Not long after I started my new job, I wrote a post on a few other new guys that started soon after I did. The techie-from-a-cave guy works from another city, so I haven’t seen him since that first week. The small guy with strong glasses, though, works in my office and I see him every day – well, almost every day. Sometimes it’s hard to find him because he moves around a lot. It seems that every cubicle he’s tried has some climate issue associated with it. He gets cold very easily. None of the rest of us has this problem. It’s not to say we don’t notice the temperature fluctuations. We do. In fact, my office seems to be a tiny indoor representation of the Bay Area climate. You need to dress in layers because it goes from warm to cool to too warm to a little too cool. Layers don’t work for the small new guy with the strong, large glasses, though. In addition to moving his location frequently, trying to find just the right cubicle that doesn’t come with a draft, he’s taken to climbing up onto desks and taping papers and manila folders over the air ducts in the ceiling near whichever cubicle he is trying out. One day last week I realized he wasn’t in the office – not because I didn’t hear him or see him in a meeting, but because I never saw him climbing around taping things onto the ceiling. I see him as a little library mouse gopher-man now. He’s small, and he scurries around climbing on furniture, wearing his strong glasses that make his eyes look larger than they should. One day I suggested he bring an extra sweatshirt or sweater to work to help when it gets a little chilly, and he continued past me, muttering under his breath that another shirt wouldn’t help because it’s his bald head that’s the problem – he loses all his heat from there. I thought about suggesting a hat, but thought I might be crossing a line, so I just watched him wander away looking for the perfect place to sit.
Okay, you need to get a really silly hat – like those panda ones that have long side parts that hang down and are actually mittens. Bring it in and put it on his desk. That would be awesome! He wouldn’t lose heat from his bald head.
Yeah, there’s probably a reason I don’t have an office job. ; )
If you could only see this guy! You have no idea how brilliant your panda hat idea is. I will soon post further on the movements of the desk-climber. I’ll have to come up with a better name for him, but there is more interesting behavior to report on. More soon!
I agree with Tameri. He needs a hat before your boss realizes he spends more time climbing the furniture than he does working! 🙂
Ah, I was too late! I worked from home one day, and the poor guy was caught red-handed. The situation turned into a melodrama that involved even the CEO, but the worst part was that I missed all the goings-on…
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