Worst Desk Location Ever
After getting laid off as a highly-paid programmer at a startup I had the good fortune (??) to land another job within 2 weeks. It was a three month contract at another startup
company in a high-rise downtown. The pay was much less and I had no benefits – but I had to take it or lose my unemployment checks. Despite the circumstances, they saw fit to assign me the title “Senior Sofware Consultant” – a bullshit title if I’ve ever heard one.
On my first day, I arrived promptly at 8:30 and they had: no desk, no chair, no computer, and nothing for me to do. My new boss was out of the office.
Feeling less than welcome, I spent the first few hours putting my Senior Software Consultant skills to work with the the office manager (a rarely helpful, frequently interrupted, and psychotically perky woman in her 40s – you know the type)
removing my desk from a cardboard box and putting it together with a hex-wrench. When I was finished, they had me watch
someone else program who was very annoyed at my unexpected presence and much too busy to explain anything. My first day ended with me being introduced by some manager in a department-wide meeting as “our new programming resource”.
When I showed up the next day they had put my rolling mini-desk in a busy little hallway sandwiched between two cubes. No desk had been in that location before.
Consequently, as people walked around the corner during the course of the day, I was collided with no less than five times and endured endless, inane and consistantly smirky “Oh, look where they have you!”-type comments. The two cubes on either side of me were occupied by none other than my boss…and his boss.
Clicky for bigness
This is great…really, it makes me laugh by not having to think about how silly and inane my day has been. Please keep posting little rants about bs corporate culture.
I just had to make some smartass replies after reading “Worst Desk Location Ever.” I am an engineer. Please do not take any comment as being offensive.
“Startup company” – is that an official title for a company or is it a convenient label these days to give an excuse for management being totally unorganized and unable to run anything?
“Software consultant” or “Programmer” – Those sound like titles for the jobs we all consider high paying and we could all upgrade our position and do someday after taking a few short on-line courses or after reading a few books.
“Arrived promptly at 8:30″ – Promptly and 8:30 don’t go together where I work, where earlier than 7:30 is the office culture for many.
Your desk location reminds me of my first desk – a small table stuffed in the entrance hallway to a corner space where two other engineers were already sitting.
At that same company, we’re now downsizing and preparing to move to a smaller office space; I’m notifying the office manager responsible for the move that I’ll take any desk, even in the storage room with the boxes, as long as I continue to receive my paycheck and they don’t take my stapler.