Tag Archive for 'office space'

Annoying co-worker experiences

Published
by
Sid
on 2008-07-11
in Daily Blog
. 1 Comment

I am not a big fan of open-plan offices anymore. I used to like big roomy office spaces, but in my last job, that proved to have a lot of potential for distraction (20+ people). I noticed how much more productive I was in the evenings, when there was no-one else around, or a lot less “traffic”.

Now, for 4 months I have been working in a shared office space with 2-3 other people. This is a start-up. Aside from the fact that it sucks, not to have decent furniture, working so close with people who potentially trigger my latent OCD isn’t all that fun all the time.

Skullcandy Proletariat

Examples? Here we go:

  1. One of them likes to bring cheese bread to work. Now, this has nothing to do, with me being vegan (besides that, he likes to bring meat too, which disgusts me, but doesn’t cause the same issues), but — and if you’ve ever smelled a “Schlierbacher” cheese, you know what I am talking about — with a stench, I cannot bare for very long. This cheese smells like rotten socks — and really, really strong. To the point, where I get nauseous, when this goes on for more than 30 minutes. Don’t get me wrong, it tastes great and I myself used to love it in my pre-vegan times, but it’s just bad, when you are supposed to be working next to people, who are devouring this at their desks.
  2. The other one loves to hum when he is thinking(?). This is something I just cannot do with — so thank dog for my Skullcandy Proletariat headphones — noise cancelling galore.
  3. Same dude, has his chick working at our place too. She sits next to him about a day each week. Now, that’s fine with me, as long as there is professional behavior. The following 2 things I DON’T consider professional behavior at the office:
    1. Kissing and love-birding (hearing smacks behid my back as I am typing)
    2. Whispering — this is something that’s really pushing my buttons. However, I’ve noticed myself that they find it pretty disturbing, when I start whispering too, but to myself. Pretty effective, at the price that they think I’m a nutjob. But hey… “I like to whisper too…”
  4. Eating with your mouth open. Need I say more? A big pet peeve of mine… and nothing that would be too hard to overcome, would it now?

6 more days at work. I’ll be able to manage to hold up till then. Will be fun, when the bosses find out that their calculations are off by almost 2 weeks… let alone all the OT payout that I assume will prompt some discussions and fights. Good thing, the union has my back.

We need to talk about your TPS reports

Published
by
Sid
on 2008-07-02
in Daily Blog
. 0 Comments

Lumbergh

How do you deal with obvious work-related grievances or mismanagement? I am in no way saying that I am the one who has all the solutions and knows everything better, however, for my part, I find it very hard to sit still and bite the bullet. No question, this behavior brings on trouble at times, especially with people who are higher up in the hierarchy and cannot deal with the fact that subordinates come along with suggestions about how to streamline the operation and process in their domain. In my experience, good bosses will be happy and accept every input at least as food for thought and brainstorming. Unfortunately — and that’s especially true in the world of web agencies and start ups — there is a greater number of “CEO”s, which is hopped up on megalomania and has more $’s in their eyes than uncle scrooch.
In my experience, the main lack of focus is on employee satisfaction. There is the material issue on the one hand: not only monetary compensation, but also the question: “How do I shape the work environment, so my staff can work as efficient AND satisfied as possible?” Motivation is valued much too little much too often. This also ties in with the other side: How do I manage to motivate my people, so we work on the task at hand as a team and not as single entities or even rivals?
I am not saying that I have all the answers. And these problems need to be evaluated on a case by case basis. One thing I can say though: I have seen my fair share of how it’s not to be done in the last months; once I am in a position higher in the hierarchy I really hope (and believe) that I will not be the one duplicating those errors — it takes learning, but most of all openness and a conscious and critical view at oneself and the position in the organization. In a few years I hope that I will read these lines and tell myself: “See, you did it better.” Otherwise I hope I’ll already be standing in front of a mirror asking myself what I can do to make people — who rely on my performance just as much as I rely on theirs — happier.