hard at work

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    At work we put a low file cabinet in my cube for our unit “party supplies” or, as I think of it, our unit kitchen. When we bring snacks, we put them on it. We used to have a cabinet in our little hall, but now the hall is too narrow. It is weird enough because 2 cubes from another unit are close by our snack table, line of sight, smell & hearin & it doesn’t feel right not to share. But we haven't figured out how to handle that yet.  Probably don't need to because things keep changiing.
EVERY day some one or two or three official people (boss to the 3rd, move captain, actual mover supervisor, etc) come by my cube & either eyeball it or whip out the measuring tapes & pronounce that the cabinet has to go because it renders my cube opening non-ADA-compliant. 1 or 2 inches too narrow. Never mind that I do not now nor plan to soon use a wheel chair. That I have never been visited by a person in a wheelchair at work. Or that should I be visited by a person in a wheelchair, I could shove the cabinet up against another file cabinet (rendering the 2nd one unopenable temporarily). The file cabinet must go.
But go it does not do. I certainly am not moving it. When I shoved it a small bit, hoping that it would be enough for ADA, howls of protest rose from officialdom – perhaps lest I damage myself & sue. So then they said they would move it to the cross hall at one end of our hallway, but another unit’s files were put there. So then they said they would put it in the cross hall at the other end by our supervisor’s desk. Along with our files which were down the room a bit & Jalpa wanted them by us thank you. But our files took up all the space.
So now I hear that "our snack table" (not cabinet to store plates, spoons & napkins in like what I have, either) is across from the front desk with the In & Out board (not THAT In’N’Out, unfortunately!) on it. Where EVERYONE not only walks by, but stops. This is NOT going to work. We cannot use that for our snack table. That could be the whole section’s sharing table (although not large -big enough for snacks, not a potluck, but we can use the conference room for that), but not our unit. That’s way worse than us having snacks in line of sight of other units but in my cube. Besides, not only would it be rude of us, but some people would actually eat our stuff. Possibly innocently think that it is the common table as it should be – & there isn’t one otherwise.
We in the unit are trying to figure out alternatives. We can put our paper goods in one of our tall filing cabinet drawers, but we need to figure out where to put our food. Unit unity is important. Team spirit. Morale boosting. & all that. Or just an excuse for food.  One or more of us will find a space for when we need it.

 **In other "work" news -   Ever since the cube move, I have been hearing that some cube spaces have a lot of staples in the rug. (The rug is OLD) Matt has gotten one of those. Supposedly in space that once was Mary’s. She only accepts responsibility for 6 years worth of staples.

Anyway to protect Matt’s tender feet from staples that flip up & worm their way into his shoe – don’t laugh. I got told long ago not to go stocking foot because of staples (but what happens in my cube stays in my cube) & the ONLY time I have yet to be poked in the foot by a staple was when I was wearing shoes firmly strapped to my feet all day – anyway, because of the clear & present danger of Matt being staple attacked & possibly suing the State, they got him a plastic floor mat today.

Now, Matt is always joking about building a wall or wanting a door to close off his cube. The cardboard the mat came in is about the right size. We joked about what kind of door to make. A sliding door would be good, but we don’t have a good space for it to slide. It cannot be a full swinging open door because it is wider than our hall. But a saloon style door! We had a good laugh. The cardboard got put out in the hall to be picked up. Matt went home. Amar & I looked at each other & said, we need to put up that door. So we went & got the cardboard.   We are not ready to do the door now. Amar thinks we should do it for Halloween. Which works because we can get away with more stuff for Halloween.

Where to put the cardboard? Not behind Matt’s filing cabinet or Amar’s because of stuff on the end where the cardboard would stick past it & can’t have it stick out the other side into the hall. Behind mine is inaccessible because of its position & the clock tower (the support column in my cube which happens to have a clock on it, which I cannot see from my cube because of the side it is on). Jonathon’s cube had something in the way, too. That’s too bad, because he would have made a good co-conspirator even though he is from another unit & had already gone home. (His cube is across from Matt) Aaron! In Jonathon’s unit, across from Amar, & out sick for an extended period it appears. He won’t complain. Probably would be a good conspirator if he were here. So the cardboard is hopefully safely tucked away for now.  I will be SO disappointed if I come back to work Monday (after helping with Miriam for her surgery & talking to Benjamin enroute to Korea) and find the cardboard gone!
But!  the move organizer asked if I want a floor mat, too, and I said yes. he he he