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#21
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[OT] The dangers of tidy
That's outrageous. Supervisors should be worried about the results of your
work, not how you do it! Something like this may actually *decrease* your efficiency by messing up your system. It's even *MORE* outrageous that people rifled into your private belongings in the middle of the conference - that must feel like a gang rape done in a public place. You'd think, with all the cutbacks in personnel your company has suffered that there would be other, more important business to attend to. I'm so sorry this happened to you Vicky. Purrs being sent to try to soothe your nerves, and dirty litterbox offerings to your f*cked up supervisor. -- Hugs, CatNipped See all our masters at: http://www.PossiblePlaces.com/CatNipped See the RPCA FAQ site, by Mark Edwards, at: http://www.professional-geek.com/rpcablog/ "Yowie" wrote in message ... My desk at work is usually somewhat chaotic. Its not as bad as some people, but those 'some people' are blokes, and I am not. For some reason its expected that my desk should be tidy. I have no idea why people get their knickers in a knot about it - i can always find everything I need in a heartbeat, I know what piles are what, what section of my desk refers to what subject matter, etc etc. I don't expect anyone else to be able to figure it out, but its *my* desk and it works for me. We had the safety police around, and I was told in no uncertain terms that my desk would be tidy. No ifs or buts, it was to be done NOW. Two people pitched in to help. I thought this was unnecessary, but apparently my desk was in 'such a state' that I needed two more able bodied persons to either do the extraordinary amount of work required (it didn't think it did) or to supervise me to mak sure I actually did the task rather than letting it go (I am not that slack). The upshot was that my desk, plust the contents of my drawers, the personal and private contents of my desk drawers, were all dumped out on the big conference room and people who were not me got to rifle through thema nd decide what was to stay, and what was to go. Thankfully at least I got to decide where the 'go' stuff got to end up - either in the bin or a box that I had to take home. But I was Not Impressed with this process, especially when other, more senionr, male people have IMHO, far worse desks than I do and don't get criticised for it. I also object that whilst OK, perhaps it looks bad, it doesn't interfere with my work, so there is NO NEED to go through absolutely everything with other people, only to tidy up what was actually visible. The upshot is that I have two boxes of junk to take home, and lots of paper to either file or bin. OK. Its done. Yay. And then I was asked where the minutes of yesterday's project planning meeting where and why I hadn't typed them up yet. Well, I hadn't typed them up because I was doing the very important task of having my personal belongings examined, but I'd get to it Real Soon Now. Except that they've been misplaced. No other copies exist. The *were* on top of my "Needs to Be Done" pile before the safety police decided to turn my working life upside down. This is how my filing system works. I put it on top of my 'needs to be done' pile, and work through it. The less urgent material naturally sorts its way to the bottom of the pile and every so often, when I get a spare few hours, I'll sort through the bottom of the pile and see what still needs to be done and what can now safely be ignored. Its an organic sort of system, it may not work for everyone, but it has worked for me perfectly in the last 23 years, and no-one has complained that I haven't got done on time what I've supposed to have got done. Except *someone* intereferred with this system and now I have *no idea* where the meeting notes are. They could be in my filing cabinet, in any number of folders. They could be sorted into notes. They could have been thrown away as 'scrap paper'. I have NO IDEA where they are and there's about 20 people, including managers and manger's managers and one of the vice-presidents of the company relying on the notes from the project planning meeting to be produced today. These are the dangers of forcing an organising system onto someone who doesn't organise themselves in that way. This is the dangers of 'tidy'. It may *look* all neat and effecient, but for those who aren't naturally inclined to that way of thinking, it makes actually getting the important things done virtually impossible. I'm now going to have to waste more time going through my 'organised' office trying to find three pages of A4 paper with hand written notes. This will waste a good few hours, when in my old 'messy' system I would have had it done by now. So I've pretty much wasted one full day at work 'tidying' and now 'searching' all in the name of *appearing* to be more effecient when there was absolutely nothing wrong with *actual* effeciency before. One day I dream of having so little work to do that my desk will only have a carefully aligned pen on it - then I'll be ready to be the president of the company. Yowie |
#23
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[OT] The dangers of tidy
The *ONLY* rules about where you put your things is when a hurricane is
approaching, all files have to be locked up. The office's outside wall is just big panes of glass, and since we're an HR company with people's private retirement documents containing their social security numbers, we don't want those papers to be scattered ll across Houston if the gales or accompanying tornados burst those windows (which actually happened to a *finance company* who did not enforce that policy - gads, they got a "black eye" for that mess! -- Hugs, CatNipped See all our masters at: http://www.PossiblePlaces.com/CatNipped See the RPCA FAQ site, by Mark Edwards, at: http://www.professional-geek.com/rpcablog/ wrote in message ... Christina Websell wrote: I do so feel your pain about this. My personal opinion is that a work desk is a personal space and providing that it isn't a health hazard and you can do your work effectively, it's no-one's business but your own. My desk at work is one of the "medium" sort - not as tidy as some, but not as bad as others. My colleagues know they mess with tidying it at their peril. To me there's a big difference between the level of neatness on your desk, which is visible, and how tidy you keep your drawers, which are not. And I can understand wanting to keep up appearances for certain visitors. A couple of years ago, a bunch of Japanese businessmen came to check out our company and possibly invest in it (we're still a private company), and everyone had to clean up their offices and dress nicely because that's what's expected of workers in Japan. But nobody bothered us about things that weren't visible. I still think it's weird to have 20 people descend on someone and force them to empty out all the personal spaces in their desk, and then spread them out in a conference room so everyone can evaluate them. Joyce -- Whenever you feel anger, you should say, "May I be free of this anger!" This rarely works, but talking to yourself in public will encourage others to leave you alone. |
#24
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P.S.
CatNipped wrote:
Yowie wrote: Most of my 'stuff' were toys of some sort, general distractions from the dreariness that is work, and little gifts from Joel when we were first dating (eg, a small teddy bear holding an "I love you" heart). These were both 'not work related' and deemed 'not really appropriate for the image we are trying to project' and therefore had to go. Good gawd! *EVERY* executive in my company have offices that look like a paper bomb went off in there (and keeping a tidy desk will only get you more work since people think if there not a ton of paper lying around the desk and floor that you must not be busy enough. Also, one person has an entire teddy bear collection, *I* have a *large* collection of cat figurines. Every exec has actual office and not a cube - and there is a glass panel next to the door so people can peek in on you to see if you're on the phone before barging in. All of them have pictures and cartoons and all sorts of strange things taped on the inside of the glass facing outwards - so even people walking down the hall can see their "treasure" (and the added bonus of blocking the view into the office, LOL)! The guy whose office is across from mine has pictures up all over his walls that were drawn, painted, etc, by his 6-year-old. When he gets a new one, he adds it to the collection. They're great conversation starters, among other things. Yowie, your boss is a killjoy. (I don't remember if he's the guy you report to directly, or if he's higher up, but whatever, you're in his chain of command, right?) I hope he loosens up! Joyce -- Whenever you feel anger, you should say, "May I be free of this anger!" This rarely works, but talking to yourself in public will encourage others to leave you alone. |
#25
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The dangers of tidy
Joy wrote:
wrote in message ... John F. Eldredge wrote: On Wed, 06 Oct 2010 01:10:45 -0700, NettieCat wrote: Good grief, I would have been furious. I would probably done or said something unwise. I work like you. My desk isn't just untidy, it's a positive shambles, but like you, I can always find what needs to be found. Every six months or so I have a filing session, and I know that for a while after, I spend ages looking for things because my system has been disturbed. Some people just can't stand things to be 'out of place' by their standards. I once worked in an office where a senior manager tried to impose a 'clean desk' policy. I got round it by putting all the stuff from my desk in a big box at the end of the day, and putting the box on top of my chair. Of course, it meant that I spent half an hour a day packing and unpacking the box instead of working, but at least I had a 'tidy desk'. I'm with you Yowie, it's best to let people work as they are used to working. Jeanette I have always been fond of the saying, "A neat desk is a sign of an idle mind." Also, a clean house is a sign of a broken computer. Definitely true of my house! Mine too. Joy What's a clean house? ;o) -- Adrian (Owned by Bagheera & Shadow) Cats leave pawprints on your heart http://community.webshots.com/user/clowderuk |
#26
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[OT] The dangers of tidy
Just let us know if you find the notes. I lost something like this once and
nearly drove me nuts. Turned out someone took them who had no business looking at the minutes but I was the one who got yelled at. "Yowie" wrote in message ... My desk at work is usually somewhat chaotic. Its not as bad as some people, but those 'some people' are blokes, and I am not. For some reason its expected that my desk should be tidy. I have no idea why people get their knickers in a knot about it - i can always find everything I need in a heartbeat, I know what piles are what, what section of my desk refers to what subject matter, etc etc. I don't expect anyone else to be able to figure it out, but its *my* desk and it works for me. We had the safety police around, and I was told in no uncertain terms that my desk would be tidy. No ifs or buts, it was to be done NOW. Two people pitched in to help. I thought this was unnecessary, but apparently my desk was in 'such a state' that I needed two more able bodied persons to either do the extraordinary amount of work required (it didn't think it did) or to supervise me to mak sure I actually did the task rather than letting it go (I am not that slack). The upshot was that my desk, plust the contents of my drawers, the personal and private contents of my desk drawers, were all dumped out on the big conference room and people who were not me got to rifle through thema nd decide what was to stay, and what was to go. Thankfully at least I got to decide where the 'go' stuff got to end up - either in the bin or a box that I had to take home. But I was Not Impressed with this process, especially when other, more senionr, male people have IMHO, far worse desks than I do and don't get criticised for it. I also object that whilst OK, perhaps it looks bad, it doesn't interfere with my work, so there is NO NEED to go through absolutely everything with other people, only to tidy up what was actually visible. The upshot is that I have two boxes of junk to take home, and lots of paper to either file or bin. OK. Its done. Yay. And then I was asked where the minutes of yesterday's project planning meeting where and why I hadn't typed them up yet. Well, I hadn't typed them up because I was doing the very important task of having my personal belongings examined, but I'd get to it Real Soon Now. Except that they've been misplaced. No other copies exist. The *were* on top of my "Needs to Be Done" pile before the safety police decided to turn my working life upside down. This is how my filing system works. I put it on top of my 'needs to be done' pile, and work through it. The less urgent material naturally sorts its way to the bottom of the pile and every so often, when I get a spare few hours, I'll sort through the bottom of the pile and see what still needs to be done and what can now safely be ignored. Its an organic sort of system, it may not work for everyone, but it has worked for me perfectly in the last 23 years, and no-one has complained that I haven't got done on time what I've supposed to have got done. Except *someone* intereferred with this system and now I have *no idea* where the meeting notes are. They could be in my filing cabinet, in any number of folders. They could be sorted into notes. They could have been thrown away as 'scrap paper'. I have NO IDEA where they are and there's about 20 people, including managers and manger's managers and one of the vice-presidents of the company relying on the notes from the project planning meeting to be produced today. These are the dangers of forcing an organising system onto someone who doesn't organise themselves in that way. This is the dangers of 'tidy'. It may *look* all neat and effecient, but for those who aren't naturally inclined to that way of thinking, it makes actually getting the important things done virtually impossible. I'm now going to have to waste more time going through my 'organised' office trying to find three pages of A4 paper with hand written notes. This will waste a good few hours, when in my old 'messy' system I would have had it done by now. So I've pretty much wasted one full day at work 'tidying' and now 'searching' all in the name of *appearing* to be more effecient when there was absolutely nothing wrong with *actual* effeciency before. One day I dream of having so little work to do that my desk will only have a carefully aligned pen on it - then I'll be ready to be the president of the company. Yowie |
#27
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[OT] The dangers of tidy
"CatNipped" wrote in message ... That's outrageous. Supervisors should be worried about the results of your work, not how you do it! Something like this may actually *decrease* your efficiency by messing up your system. It's even *MORE* outrageous that people rifled into your private belongings in the middle of the conference - that must feel like a gang rape done in a public place. You'd think, with all the cutbacks in personnel your company has suffered that there would be other, more important business to attend to. I'm so sorry this happened to you Vicky. Purrs being sent to try to soothe your nerves, and dirty litterbox offerings to your f*cked up supervisor. I suppose I have to accept that tidying your desk and your desk drawers ocasionally might be a good thing as I am tackling mine now. Only 5 work days to go now and I am amazed about what I saved from 03 or well before that that it not relevant now. The good stuff like "the rights of asylum seeking children in Britain" I am offering to my colleagues. It's so strange to think I will not need that any more. Some of the men in the team are already asking me if they can have my chair or my stapler when I am gone but I know very well that's how they are coping with the idea that they have never been without me and they will miss me. God forbid that a Brit man would say such a thing. Can I have your chair or stapler?? They have both these things themselves already. Tweed |
#28
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[OT] The dangers of tidy
On 8/10/2010 12:52 AM, Granby wrote:
Just let us know if you find the notes. I lost something like this once and nearly drove me nuts. Turned out someone took them who had no business looking at the minutes but I was the one who got yelled at. Never did find them, but managed to get by on someone else's notes (they're compulsive note takers) and my memory. I mean, who ever reads the minutes of a meeting no-one wanted to be at in the first place? Yowie |
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