Office Space

 I moved into my new office today. It made me happy. Including the boss, we have ten people in our engineering group. There are only five glass front offices available. The offices don't give you much privacy or sound deadening, but they are an improvement over the cubicles the rest of the group uses along with the quality group.

I have waited five years for two people to quit and two people to retire in our group for me to have enough seniority to have an office. 

My coworker quit because she was tired of the long drive to work. Many of us are. She has not been happy for a long time and she finally quit.  She did not have a new position lined up and they didn't try to accommodate her. I am not surprised by the owner's decision not to negotiate. He is a lot like 45. He can never admit he is wrong or out of touch.

I knew my boss, the engineering manager, was debating who would get this office, despite the fact the other offices were given out by seniority when we first moved into this building.  I saw him eyeing the cubicles, trying to come up with some compromise for me so he could give the office to another program manager with less seniority.

I went into his office and confronted him. I asked him what he was thinking. When he said he was debating what to do with the office. I said, "I have been waiting five years to get an office."

"The offices were not assigned strictly by seniority," he replied.

"They certainly seemed to be when we first moved in here," I knew just by the way he was acting the previous few days this would not be straightforward.

"I may not be an expert at any of these products, but I can do any job in here and you wouldn't have to worry about it getting done. That is what I am good at." 

He agreed. I have always molded myself as a jack-of-all-trades expert at none. I fill in where ever I needed. I have had more different assignments than anyone else in the office over the last five years. Many in the group have had the same assignments for years. I feel if there was a need to fill in for any of the others, I have enough experience to fill in quickly.

"If I don't get that office. I will not be happy," I finished with.

I don't feel I was out of line. Though my last statement could be taken as a threat, it was a fact. This conversation occurred Friday. Ironically, my boss worked from home Monday and Tuesday. Today he called to tell me I could move into the office.