Office quirks

Just when I thought it wasn't possible to love my job anymore, things got all switched up and I'm loving it more than I could have imagined. Rather than spend 9-5 in the office, I get to help out with the new class of Dreamers in Boulder from 3-5 with the after school program. Now I get the chance to connect with the kids on a pretty intense level. I'm always amazed by things they say and do. Plus, I get to play Groundies every day. Booyah.

After about a month of working here at "I Have a Dream", I'm finally starting to understand all the quirks of the office as well as personalities of my co-workers.

Being a non-profit, a lot of our computer equipment and other office supplies often stop working abruptly. I've learned to just let that happen and deal with it patiently.

Our Central Office is pretty small with only 5 full time employees and 4 Americorps members, each with their own office. While I prefer to get up and go talk to people in their offices when I have a question, I've learned that others prefer to call the person on the phone (regardless of their proximity to the other person's office) and others prefer to just yell at the person so the whole office can hear. That one always makes me laugh.

I'm pretty sure someone stole my stapler my second day in the office. I still haven't said anything, in case I'm hallucinating and I never had a stapler to begin with. Plus I don't want to become the office Milton.

I'm super psyched for office pranks and am already coming up with some good ideas.

My new pet peeve is when people walk by my office and talk at me through my window. There is a door on the right hand side and then a floor to ceiling window on the lefthand side, so basically there isn't much of a wall there because it's all see-through. Rather than stand at my door and talk to me, some co-workers prefer to stand at the window and talk to me, even though there is glass in between us. Not only can I not hear them very clearly, there is a glare from the windows behind me that shine on the window by the door which means I usually can't see them very well either. It doesn't annoy me enough that I need to say anything, so I'll just live with it for now.

I have a very clear view from my desk of the office candy dish. This can be challenging sometimes because the candy is constantly calling my name, begging me to take a piece. It's also very funny because I get to watch all the other people in the office who walk by a take a piece. Some people go there specifically for the candy, others pretend like they're on some other important mission, and happen to walk by the dish. I know what they're really after though.