Entering the office shed: a lengthy endeavor

My workplace has a shed outside. Before my boss left for the day (and a one week vacation), one of the things he told me to do was to put a box in the shed. It is locked.

Getting the key: 40 minutes
Getting the box and putting it in the shed: 2 minutes
Returning the key: 5 minutes
A funny story: timeless!

Why did it take so long, you ask? I was waylaid by coworkers. I went into the Admininistration building, and one of the other interns said she was bored, so she talked to me for about 20 minutes. I then escaped to find the person who might actually lead me to the shed, who talked to me for another 20 minutes about her dogs, the lighting situation in the front parking lot, et cetera. After I got the key, I put the box in the shed and came back with the key. After a few minutes of trying to cut into a conversation between three coworkers (one of whom being the lady from whom I had gotten the key), I was noticed and returned the key.

It's not that I don't like them; it's quite the opposite in fact - but why can't (my) coworkers just let me walk by? It seems like every time I pass by someone, they have to tell me several "important" things.

:shrug:

Any other stories?

Do you work for .gov? Every time I was down at one of my state customer locations I would have to walk past the copy room and the copy lady would always want to start a conversation. For those that don't know what a copy lady is, she is the lady who sits in the copy room waiting until someone needs a copy made then you hand her the papers and she makes the copies since the state workers union forbids anyone else from making a copy except for the designated copy person.

Yeah, I'm in a junior college. I really have fun there; I was just exasperated that it would take so much time to complete such a simple task. I just thought I'd walk in, get a key, put the box in the shed, return the key, and be back at CPF within five minutes. It just took longer than I possibly could have forseen. :laughing:

LOL, great story. My first desk job was doing telephone tech support for a software company. I was 21 and was still young and dumb enough to have a good work ethic. ;-) Most of my nine-to-five was spent at my desk, on the phone answering questions. Whenever I went to the mini-kitchen to get some water (all that talking was hard on the throat) I'd notice a bunch of the old guy standing around badmouthing their job, their boss, their wives, etc.

About this time I noticed the Dilbert cartoons in the newspapers that I read during lunch, especially the parts where people would gather 'round the water cooler. It was almost exactly like my office. Those Dilbert cartoons hit the nail directly on the head for me back then.

TigerhawkT3 said:

but why can't (my) coworkers just let me walk by? It seems like every time I pass by someone, they have to tell me several "important" things.

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because you stop and listen.

TigerhawkT3 said:

I went into the Admininistration building, and one of the other interns said she was bored,

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So you say, "I can help you out there!" and hand her the box and tell her to put it in the shed and walk back to your office!

-john

eebowler said:

because you stop and listen.

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That's extremely true. I know that I could've interrupted and excused myself to continue work, but that just seemed so discourteous at the time.

Next time, though... :devil:

John N said:

TigerhawkT3 said:

I went into the Admininistration building, and one of the other interns said she was bored,

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So you say, "I can help you out there!" and hand her the box and tell her to put it in the shed and walk back to your office!

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That would've been so awesome!

I actually did offer her some extra work breaking down cardboard boxes, but she said she had to stay at her desk.

I think it means that your co-workers see you as an approachable and knowledgable person. Those are good qualities; bask in the praise.

PhotonWrangler said:

I think it means that your co-workers see you as an approachable and knowledgable person. Those are good qualities; bask in the praise.

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I feel special now.