Author Topic: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?  (Read 174013 times)

Imma

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #700 on: November 15, 2019, 12:15:43 AM »
I've worked here three years.  THREE YEARS and today is the FIRST TIME that they've included a vegetarian option for me in the office wide company lunch.  My petty reason?  Let me quote the company email:

Lunch is here!  It has been put in the refrigerator.  Get it at your leisure.
You will get 1 meal, 1 bag of accessories and 1 CAN of soda.  There are two vegetarian meals for SheWho and Redacted in the meat drawer.

in the MEAT DRAWER - sheesh

Is there any other kind of drawer in a fridge?

Are you throwing shade?  Or just unfamiliar with common kitchen appliances?
There are Meat Drawers in a fridge???
Here in Germany we only have vegetables drawers, and surely not because of the lack of meat.

Every drawer is a meat drawer if your priorities in order.

it was a joke

So was putting my vegetarian meal in a box with dead animal parts.  I get enough of those jokes at work thank you.

That's a seriously nasty thing to do. Especially if it has been going on for years. Is there anyone at work you can talk to about this? Otherwise I would seriously consider changing jobs. What this is is bullying, plsin and simple, it's not funny at all. If you choose to not eat one type of food that's 100% not anyone else's business and finally ordering lunch that meets your dietary requirements and then putting it in the meat drawer is just mean. It would be hard for me to work with those kind of people. It would always be in the back of my mind while talking to them.

BussoV6

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #701 on: November 15, 2019, 03:24:35 AM »
One feature we have at work is what I call "Lowest Bidder Coffee".  Essentially, work buys massive amounts of the cheapest coffee available. It's brown, usually has a slight oily sheen to it and on a good day, tastes like licking the outside of a Starbucks cup.

We have a fancy overpriced oversized coffee machine at work — this thing is probably 3 feet tall and likely costs a few thousand dollars. Unfortunately the coffee tastes like watered-down dirt water and sadness :(
I was going to ask what sad work coffee tastes like, but I suppose any coffee from work is sad coffee :-(

Our office is similar. Very fancy expensive machine that uses the cheapest shittest beans they can lay their hands on. Coffee always tastes burnt. I have iced water instead :-(

Dicey

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #702 on: November 15, 2019, 04:57:49 AM »
That's a seriously nasty thing to do. Especially if it has been going on for years. Is there anyone at work you can talk to about this? Otherwise I would seriously consider changing jobs. What this is is bullying, plsin and simple, it's not funny at all. If you choose to not eat one type of food that's 100% not anyone else's business and finally ordering lunch that meets your dietary requirements and then putting it in the meat drawer is just mean. It would be hard for me to work with those kind of people. It would always be in the back of my mind while talking to them.
I have a different opinion. It's unlikely that the "Meat" drawer in a workplace is used to store raw meat. It was probably selected because it had nothing in it and it was a way of protecting it from being grabbed by the wrong person. It's just a drawer. Changing jobs over this would be a colossal overreaction. If you choose to be a vegetarian, you must accept that you are outside the norm or you will loose your mind. The rest of the world is cannot be expected to have the same level of awareness of what your dietary choices involve. To expect them to is folly. I interpreted the OP's comment as mildly amusing with a side of wry, not something "mean" to quit your job over.
Signed,
Dicey
30+ year vegetarian

AlanStache

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #703 on: November 15, 2019, 06:10:35 AM »
That's a seriously nasty thing to do. Especially if it has been going on for years. Is there anyone at work you can talk to about this? Otherwise I would seriously consider changing jobs. What this is is bullying, plsin and simple, it's not funny at all. If you choose to not eat one type of food that's 100% not anyone else's business and finally ordering lunch that meets your dietary requirements and then putting it in the meat drawer is just mean. It would be hard for me to work with those kind of people. It would always be in the back of my mind while talking to them.
I have a different opinion. It's unlikely that the "Meat" drawer in a workplace is used to store raw meat. It was probably selected because it had nothing in it and it was a way of protecting it from being grabbed by the wrong person. It's just a drawer. Changing jobs over this would be a colossal overreaction. If you choose to be a vegetarian, you must accept that you are outside the norm or you will loose your mind. The rest of the world is cannot be expected to have the same level of awareness of what your dietary choices involve. To expect them to is folly. I interpreted the OP's comment as mildly amusing with a side of wry, not something "mean" to quit your job over.
Signed,
Dicey
30+ year vegetarian

In one of the follow ups SheWhoWalksAtLunch said that there was meat in the drawer.  Not sure I would look for a different job over work not ordering lunch within my restrictions in mind but I might look for other signs that I was not valued.  Because every restaurant has some veg option.

re veg jokes: please just dont bother.  anyone who has been vegetarian/etc for more than a month as heard them all, they get old, they were not that funny to start with, you are not that clever.

Dicey

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #704 on: November 15, 2019, 03:11:07 PM »
I've been odd woman out in male dominated industries/token vegetarian/youngest/oldest/oddest employee for too many years to change jobs over this issue. 
Wait! Are you me? Maybe we're twin daughters of different, yet very similar, mothers, lol!

Money Badger

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #705 on: November 15, 2019, 07:23:29 PM »
Instant Messenger.   The sad reality is that true concentration on mentally challenging work is now “rude” if you don’t react to co-workers more rude, trivial and usually driven by insecurity, instant messages.   

OK, another one...  “Did you see my email?”   🙄

Linea_Norway

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #706 on: November 16, 2019, 01:51:48 AM »
Instant Messenger.   The sad reality is that true concentration on mentally challenging work is now “rude” if you don’t react to co-workers more rude, trivial and usually driven by insecurity, instant messages.   

OK, another one...  “Did you see my email?”   

We have Skype for business, being equally intruding. And Pidgin on our virtual desktop.

It is strange. Most of the people in our department do high concentration work. Still we have been put in an environment where it is impossible to concentrate when many others are present at work.
For me it feel like punishment (torture is too strong a word) to be working in such an environment.

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #707 on: November 16, 2019, 05:28:48 AM »
I once received an email and Skype message simultaneously from the same person asking if it was ok to call me! :-0

frugal_c

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #708 on: November 16, 2019, 06:13:04 AM »
Politics.  Not office politics although I hate that too. I can't stand people bringing up politics but yet acting like children if you start to disagree with them.  At least post fire I can just tell people what I think without having to worry about a massive blow up.  Why do people bring up politics if they can't handle hearing arguments on  the other side?

Money Badger

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #709 on: November 16, 2019, 07:05:42 AM »
I once received an email and Skype message simultaneously from the same person asking if it was ok to call me! :-0
[/] ;-)]

Aaaargh!  :-0   Hope you scattered their ashes someplace nice!  ;-)


Life in Balance

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #710 on: November 16, 2019, 08:02:50 AM »
Okay, I know this is really petty, but I will not have to listen to my co-worker's vocal fry in meetings. Like fingernails on a chalkboard.

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #711 on: November 16, 2019, 09:09:15 AM »
Instant Messenger.   The sad reality is that true concentration on mentally challenging work is now “rude” if you don’t react to co-workers more rude, trivial and usually driven by insecurity, instant messages.   

OK, another one...  “Did you see my email?”   🙄

The most hilarious spoof of that exact situation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mokllJ_Sz_g

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #712 on: November 16, 2019, 09:17:11 AM »
I once received an email and Skype message simultaneously from the same person asking if it was ok to call me! :-0

Aaaargh!  :-0   Hope you scattered their ashes someplace nice!  ;-)

I told them I was accepting messages by carrier pigeon only that day.

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #713 on: November 16, 2019, 10:42:19 AM »
I hate having to pretend to take other people seriously and be agreeable.

"Oh, you aren't signing up for the 401k plan, because you can't afford it?  I totally understand.  BTW, how was your vacation last week?"

"No, don't worry about completely screwing up and wasting my time.  It is totally fine.  It happens."

"Oh, you haven't heard of this company policy before?  That is so weird.  Especially since it was mentioned in the handbook that you signed stating that you read and was mentioned in a follow-up email last month.  So odd."

I'd also like to sleep more  and my office is arctic and I hate wearing long johns under my clothes, running a space heater, and wearing fingerless gloves.  I'd cry, but the tears would just freeze on my face.


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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #714 on: November 16, 2019, 10:55:59 AM »
Instant Messenger.   The sad reality is that true concentration on mentally challenging work is now “rude” if you don’t react to co-workers more rude, trivial and usually driven by insecurity, instant messages.   

OK, another one...  “Did you see my email?”   🙄
I hate all forms of IM programs.  Like there weren't enough ways to reach someone already.  The worst is when one person is calling me on my cell phone, another is calling my work phone, another is sending me texts, and yet another is sending me IMs.  Makes me want to throw my computer and cell phone out the window.

Prairie Gal

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #715 on: November 16, 2019, 12:42:08 PM »
I hate having to pretend to take other people seriously and be agreeable.

"Oh, you aren't signing up for the 401k plan, because you can't afford it?  I totally understand.  BTW, how was your vacation last week?"

"No, don't worry about completely screwing up and wasting my time.  It is totally fine.  It happens."

"Oh, you haven't heard of this company policy before?  That is so weird.  Especially since it was mentioned in the handbook that you signed stating that you read and was mentioned in a follow-up email last month.  So odd."

I'd also like to sleep more  and my office is arctic and I hate wearing long johns under my clothes, running a space heater, and wearing fingerless gloves.  I'd cry, but the tears would just freeze on my face.

Ha ha! I was just going to post one of my reasons is because they keep the office too hot for me (menopause and all that) and there are people there complaining of being cold and running their space heaters. I have a fan on my desk that helps somewhat. I want to be comfortable and in control of the temperature. One of the reasons I enjoy my work from home days so much.

Exflyboy

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #716 on: November 16, 2019, 03:14:08 PM »
When I think about this question long and hard I really only have one reason to seek FIRE..

..... I just don't want people telling me what to do.


Zaga

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #717 on: November 17, 2019, 06:46:18 AM »
I actually love having an IM system.  You can message someone and they can answer 5 or 10 minutes later when they have the time.  It's also not logged or saved, so if you have something to ask about that you don't want in an official email you can do it over IM.

Imma

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #718 on: November 17, 2019, 10:36:34 AM »
OP here for the vegetarian lunch in the meat drawer post - Like Dicey, I'm 30+ year vegetarian and am usually very laid back about food choices at work. I ALWAYS pack my own lunch no matter what I'm promised by the person arranging the meal.  I was mostly poking fun at the absurdity of the situation.  It was nice of the company to finally purchase the first vegetarian meal for me in three years.  It was a bummer it didn't happen until Redacted - a man - asked for a vegetarian meal too, but I'm doing my best to look on the bright side.

After snapping at DadJokes comment yesterday (its hard to read tone on the internet and I apologize if your comment really was meant to be innocuous) I went in search of the office person who handled the distribution of lunches. She really was trying to hide the "yummy looking" vegetarian meals by tucking them in the meat drawer out of sight and did do her best to push the initial contents of the drawer to the back out of the way (small company with some home/work overlap in the kitchen sometimes).  Based on the look of horror on her face when I pointed out the incongruity of location choice, I'm confident this wasn't a malicious act on her part.

I've been odd woman out in male dominated industries/token vegetarian/youngest/oldest/oddest employee for too many years to change jobs over this issue.  But back to the intention of this thread, being food shamed at work (even accidentally) is one of my petty reasons for seeking FIRE.  Thank you to everyone who jumped to my defense.

It's good to hear you've cleared up the situation with the lady who put the food there. Obviously not a malicious act from her.
y
What I was getting at wasn't really the location of the vegetarian meals (if that's a one off) but the fact that they've ordered the wrong type of food for you for 3 years until now. That just sounds crazy. I can understand that happening the first time lunch is ordered when you start working somewhere, but assuming you told them the first time you're actually vegetarian, I still can't understand the thought process of the person ordering the meals all those years. I'm also the odd woman out in a conservative, male dominated industry, but we're in the 21st century. Being a vegetarian is very common and any catering company offers vegetarian options. I'm not formally a vegetarian but I politely requested vegetarian lunches because I rarely eat meat, and no one batted an eyelid even though that's unusual in my company. I've been in charge of ordering lunches and with most catering companies, ordering a vegetarian option is just a matter of ticking a box. I would be absolultely mortified if I ordered a lunch and forgot about someone's dietary requirements.

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #719 on: November 17, 2019, 03:38:29 PM »
I actually love having an IM system.  You can message someone and they can answer 5 or 10 minutes later when they have the time.  It's also not logged or saved, so if you have something to ask about that you don't want in an official email you can do it over IM.

Are you sure it isn't logged?  It definitely was where I used to work.

Zaga

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #720 on: November 17, 2019, 04:05:16 PM »
I actually love having an IM system.  You can message someone and they can answer 5 or 10 minutes later when they have the time.  It's also not logged or saved, so if you have something to ask about that you don't want in an official email you can do it over IM.

Are you sure it isn't logged?  It definitely was where I used to work.
That's a matter of individual company policy, I know it isn't where I work. 

Linea_Norway

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #721 on: November 18, 2019, 12:33:47 AM »
Don't remember whether I wrote this before, but today is another such day. If the weather is not suited for commuting, I don't want to have to drive to work, together with lots of other cars at the same time.

Today it is snowing, but with a temperature above 0 C, which gives very slippery roads. And despite driving a 4x4 with winter tires very slowly, the car glanced over the road some place. It went well luckily. But if I wouldn't have to work, I wouldn't have been driving at such a busy time.

Tabitha

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #722 on: November 19, 2019, 11:50:05 PM »
.
with most catering companies, ordering a vegetarian option is just a matter of ticking a box. I would be absolultely mortified if I ordered a lunch and forgot about someone's dietary requirements.

My team attended an off site 2 day meeting. Dietary restrictions were duly sent ahead.  I have one guy who eats GF-halal. This takes awareness but is not objectively difficult. At the 10 am break I get told by the other company’s rep that the caterer can’t accommodate GF-halal.  WTAF.  He made a meal of the salad but I was pissed and embarrassed. The caterer should have been.

Rankin

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #723 on: November 20, 2019, 06:34:01 AM »
I love video games, and one of the things on my bucket list is to “whale” (buy pay-to-win microtransactions and/or virtual currency and in-game items) in an mmorpg and become the #1 player. I’d likely use my discretionary post-FIRE spending money on this until I get bored of it.
« Last Edit: November 20, 2019, 06:36:24 AM by Rankin »

ATS

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #724 on: November 20, 2019, 03:09:15 PM »
We are transitioning from individual cubicles and offices to an open layout plan.  It's a way to cram 20-30 people in the same space that used to hold 10 people.  You have a small locker for your coat and two file drawers for any other items at your tiny little desk.  Nothing like sitting shoulder to shoulder with your coworkers with no privacy.

Thankfully I will be gone before my floor transitions to the new layout.

Channel-Z

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #725 on: November 20, 2019, 07:44:44 PM »
We're getting smaller desks too, without any dividers, and smaller file cabinets.

About a month ago I.T. told us to change our passwords to sync our old email account with the new email server. Migration happened today, and about 80% of the staff didn't follow that basic instruction, which left them high and dry. I'm not in I.T. at all and I spent part of the day trying to guide people through the setup of their email accounts.

Linea_Norway

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #726 on: November 20, 2019, 10:46:30 PM »
We also have a smallish desk and only a small drawer block per person. Nothing more. The desk is sit/standup, which is good. No private wardrobe for coats.

I think the reason they are able to do this is is that it might be difficult to measure productivity and therefore the concequences are invisible. I have become terribly unproductive, because I can't concentrate and I am probably not the only one.

From Monday only 3 weeks left....

techwiz

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #727 on: November 21, 2019, 07:51:45 AM »
We also have a smallish desk and only a small drawer block per person. Nothing more. The desk is sit/standup, which is good. No private wardrobe for coats.

I think the reason they are able to do this is is that it might be difficult to measure productivity and therefore the concequences are invisible. I have become terribly unproductive, because I can't concentrate and I am probably not the only one.

From Monday only 3 weeks left....

Seems many companies are going with this approach (real reason is to save money on office space). Our accommodations people are selling it, saying how great it is. 

"No assigned seating employees have the option to use a variety of work points (desks; sofas; collaboration pods; lunch room, etc.).
Employees have access to a web-based reservation system for some work points. Employees have a locker. Access to Collaborative spaces and collaboration areas. Strong focus on collaboration tools (instant messaging; desktop video conferencing; collab tools)"

Everyone is suppose to move to this type of setup. I think our group is still a year or more away from being transitioned. Everyone I have talked to said they like it ,but when I question them further I find out they work from home most of the time. If everyone came in there would not be enough space. The logic for efficient use of space makes sense, but some type of work just doesn't fit this model.

 

ATS

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #728 on: November 21, 2019, 08:42:28 AM »
We also have a smallish desk and only a small drawer block per person. Nothing more. The desk is sit/standup, which is good. No private wardrobe for coats.

I think the reason they are able to do this is is that it might be difficult to measure productivity and therefore the concequences are invisible. I have become terribly unproductive, because I can't concentrate and I am probably not the only one.

From Monday only 3 weeks left....

Seems many companies are going with this approach (real reason is to save money on office space). Our accommodations people are selling it, saying how great it is. 

"No assigned seating employees have the option to use a variety of work points (desks; sofas; collaboration pods; lunch room, etc.).
Employees have access to a web-based reservation system for some work points. Employees have a locker. Access to Collaborative spaces and collaboration areas. Strong focus on collaboration tools (instant messaging; desktop video conferencing; collab tools)"

Everyone is suppose to move to this type of setup. I think our group is still a year or more away from being transitioned. Everyone I have talked to said they like it ,but when I question them further I find out they work from home most of the time. If everyone came in there would not be enough space. The logic for efficient use of space makes sense, but some type of work just doesn't fit this model.

One of the floors in my building has the no assigned seating model and a bank of small conference rooms if people need privacy for a meeting or a call.  What actually happens is the first people there in the morning grab the conference rooms and camp there all day and if you need some privacy for a phone call or a meeting there isn't anywhere to go. 

My department will have assigned seating, but the thought of sitting in an open area with four colleagues within 20 feet of me makes me glad I won't have to be dealing with this.

zolotiyeruki

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #729 on: November 21, 2019, 09:14:46 AM »
My petty reason for today:  fluorescent lights in wintertime are not pleasant.  I'd rather sit in a dark office than have that awful lighting on.

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #730 on: November 21, 2019, 10:06:57 AM »
.
with most catering companies, ordering a vegetarian option is just a matter of ticking a box. I would be absolultely mortified if I ordered a lunch and forgot about someone's dietary requirements.

My team attended an off site 2 day meeting. Dietary restrictions were duly sent ahead.  I have one guy who eats GF-halal. This takes awareness but is not objectively difficult. At the 10 am break I get told by the other company’s rep that the caterer can’t accommodate GF-halal.  WTAF.  He made a meal of the salad but I was pissed and embarrassed. The caterer should have been.

Even if they didn't have halal meat, isn't vegetarian halal?  GF vegetarian isn't a big request. 

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #731 on: November 21, 2019, 03:39:31 PM »
We also have a smallish desk and only a small drawer block per person. Nothing more. The desk is sit/standup, which is good. No private wardrobe for coats.

I think the reason they are able to do this is is that it might be difficult to measure productivity and therefore the concequences are invisible. I have become terribly unproductive, because I can't concentrate and I am probably not the only one.

From Monday only 3 weeks left....

Seems many companies are going with this approach (real reason is to save money on office space). Our accommodations people are selling it, saying how great it is. 

"No assigned seating employees have the option to use a variety of work points (desks; sofas; collaboration pods; lunch room, etc.).
Employees have access to a web-based reservation system for some work points. Employees have a locker. Access to Collaborative spaces and collaboration areas. Strong focus on collaboration tools (instant messaging; desktop video conferencing; collab tools)"

Everyone is suppose to move to this type of setup. I think our group is still a year or more away from being transitioned. Everyone I have talked to said they like it ,but when I question them further I find out they work from home most of the time. If everyone came in there would not be enough space. The logic for efficient use of space makes sense, but some type of work just doesn't fit this model.

One of the floors in my building has the no assigned seating model and a bank of small conference rooms if people need privacy for a meeting or a call.  What actually happens is the first people there in the morning grab the conference rooms and camp there all day and if you need some privacy for a phone call or a meeting there isn't anywhere to go. 

My department will have assigned seating, but the thought of sitting in an open area with four colleagues within 20 feet of me makes me glad I won't have to be dealing with this.

We have this exact same issue with the conference rooms.  No set desk, so people grab a room early.  We also have only a limited number of phones, which are in the conference rooms.  All calls out are expected to be via these phones, and all calls in go straight to our message bank.  As one other teacher asked, "If another school has the same system, how can I ever speak to a teacher there?"

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #732 on: November 22, 2019, 03:50:37 AM »
Everyone is suppose to move to this type of setup. I think our group is still a year or more away from being transitioned. Everyone I have talked to said they like it ,but when I question them further I find out they work from home most of the time. If everyone came in there would not be enough space. The logic for efficient use of space makes sense, but some type of work just doesn't fit this model.

I think Terry pratchett put it nicely like this:
Even writers, once accepted as an elusive breed, now how to go out and meet people constantly.

It is the extrovert ideal and it is made worse because it generally is introduced by managers, who generally do extrovert work and have the traits (or learned to simulate them).

It is similar to brainstorming: It has been shown again and again that the "normal" way of doing them is ineffective. You get better ideas if you have people thinking about them outside of a big meeting and write them down where everyone can see (and comment!) them and only after a certain time get together in a bigger, formal group.
But that is way too introvert to fit in our "always on" times.

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #733 on: November 22, 2019, 06:00:17 AM »
Uugh.  My employer moved us all to a new office with an "open floor plan" a little over a year ago.
Yes, it is absolutely horrible for productivity.  If I had to estimate, I'd say at least a 25% decline in productivity from me.
One of the people who sits near me has a terrible habit of repeatedly just shouting out my name when he wants to get my attention -- increasing in volume for each subsequent time he shouts my name. I find it extremely offensive.  Even if he clearly can see (since it's an open floor plan), that I'm in the middle of typing something.

I just keep telling myself "just keep showing up as long as the direct-deposits keep hitting the checking account", and "FIRE is near"....


Freedomin5

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #734 on: November 22, 2019, 07:12:36 AM »
I’m so glad the work I do can’t be done in an open floor plan office. It would drive me crazy. As of now, I work in an inner office of a larger office space, which opens onto a common area. I sometimes close both doors (the door to my office and the door to the larger office space) to get some peace and quiet so I can concentrate. One of my colleagues works in a different part of the building. Her office has floor to ceiling windows (with no blinds) looking onto their shared conference room. I call her office “the fish bowl”.

AlanStache

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #735 on: November 22, 2019, 07:37:58 AM »
Most of the people at my work (including me) have offices with doors but sound carries very far along the corridors where it can be distracting having to hear everything from 6 doors down.  About a month ago I got some good noise canceling headphones (with airline reward points!) and it was changed everything.  I would not want to have to deal with people sitting behind me or not having an assigned desk. 

techwiz

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #736 on: November 22, 2019, 07:47:43 AM »
I’m so glad the work I do can’t be done in an open floor plan office. It would drive me crazy. As of now, I work in an inner office of a larger office space, which opens onto a common area. I sometimes close both doors (the door to my office and the door to the larger office space) to get some peace and quiet so I can concentrate. One of my colleagues works in a different part of the building. Her office has floor to ceiling windows (with no blinds) looking onto their shared conference room. I call her office “the fish bowl”.

I think every office has a "Fish Bowl" meeting room or equivalent space. One manager here who was placed in such as office covered the glass with paper to get some privacy. Accommodations forced them to remove it apparently it's part of the open concept and helps let the natural light flow to the maximum area. 

EscapedApe

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #737 on: November 22, 2019, 09:38:50 AM »
When I think about this question long and hard I really only have one reason to seek FIRE..

..... I just don't want people telling me what to do.

To have people come to you with incentives rather than imperatives.

This is the best reason to FIRE, I think.

FireHiker

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #738 on: November 22, 2019, 09:50:48 AM »
ugh, "open work spaces". Our company introduced them several years ago at another location and so many people quit that there's an entire floor of empty "open work spaces". They backed down and didn't transition the rest of that building or the building near it. I'm at a different location that is kind of an outlier, and we all have private offices, but there will be two locations with new buildings soon and tons of "open work space". You have to really be quite high up in the company to have an office now unless you're in a grandfathered location where offices exist and it would cost money to transition them out. When I end up in a position where it's open work space time, I will pull the plug. I hate other noise so much that I am fairly sure I have at least mild misophonia. Even being in meetings with people and their damn clicky pens will send me into a rage (another petty reason to FIRE).

MissNancyPryor

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #739 on: November 22, 2019, 10:25:28 AM »
ugh, "open work spaces". Our company introduced them several years ago at another location and so many people quit that there's an entire floor of empty "open work spaces". They backed down and didn't transition the rest of that building or the building near it. I'm at a different location that is kind of an outlier, and we all have private offices, but there will be two locations with new buildings soon and tons of "open work space". You have to really be quite high up in the company to have an office now unless you're in a grandfathered location where offices exist and it would cost money to transition them out. When I end up in a position where it's open work space time, I will pull the plug. I hate other noise so much that I am fairly sure I have at least mild misophonia. Even being in meetings with people and their damn clicky pens will send me into a rage (another petty reason to FIRE).

Oh, yah.  I gotta chime in here.  I FIRED the first time in April 2019 from a very nice executive office with a view.  I then spent 4 months in an analyst job this summer and it was a huge and final reminder about the absolute suckitude of cubicle life where I had spent most of my career.  This particular office had low walls and close seating so I spent my days hearing and smelling my co-workers, about 3 feet away from and facing each of my closest neighbors.  I participated as an unwilling observer to every nose pick and received the fine spittle of every open mouth cough.  I reluctantly heard every phone call from their kids as well as the conversations they had with each of the people they faced.  Unsanitary, distracting, stupid way to make people work.   

One day a guy on the floor decided to cook himself up the most stinky fish for lunch, absolutely a not-fresh slab of bad salmon or similar, and it created a vomit-inducing stank of cooked dead flesh.  The entire floor was polluted and people from other adjoining areas started looking around for who the asshole was.  When discovered the dumbass just acted like, "hey, I gotta be me" with a smirking shrug.  He sat 40 feet away from me and I thought I would barf.

So glad to be out of that! 

These cubicles are the opposite of productivity.     

savedandsaving

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #740 on: November 22, 2019, 11:03:19 AM »
Pettiest reason that I'm still self-righteous enough to think is legitimate: Move out of the american south, get to the northeast, and never have to deal with 95 degree weather (and 80%+ humidity) in late October again. Look, palm trees are nice I guess, but I've lived in the south my entire life and I just think the weather's goshawful horrific. Bonus: I get to stop listening to other homegrown southerners complain "it's so freezing outside waaaaaaa" when the temp dips below 50. Geez y'all are weak. This is why the south lost the war.

Additional less petty and more Mustachian reason: Avoid traffic and driving at all costs for as long as we live here. Atlanta drivers are legitimately the meanest I've ever seen..every single day I see people run red lights, drive on the wrong side of the road, and nearly cause fatal crashes casually. And it's always inevitably the most expensive, shiniest, biggest luxury gas-guzzlers doing this. I just don't want those abominations in front of mine eyes ever again.

dougules

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #741 on: November 22, 2019, 03:44:58 PM »
Pettiest reason that I'm still self-righteous enough to think is legitimate: Move out of the american south, get to the northeast, and never have to deal with 95 degree weather (and 80%+ humidity) in late October again. Look, palm trees are nice I guess, but I've lived in the south my entire life and I just think the weather's goshawful horrific. Bonus: I get to stop listening to other homegrown southerners complain "it's so freezing outside waaaaaaa" when the temp dips below 50. Geez y'all are weak. This is why the south lost the war.

Additional less petty and more Mustachian reason: Avoid traffic and driving at all costs for as long as we live here. Atlanta drivers are legitimately the meanest I've ever seen..every single day I see people run red lights, drive on the wrong side of the road, and nearly cause fatal crashes casually. And it's always inevitably the most expensive, shiniest, biggest luxury gas-guzzlers doing this. I just don't want those abominations in front of mine eyes ever again.

You do recognize the irony of calling southerners weak for complaining about cold weather, but then not being able to deal with heat and humidity yourself, right?

But yes, I totally would like to leave the South.  For me it's much more about the culture than the weather. 

Imma

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #742 on: November 23, 2019, 04:26:10 AM »
Everyone is suppose to move to this type of setup. I think our group is still a year or more away from being transitioned. Everyone I have talked to said they like it ,but when I question them further I find out they work from home most of the time. If everyone came in there would not be enough space. The logic for efficient use of space makes sense, but some type of work just doesn't fit this model.

I think Terry pratchett put it nicely like this:
Even writers, once accepted as an elusive breed, now how to go out and meet people constantly.

It is the extrovert ideal and it is made worse because it generally is introduced by managers, who generally do extrovert work and have the traits (or learned to simulate them).

It is similar to brainstorming: It has been shown again and again that the "normal" way of doing them is ineffective. You get better ideas if you have people thinking about them outside of a big meeting and write them down where everyone can see (and comment!) them and only after a certain time get together in a bigger, formal group.
But that is way too introvert to fit in our "always on" times.

My direct coworker is extremely extroverted and I'm pretty much the opposite. I haven't found a way to deal with it yet without offending someone. What I hate most is they always want to talk, about work, about the weather, about super private things that I don't want to talk or hear about, just about anything to fill the silence. And I need silence to be able to focus on work. Because we need to cooperate closely and discuss things all the time, noise cancelling headphones are not allowed or I would have gotten them long ago.

And what sucks even more is that I'm a woman so I'm supposed to be a little more understanding - I've noticed that as a woman, being clear and direct is often perceived as being 'bitchy', I need to be a little more 'kind' than my male coworkers. I don't mind small talk and I actually have good conversations with some other coworker, but this person just gets on my nerves. And whenever we're alone they're always trying to steer the topic to extremely personal subjecs that I really don't want to talk about at work. I think the tactic is to ask me about this so I have to ask them in return, so they can go on a rant about their feelings on the subject, and I refuse to play that game. I'll answer any super inappropriate question with raised eyebrows and an extremely vague short answer.

Linea_Norway

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #743 on: November 23, 2019, 06:36:46 AM »
Everyone is suppose to move to this type of setup. I think our group is still a year or more away from being transitioned. Everyone I have talked to said they like it ,but when I question them further I find out they work from home most of the time. If everyone came in there would not be enough space. The logic for efficient use of space makes sense, but some type of work just doesn't fit this model.

I think Terry pratchett put it nicely like this:
Even writers, once accepted as an elusive breed, now how to go out and meet people constantly.

It is the extrovert ideal and it is made worse because it generally is introduced by managers, who generally do extrovert work and have the traits (or learned to simulate them).

It is similar to brainstorming: It has been shown again and again that the "normal" way of doing them is ineffective. You get better ideas if you have people thinking about them outside of a big meeting and write them down where everyone can see (and comment!) them and only after a certain time get together in a bigger, formal group.
But that is way too introvert to fit in our "always on" times.

My direct coworker is extremely extroverted and I'm pretty much the opposite. I haven't found a way to deal with it yet without offending someone. What I hate most is they always want to talk, about work, about the weather, about super private things that I don't want to talk or hear about, just about anything to fill the silence. And I need silence to be able to focus on work. Because we need to cooperate closely and discuss things all the time, noise cancelling headphones are not allowed or I would have gotten them long ago.

And what sucks even more is that I'm a woman so I'm supposed to be a little more understanding - I've noticed that as a woman, being clear and direct is often perceived as being 'bitchy', I need to be a little more 'kind' than my male coworkers. I don't mind small talk and I actually have good conversations with some other coworker, but this person just gets on my nerves. And whenever we're alone they're always trying to steer the topic to extremely personal subjecs that I really don't want to talk about at work. I think the tactic is to ask me about this so I have to ask them in return, so they can go on a rant about their feelings on the subject, and I refuse to play that game. I'll answer any super inappropriate question with raised eyebrows and an extremely vague short answer.

@Imma Can you ask your supervisor to be placed somewhere else. Just mention that the coworker keeps you from being productive?

Imma

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #744 on: November 23, 2019, 06:52:27 AM »
Everyone is suppose to move to this type of setup. I think our group is still a year or more away from being transitioned. Everyone I have talked to said they like it ,but when I question them further I find out they work from home most of the time. If everyone came in there would not be enough space. The logic for efficient use of space makes sense, but some type of work just doesn't fit this model.

I think Terry pratchett put it nicely like this:
Even writers, once accepted as an elusive breed, now how to go out and meet people constantly.

It is the extrovert ideal and it is made worse because it generally is introduced by managers, who generally do extrovert work and have the traits (or learned to simulate them).

It is similar to brainstorming: It has been shown again and again that the "normal" way of doing them is ineffective. You get better ideas if you have people thinking about them outside of a big meeting and write them down where everyone can see (and comment!) them and only after a certain time get together in a bigger, formal group.
But that is way too introvert to fit in our "always on" times.

My direct coworker is extremely extroverted and I'm pretty much the opposite. I haven't found a way to deal with it yet without offending someone. What I hate most is they always want to talk, about work, about the weather, about super private things that I don't want to talk or hear about, just about anything to fill the silence. And I need silence to be able to focus on work. Because we need to cooperate closely and discuss things all the time, noise cancelling headphones are not allowed or I would have gotten them long ago.

And what sucks even more is that I'm a woman so I'm supposed to be a little more understanding - I've noticed that as a woman, being clear and direct is often perceived as being 'bitchy', I need to be a little more 'kind' than my male coworkers. I don't mind small talk and I actually have good conversations with some other coworker, but this person just gets on my nerves. And whenever we're alone they're always trying to steer the topic to extremely personal subjecs that I really don't want to talk about at work. I think the tactic is to ask me about this so I have to ask them in return, so they can go on a rant about their feelings on the subject, and I refuse to play that game. I'll answer any super inappropriate question with raised eyebrows and an extremely vague short answer.

@Imma Can you ask your supervisor to be placed somewhere else. Just mention that the coworker keeps you from being productive?

Nope, we're all together in a very small space. I know my boss is trying to convince HQ we need a bigger office but no luck so far. The place is already noisy enough without someone talking all the time.

savedandsaving

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #745 on: November 23, 2019, 01:10:03 PM »
You do recognize the irony of calling southerners weak for complaining about cold weather, but then not being able to deal with heat and humidity yourself, right?

I mean, yes, but I still think it’s more reasonable to complain about July weather in late October than to complain about late October weather in late October :)

Sugaree

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #746 on: December 05, 2019, 12:31:45 PM »
To never spend another day having to worry about whether or not my long-planned, long-approved, nonrefundable vacation is going to be pulled out from under me 2 weeks before I'm supposed to leave because things went sideways at work.

Linea_Norway

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #747 on: December 06, 2019, 02:21:14 AM »
To never spend another day having to worry about whether or not my long-planned, long-approved, nonrefundable vacation is going to be pulled out from under me 2 weeks before I'm supposed to leave because things went sideways at work.

You need better unions. In my country the employer would have to refund the paid vacation in such cases.

But even then it would suck that your plans are torpeded like that.

Sugaree

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #748 on: December 06, 2019, 04:37:22 AM »
To never spend another day having to worry about whether or not my long-planned, long-approved, nonrefundable vacation is going to be pulled out from under me 2 weeks before I'm supposed to leave because things went sideways at work.

You need better unions. In my country the employer would have to refund the paid vacation in such cases.

But even then it would suck that your plans are torpeded like that.

The sad part is that I have a union.  I'm a federal employee.  They claim they have "no obligation or authority to reimburse an employee for costs incurred by an employee resulting from the cancellation of his or her leave."

Imma

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Re: What is your most petty reason for seeking FIRE?
« Reply #749 on: December 07, 2019, 09:00:44 AM »
To never spend another day having to worry about whether or not my long-planned, long-approved, nonrefundable vacation is going to be pulled out from under me 2 weeks before I'm supposed to leave because things went sideways at work.

You need better unions. In my country the employer would have to refund the paid vacation in such cases.

But even then it would suck that your plans are torpeded like that.

The sad part is that I have a union.  I'm a federal employee.  They claim they have "no obligation or authority to reimburse an employee for costs incurred by an employee resulting from the cancellation of his or her leave."

Well then you still need better unions, I guess. :(  In my country an employer cannot cancel an approved period of leave unless extremely exceptional circumstances pop up (and exceptional circumstances aren't: 'oh, Jim broke his leg, so we're one employee short' as employees calling in sick is a normal part of running a company) and they'd have to refund the full costs for your cancelled holiday too. I think this hardly ever happens, at least I've never even heard of someone's leave being cancelled like that.

One reason I want to FIRE asap is I wish I had more time for crafting. I'm planning all my projects for the 2 weeks my workplace is closed over Christmas and there are way too many projects I want to do over that short period of time. As I'm in grad school I don't really have time for crafting during term and in summer I often work OT when coworkers are on vacation.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!