Saturday, February 19, 2011

Personal Space in the Work Place

This week I had to take a break from my boss before I went crazy, so I took Thursday off.  I get back to work on Friday and things look....different.  My desk and the area around my desk have definitely been "worked over".  Huh.  I put my coat away in the supply closet and realize that it's all been rearranged in there as well.  Okay.  That's fine.  I haven't had enough time to really make the closet be what I want it to be since we moved our office.
But, why?  There are probably 100 other things much more pressing and important that my boss could have done while I was gone. 

The the boss gets in the office and feels the need to re-introduce me to my space.

Boss - "This file is full of vendors." 
Me - "Wasn't it vendors before?"
Boss - "Well, yes."  "This box is envelopes."
Me - "Yes, it was envelopes before."

He has helpfully moved the envelope box to the top shelf where it's really not convenient to get to.  I mention that I will probably move it back to where it was before because it was easier to access and it makes sense for supplies to be next to supplies.  He seems to take this as a personal attack against his organizing skills.

Boss - "Why do you need to get in the envelope box?  Aren't there envelopes on your desk?"
I look at my desk where there were envelopes on Wednesday.
Me - "Well, there were envelopes here Wednesday.  I don't know where they are now."
He doesn't know where he moved them to.  Really?

Then he proceeds to show me how he's rearranged MY DESK.  He's re-done my files, moved things around in my drawers, and added some things.  Why?  It's MY DESK!  Things are where I want them to me.  Where I know to look for them.  Where they are convenient for me - the person who uses the desk.  I realize that this is his business and technically his furnishings, but this is my domain, my personal space.  I do not keep things  in my desk that are extremely private, but everybody needs to have a sense of personal space in their work place.  Right?

Thanks for letting me vent.

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