Today when I went to work, the work I went to was in a different spot from the work I went to on Friday. That is to say, the esteemed company I work for has moved offices. Not very far – in fact, such a short distance that you have to wonder why they bothered: just across to the other side of the street.
Actually, there is a very good reason why they bothered. The old office had become a very squished rabbit-warren of partitions, with the ever-increasing staff being stuffed into every available nook, cranny and crevice. A bit like Dilbert, but more colourful. One of my co-workers was fond of comparing it to the conditions faced by a fishing-boat full of illegal immigrants being smuggled into the country.
The new office is a generously appointed, wide, long, sprawling, spacious, open and almost luxurious space, with shiny new carpet, soft new telephones, and miracle of miracles, a staff room – somewhere to munch on your lunch other than at your desk.
After the surprisingly well-organised efforts of the last few days, the hope was that everything would be hunky-dory this morning when we all got into work. That computers would work, phones would ring, file servers would serve, and work on the best new software development since sliced bread could continue.
Well, it wasn’t quite that successful. Big operations like this never are. The main thing was that the phones didn’t ring. Thank you, Phone Company people. Not that I can complain: my job in the company doesn’t involve the excessive use of phones. Oh, and a notebook computer went missing. Oops! Still, a pretty smooth and event-free move considering that the bulk of the equipment was shifted on Friday the 13th.
