KOOKY: In the hospital

I didn't land myself in the Emergency Room. My group has moved over into the hospital. Fourth move in 2.5 year, I may add.

My director had, a few months ago, approached me with some space that became free and asked if I wanted to move my team in there. Just like you can lure fish with bait, she baited me with a window.

And I ate it, hook, line and sinker.

Actually, the room isn't that bad. We have real cubical furniture, even though I had to scrounge for second hand furniture, and had a huge headache trying to get everything sorted and done.

I've discovered that new office furniture can cost a couple of grand just for one person, so it can cost about $10K or so for 6 people. I was also told that we had a budget, then I was told we had no money, then I was told we'll see how much money I could save with using used furniture.

The reason why the big run around was because the plan was to stick us in there "temporarily" for two years, so they didn't want to spend too much. Well, two years is a long time, and, as one of my co-workers commented, things that are "temporary" around here tend to become permanent. That's just how things work. I might as well make it as comfortable as possible for everyone.

I am a little worried about germs as we are in a hospital, and I've been told that there are patients on our floor, but probably on the other side of the building, as it looks like there are mainly offices where we are. Nonetheless, there will be a bottle of antiseptic living permanently in our room, as long as we're sojourned there.

Back to the room. It's nice to be working in a cube farm again. I know that people sometimes complain about working in cube farms, but for me, it's a luxury. The last 5.5 years, I've been working in open rooms, so there is absolutely no privacy. That normally doesn't bother me, but it does become a little inconvenient when I'm trying to speak with someone a little privately about something. Plus, everyone can hear everything where there are no walls, or even half-walls, so everyone is in everyone else's business. Even when we're all working, it's really distracting to hear other people talk; this is when I turn up my music.

And after being a bottom dweller for 2.5 years, it's really nice to see the sun again. And the rain.