On office environments
Today, I am working out of the cute little independent bookstore/coffeshop that is about a block from my office. This is for several reasons:
1) In opposition to every stereotype I have ever held about any office, we do not have a central source of coffee. I have to come here everyday to get a cup everyday anyway, and this way I can switch to decaf before I get too twitchy.
2) Having lived above a coffeeshop for a whole year, I have conditioned myself to be highly productive in this environment.
3) There's natural light!
4) I need ambient noise to concentrate. The music here is generally good (right now, they're playing the Four Tops, earlier it was Andrew Bird, and AC Newman), and it's a happy middle ground between listening through headphones (too intense) and silence (when Sarah inappropriately sings to herself).
5) My editor works remotely, the managing editor is on vacation, and my supervisor is taking a mental health day.
6) Everyone that's left in the office is kind of... uninclusive? I don't want to make it seem too much like a teen movie about the new girl who didn't fit in right away, but everyone that's left at the office is sort of clique-y. Yesterday at work, they all openly discussed their plans to get together and make dinner and hang out. EVERYONE at the office was going. They literally talked over my desk about their plans, and no one bothered to invite either me or the other Americorps person in the office. I mean, not only did they not make an effort to include us, they made us feel pointedly discluded.
Also, the bookstore that I'm at has a section specifically for Boating Disasters. And that's great.
1) In opposition to every stereotype I have ever held about any office, we do not have a central source of coffee. I have to come here everyday to get a cup everyday anyway, and this way I can switch to decaf before I get too twitchy.
2) Having lived above a coffeeshop for a whole year, I have conditioned myself to be highly productive in this environment.
3) There's natural light!
4) I need ambient noise to concentrate. The music here is generally good (right now, they're playing the Four Tops, earlier it was Andrew Bird, and AC Newman), and it's a happy middle ground between listening through headphones (too intense) and silence (when Sarah inappropriately sings to herself).
5) My editor works remotely, the managing editor is on vacation, and my supervisor is taking a mental health day.
6) Everyone that's left in the office is kind of... uninclusive? I don't want to make it seem too much like a teen movie about the new girl who didn't fit in right away, but everyone that's left at the office is sort of clique-y. Yesterday at work, they all openly discussed their plans to get together and make dinner and hang out. EVERYONE at the office was going. They literally talked over my desk about their plans, and no one bothered to invite either me or the other Americorps person in the office. I mean, not only did they not make an effort to include us, they made us feel pointedly discluded.
Also, the bookstore that I'm at has a section specifically for Boating Disasters. And that's great.