot of stuff, but my desk is very neat. There's a file rack on one corner, and I don't know why I have it anymore. I never use filefolders. My laptop goes with me everywhere, so I rarely have to print out stuff. Hooray for wireless!!! My desk surface also holds four framed pictures, my computer, my phone, and my calculator. Plus the aforementioned books.

We're pretty much allowed to personalize our cubes any way we want, as long as there's nothing distasteful or prejudiced or gross or anything. "Corporate appropriate", I believe the term is. A lot of people just have a bare desk, bare walls, and a laptop, which is a thing that baffles me. We spend so much time at our desks, why not make it a comfortable and cheerful environment? I've gotten quite a few comments on how cheerful and homey my cube is, and I really don't mind being in it. When I'm on a teleconference I can lean back in my chair with my headset on, and put my feet up on my desk while I watch a presentation on my laptop. It's pretty comfy. And I eat a LOT of my lunches at my desk, while I'm working or surfing the net or writing an entry. When friends come to visit me, they sit themselves up on the long side of the desk and we chat. Actually, so do folks that visit me for actual *work* reasons. So, yeah. When I'm not out on the production floor or in meetings, I'm in my cube. So I'd better like it.

I have to walk a long way to get to a window, so most of the time I have no idea what the weather is and am surprised to find it raining or something when I walk out the door to go home. Sometimes I get there before sunup and leave after sundown and don't see the sky or the sun at all. Which pretty much sucks. The buildings are brightly lit, but during the power shortage last year when we were conserving on energy, every other ceiling light was turned off. So it was kinda gloomy (and hello? hard to stay awake when the 2:00 drowsies kick in), but each desk has a light underneath the shelf and the bin, so it was actually kind of cozy. Not everyone uses them, which, again, baffles me. Why would you want to work in the half-dark? Anyway, I'm pretty near to the bathroom, the water cooler, the vending machines and refrigerators, and the cafeteria. So that's good.

The work environment in general can be really noisy or really quiet, depending on the time of day and whether or not any department meetings are going in or letting out. We try to be respectful of each other, but it's hard NOT to hear when someone nearby is on a phone call, or having a conversation. The thing I hate is when the people around me INTERJECT when I'm on a phone call or talking to someone. We're supposed to be enforcing the facade of privacy. Yeah, and I now know way too much about some folks' divorces, family issues, health problems... oh, and hallway "meetings" are really annoying. Five or six people gathered around a cubicle having an animated discussion. Take it to the cafeteria, people, like everyone else does who wants an impromptu meeting. The temperature in my area of the building (and there are "zones" of hot and cold areas so obvious that you can *feel* them as you walk through them) can vary pretty drastically. I have a sweater hung on a peg in case it gets freezing, otherwise I try to dress in layers in case it suddenly turns hot. Gee, it's just like Maine. "If you don't like the weather, just wait a minute."

Each isle has a "street sign" posted on either end of it, listing who sits down that isle. We actually have to give DIRECTIONS to our cubicles for someone who needs to come by. Each structural support column (there are no actual walls on any of the floors, except for the conference rooms, so you can look across the entire building over the sea of cubicles, if you're tall enough) has a number and letter on it, so directions go something like this: "I sit in Building 4, second floor, by column J2."

We can wear pretty much anything we want, as long as it's neat and clean and not too short and not too low. Oh, and as long as it doesn't have profanity or questionable decals like some of the T-shirts out there. Again, "corporate appropriate". Blue jeans abound - that's what I wear pretty much every day. Even to muckety-muck meetings in which I have to present. No black/blue/gray suits, white shirts and black ties for US, nosiree. Heh. You should see the place on Halloween.

The campus has everything we need on-site - several pretty good, and vast, cafeterias (or cafes, as we fancily call them), ATM machines, a gym (the site a couple of miles away has a swimming pool), a basketball court, a volleyball court, a baseball field, mail drop-boxes, and a 24-hour nurse. There's also a store within the building that is open during normal business hours. They sell snacks, coffee, gifts, toothbrushes, pain medicine, and also host periodic book/jewelry/perfume/clothing sales from various venders. They also provide film developing and dry cleaning. There's a coffee cart (station? hut? it's more permanent than a cart) in the cafe that is staffed at certain hours during the day, in case you want a latte or cappaccino (sp? it's not in my spell check and I'm too lazy to look it up, but not lazy enough not to explain why that word might be mis-spelled) or a chocolate muffin or something at 3:30 in the afternoon. So, yeah, they're trying to encourage us to just stay right there and work work work. Never mind going off-site to run your errands, we'll bring your errands to you!

So, yeah. AcronymCo has a distinct culture of its own, and working there is like existing in a separate little microcosm sheltered from the rest of the world. I like it - I think I'd have a hard time going back to a small company. I'd be all, "What? No espresso? No lemon salmon? No salad bar?" As hard as they work us, they also spoil us just a little bit.

Also, I had no idea I had so much to say about this subject.

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