Moving In

It’s getting to be that time of year again around the office here at the Evil Day Job–where people are moving offices because they’re moving on to work elsewhere, leaving for the summer, or are being told to move by the Powers That Be for some other reason.  It’s an offshoot of an academic institution, so end of the semester we tend to have some minor upheavals.  I am not, thankfully, moving offices.  But it always amuses me when I see people who do because it strikes me how unlike them I am.

I first moved into this office two years ago almost–shortly after I began this job.  I got the office with the door even though I was not, at the time, the senior research associate, because I was the one who would be keeping all the sensitive data both in database form and in a series of FIVE file cabinets (it is a tiny office and I have frequently thought of putting in a loft bed over the file cabinets).  Ergo I needed an office with a door that locked.  Yay for that.  What is funny about this process is that when I move into an office or to a new desk, I move in–artwork, lamps, preferred office supplies, photos of the dogs and the hubby, plant, calendar, coat hooks, Wisdom of Yoda poster, etc.  Most of these were in my office within a couple of days, though I’ve added a handful of things over time.

A new girl moved into the office next door about three weeks ago and her office still looks abandoned and totally bare but for the stacks of whatever she’s working on.  There’s not one thing in there to make it more personalized or comfortable.  I just couldn’t work like that.  My office is, in a way, an extension of my home (though with way dirtier carpet).  I spend at minimum 40 hours a week here, and often more on the weekend while I’m in class composition mode.  Frankly, I’m more productive when I’m comfortable and all the stuff I’ve brought in is a testament to that.  I’m not nuts about my job, but it makes it easier to come here every day when I know that I’ve got a comfortable space to work in.

What about you?  Is your workspace personalized or do you stick to a minimalist-anybody-could-be-here approach?

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