Renovations

[plonq]

The company is going to be (mostly) gutting and renovating our office to make room for more desks as we will be absorbing another of our offices in the upcoming months. There was apparently a lot of concern among the people here about how they would be affected by the changes, so our Health and Safety committee opened their in-box for questions relating to the changes.

They posted their first batch of questions and answers today. Most of the questions are reasonable, but a couple of them jumped out at me as I was reading through the list.

Q: I was wondering if it would be possible to use a Yoga Ball for seating in the office or is there a reason why not?
(File under: wtf?)

Q: Will we have more French signage?
(File under: entitlement much?)

While this second one smacks of entitlement (we have nobody in this office who is not functionally fluent in English), I give it a tiny bit of credence because there is an outside possibility that some of the new people who will be moving in here in a couple of months might not be entirely fluent. Even then, I can't think of any important signs in the office that are not already in English and French.

All this cold medication has done horrible things to my system. Let's just say that it's probably a good thing that my co-worker called off today and I have this little office to myself. I am halfway tempted to put a "Quarantine" sign on the door. In both official languages, of course.

[Edit]

I guess it's worth an edit to clarify something about these two questions - my fault, because I glossed over things in my post. I blame the cold medication. Anyway, the point of the Q&A was to answer peoples health and safety concerns during the upcoming office renovations. They are going to be tearing out walls, and rewiring a sizable portion of the office. This was supposed to be for people who had questions about health and safety issues during the work.

To put it in context, most of the questions were about potential noise and dust levels, and what steps would be taken to address those. People asked if those with known respiratory issues would be extended the option of working from home. People wanted a timetable on the work, and basically wanted assurances that they wouldn't go deaf, or have ceiling tiles falling on their head, etc.

I just found it sad that some folk with their personal agendas wanted wanted to hijack the Q&A. There is nothing wrong with Yoga Balls per se, but they have nothing to do with office renovations. I could probably guess who posted the question about the French signs - we have a few expatriate Québecois in our office with a political axe to grind.

One person posted asking if somebody could come and adjust their desk height for them, seeing as they were going to be gutting half the office anyway. Another wanted to reserve some window seats for the off-shifts...

Comments

[bloofoxtales.livejournal.com]

Actually the yoga ball isn't really that wierd. I've worked with a few people who brought in balls to sit on for at least a portion of their day, heck I even tried it myself for a while at home. :)

The idea is that since it's a ball, you need to work to stabalize yourself which works your core. It's actually pretty effective, though probably not very ergonomic lol

Hmm, maybe I should be less lazy and see if we still have a yoga ball around somewhere. lol

[pierrekrahn.livejournal.com]

Actually, I've been tempted to ask the same question about the Yoga Ball. Our chairs at work probably do more harm than good. But, knowing the people in my office, someone is bound to file a complaint and I'd have to get rid of said Yoga Ball. So, I'm too lazy to even ask.

Why stop at French signage? I want German signage too! And perhaps some 1337 sp34k signage while we're at it!

[typographer.livejournal.com]

You know, the person who asked about French signage may not be feeling entitled... they might be a radical anglophile who is asking the question with dread. "Oh, no, more people coming in and remodelling, I'll probably have to see even more of the %$#@! Frenchie talk after!"

Regarding yoga ball: I've seen a number of people in various offices use one for a seat for at least part of the day. It works the core and back muscles and is often better for your back than an office chair. OTOH, my current co-workers tell a story of a guy they used to work with who used one... until the day it exploded underneath him, scaring the bejeezus out of everyone in the office...

[plonq.livejournal.com]

Actually the yoga ball isn't really that wierd.

Well, it's not weird per se, but it was weird in the context of this Q&A. I've edited the post a bit to expand on why these questions were so "out there."

[plonq.livejournal.com]

If there is one thing that our company did not skimp on, it is the chairs in our main offices. I almost think the chairs are too good. I can usually tell when I've been sitting for too long in any chair at home, but at work I can lose myself in a project for 4-5 hours at a time without noticing how long I've been sedentary.

[plonq.livejournal.com]

I could probably narrow it down to 2-3 candidates who were responsible for the French signs question. We have some expatriate Québecois in our office who have a political axe to grind.

OTOH, my current co-workers tell a story of a guy they used to work with who used one... until the day it exploded underneath him, scaring the bejeezus out of everyone in the office...

A friend had one of those explode in his living room when we were visiting him one evening. Took a year off my life.

[pierrekrahn.livejournal.com]

I remember that event!

It also happened to Leo Laporte during one of his recordings (This Week in Tech, I believe). I'm glad they reduced the levels in editing!

re: edit

[pierrekrahn.livejournal.com]

Ah, I understand your point now. Some people just try to stir the pot for no reason.

Re: edit

[typographer.livejournal.com]

Well.... I guess I'm really in a Devil's Advocate mood today.

Maybe it's because I'm always juggling a zillion projects at once (personal and professional), but I often find myself in the situation where there has been a question that I've been meaning to ask the HR person, or the Office Manager, or my best friend, that I keep not remembering when I'm in a situation where the question makes sense. Then, one day, an e-mail or other message comes in from person, about something that has absolutely nothing to do with my question, but this time, my creaky old brain goes, "Oh, yeah! I should ask so-and-so my question about X."

So I can totally see how the person with the yoga ball question meant it as a private communication to the member of the Health and Safety Committee who sent out the call for questions along the lines of, "By the way, totally off-topic, I've been meaning to ask you about my office chair situation..." but because they (foolishly) replied to the committee message, they suddenly find their little question being re-broadcast to the whole company.

Maybe they didn't, but I can easily imagine several other reasonable chains of thought that lead to the question, none of which involve either malicious intent or sheer stupidity. FWIW, YMMV.