I have two part-time office jobs, and one of the issues I have to deal with is shared and/or inadequate work space. “Artistic temperament” aside, I am actually an organized worker — and I adhere to some pretty minimalist standards for my workspace.
For instance, here is my desk at Job #1.
I took this photo right when I walked in the door on a Monday morning. The desk is clear and ready for work. Everything to the right of the pencil sharpener is my space.
Here’s a closer look.
See how tidy everything is? Adding machine, stapler, tape, tissues, calendar, weird albino rat under the monitor. (There’s also a stained glass heart hanging under the window — it’s not an inhuman workspace. I have tchotchkes.) I stopped using a pen cup years ago, because people tend to view these as public property and will take your writing utensils at whim. I keep my supplies in a drawer: one mechanical pencil, one black pen, one red pen, one click eraser, one Sharpie, and one highlighter. I absolutely don’t need anything else. There are also binder clips and paper clips in my drawer, along with a legal pad and a single square of sticky notes. The second drawer is for work in progress, and the third drawer is where I keep my backpack.
Everything has a place, it’s easy to access, and there’s nothing extra I don’t use. It’s pretty close to perfect. I admit that the paper storage issue is a non-issue here — the office is paperless, and the only paper I deal with is either scanned and shredded or returned to clients.
I have had trouble with temps using the desk during tax season, though — but only because the desk was so reliably neat they thought no one actually used it.
So, you know, you might think that my inherent anal qualities might object to the mismatched furniture, or something like that. I don’t really care about that in this case. So what’s the issue?
Well, here is the other side of the room.
See that tiny bit of grey countertop to the right by the chair? That’s the end of my desk.
I used to share this space with another employee. Here’s where her desk used to be.
Chaos. I work in chaos. I think my intense neatness is partially a response to work environments just like this — because this is not the messiest place I’ve worked. It’s not even the messiest place where I currently work. I cannot post pictures of that workspace, because it sort of makes me want to cry.
And there’s a little window into my workday for you…
