Cheery's path to fulfilment - finishing the DIY, looking after myself, appreciating the garden 🌻

Cheery_Daff

KajiKita said:

Great news about the neighbours 😊

What a pain about the hot-desking. That would really frustrate me and make me less productive ….

Did I read right …? You’re getting someone else to finish the windowsills …?? 😊😊😊

KK

Yes, but they agreed to do it several months ago and there's no sign of them getting on with it so it might take several more years 😂 at least it's off my list 😂 will be seeing them in person in few weeks so will try to pin them down to a date - I'd rather it didn't stretch into another winter.

And yes, hotdesking is a pain in the backside. More frustrated at having no storage - I've accumulated quite a lot of work related books over the years and am now expected to either ditch them or store them at home. Nowhere to keep stationery, emergency stashes of painkillers/toiletries, whiteboard pens etc - everything will have to be carted in and out each day (including plugs for laptops etc), and you can't even keep desk set up between meetings/teaching, which is REALLY annoying, and it's right in the town centre so there's no free parking.

I understand plenty of people round the world do it already, I understand it'll save them money on office space (although I wish they'd just admit that's the reason rather than trying to spin it as 'innovative' and 'exciting' and 'collaborative') but it's still rubbish! 

Anyway, enough moaning, best get up and get on!

rtandon27

Hotdesking is utterly rubbish! I'd be livid if I lost my desk/storage!

greenbee

Everywhere I've worked that has had hotdesking has also had lockers - some permanently assigned, some temporary. So you could keep stuff in your 'regular' office near the bank of desks that you were most likely to use, and you could also put stuff in a locker when at another office. And you could keep your desk for the time you needed it, without worrying someone would nick it while you were in a meeting/at lunch.

Having said that, I was last made redundant in the summer of 2020 and some poor sods had to clear my lockers in Sweden and the US and ship all the stuff back to me! The stuff in Sweden included things like my snow boots as my last visit had been in February due to Covid.

Cheery_Daff

rtandon27 said:

Hotdesking is utterly rubbish! I'd be livid if I lost my desk/storage!

I'm annoyed but there's so much carp going on at work at the minute I'm just grateful i still have a job 🙄 But yes, it's ridiculous - but I suppose at least nobody's going to be ordering us into the office 5 days a week any time soon! 😂 

To be fair, it's been fairly rubbish since they split into 3 different buildings, and then added a whole other team based in a 4th building, so we don't feel particularly cohesive at the minute anyway, and lots of people, including me, work at home when they can, so I get the financial argument. But at least we do all have storage space atthe minute! 😂

Cheery_Daff

Oh, and I also didn't mention that current building closes this month, new one doesn't open til September 😂😂

KajiKita

Oh lummee .... That does all sound quite unsettling.

I wonder whether a wheelable mini briefcase would be an idea for storing / containing / moving / but still having to hand the "stationery, emergency stashes of painkillers/toiletries, whiteboard pens etc"? 

KK

beanielou

Cheery_Daff said:

Oh, and I also didn't mention that current building closes this month, new one doesn't open til September 😂😂

So what do you do between now and September 🤔

rtandon27

@Cheery_Daff - I work both from home & the office but much prefer the office, I also work on the train, so tote about a mini-desk of sorts with notepads, pencil case, laptop, adaptors & emergency battery for charging phones.  At least work provides me with unlimited data so work phone can be turned into a mobile hotspot.  Working on the train is the worst as it can be so uncomfortable and have to pay attention as to what I have up on the screen as fellow commuters are often nosey.  After years of this, there is work I do at home, work I do in the office & work for the train - that way I only have to cart around paperwork at year-end!

beckstar1975

delurking to slightly out myself -I work for a London uni where all the admin staff (nearly 1.5k) have been moved to a commercial rented building to hotdesk. Apparently it's to save our carbon footprint but smacks of dodgy PFI style accounting to me. If the space was going to improve the student experience then fine, just we'd rather be told it though! We do at least have lockers though - like you I need to have spare clothes/painkillers/supplies so it was a 'reasonable adjustment' they made for me that they ended up doing for everyone due to pushback.

And yes, for the first fortnight most Teams meetings fizzled out half way through as people's laptops ran out of charge - the reception now keeps many spare laptop chargers for this very purpose!

Baileys_Babe

KajiKita said:

Oh lummee .... That does all sound quite unsettling.

I wonder whether a wheelable mini briefcase would be an idea for storing / containing / moving / but still having to hand the "stationery, emergency stashes of painkillers/toiletries, whiteboard pens etc"? 

KK

I was going to suggest a wheeled suitcase, specially kept as your office. These can often be found in charity shops for a reasonable price.