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moving one's cheese
The office where I work was reshuffled this weekend. Some people moved floors, others moved offices, and my mighty corner cube was moved a whole aisle over. (I know, please contain your excitement.) You wouldn't believe what a process this is; the packing of business cards, Shredded Wheat, $7 Ikea lamps and photos purchased on the streets of Dumbo into two boxes labeled with your name and routing number so IT guys and high-priced movers can work through the weekend to get everyone's stuff moved no more than 500 feet from where it started. Pizza was even served for lunch and an impressive selection of beer laid out at the end of the day on Friday to ease the transition.
Which pretty much brings us up to this morning, when I arrived in a post-champagne* daze to my new 50 foot piece of the great corporate pie completely horrified. The desk was dirty! Someone left binders all over the place! The drawers were filled with duck sauce and binder clippings and holes punched. All the wires were knotted and no, that is not where I like my phone and laptop dock. All tizzied and huffed up, I dug through a box for my Windex Wipes (like this surprises you that I'd have them) and went to work and then rewired until things were almost okay again.
And I think this is about as low as you can go in your relationship to that which allows you bring home the low-grade, budget-line bacon. (Yes, even lower than going down in flames for it.) To attach your psyche or happiness to interlocking pieces of plastic-coated wood board lined with half-windows under flickering fluorescent lights purchased by your employers with good intentions, but mostly because they got a good price on them. To feel bothered when you liked your old station better, to feel disjointed because you're not sure you'll adjust to your new view, to feel demoted because you didn't get your first choice of seats, and to spend time and energy making yourself at home at a place that should never, ever feel like home.
There's a cliché in here somewhere about nothing like showing up at the office helping you achieve a whole new depth in bottoming out, but I'll avoid it. Really, I will. Happy Monday!
* Re: the post-champagne daze. For a friend's wine-and-cheese-and-meet-my-new-boyfriend yesterday, I tried my hand at Gourgères, recipe over here, and highly recommend you make these at least once in your life. Also, could you invite my husband over when you do? They were all gobbled up quickly and he misses them. Thanks!
comments (15)
Yum! I think I may make these over the 4th of July weekend.
1 | Hilary | June 26, 2006 01:20 PM
It's good to meet someone like me. I thought I was the only one who hates the feelings of displacement that change always brings. I know that the simple move that you experienced would have ruined my day, quite possibly my week.
Hope your day improves.
2 | Gayle Trini | June 26, 2006 01:37 PM
YUMGYUMYUMGYUMMM COOKIE MONSTER WANT CHEESE THINGS!
3 | SantaDad | June 26, 2006 03:50 PM
SantaDad, you're too cute! :)
4 | Jen | June 26, 2006 07:32 PM
u sound like my co worker(the attention seeker) who ruins her and everybody else's day around her when such a thing happens!! i so much like to tell her...'come on, get over it...it's just a move and that too at work"
Deb...please ...please...don't be like her :)
thanks for the recipe...will try it.
5 | Floridagal | June 26, 2006 09:33 PM
Considering you spent 8 or more hours a day in your office there's nothing wrong with attaching a small part of your psyche or happiness to it. Frankly, if my job didn't contribute at least a little bit to my happiness I wouldn't be doing it. But then, I would have just plopped down in the new cube and carried on like nothing happened so what do I know. :)
6 | cherchezlafemme | June 26, 2006 11:25 PM
You are so like me!! I hate moving desks because the 'new' place is always so dirty.
I too have wipes in my desk. Do you know that there are more germs on the average keyboard than in a toilet?? Thats why my wipes are antiseptic. ;o)
7 | AlisonC | June 27, 2006 04:42 AM
I so fell ya. I hate feeling displaced. Your work space is like home. You spend the majority of your day at work in that space, so it should feel comfy like home and should reflect you. I have every cleaning product known to man, clorox wipes, multi-surface wipes, febreeze, windex, you name it. Make fun of me now, but I was one of the only ones who didn't catch the flu last season, thank you very much! LOL
Hope your space starts to feel like "home" soon.
8 | Stephanie | June 27, 2006 09:03 AM
Gotta love a recipe that ends with "serve with drinks."
There's nothing wrong with getting attached to your workspace and feeling comfortable in it. I think it's only natural, in fact.
9 | e. | June 27, 2006 09:44 AM
"change baaad" And how dare they leave your desk like that! I'd be looking for phone numbers!
10 | Shelly | June 27, 2006 10:27 AM
I have always enjoyed cooking but am only now starting to really get into it (we just bought our own house = my very own kitchen!) Is there one particular cookbook that you would recommend (suitable for a soon-to-be great cook but not quite there yet)? Thanks!
11 | Bellamisio | June 27, 2006 11:47 AM
that was a great book, " who moved my cheese".
if someone moved my cheese, I imagine id be pretty darn upset too =]
Happy 4th of July weekend <3
12 | Leanne | June 30, 2006 08:42 PM
I just made those for a party after seeing this post. They taste pretty good, but are a little too "eggy" for me. I sprinkled some black pepper over the top before they went in the oven, because I had a feeling the cayenne would be non-existent once cooked.
13 | Sarah | July 1, 2006 04:46 PM
You have to be the most witty woman I have ever had the pleasure of reading.
You are amusing, and funny, and just plain cool. Thanks for making my day a bit more cheerful.
14 | Debbie Wagner | July 12, 2006 07:23 PM
This is my first time to your blog, its great. These Gourgères look awesome, I must attempt this someday.
15 | jenjen | July 21, 2006 10:37 AM