Corporate “Seat-Savers”

My cubical walls are covered with post cards sent to me by my parents from their last visit to Colorado – one for every day they were there. These photos of mountain tops, ski areas, valleys, lakes, and narrow mountain roads take up the majority of my wall space. Also adorning my daily view is a trail map of the Mt Hood ski area, some pictures of old rusted pickup trucks set out in a field, an SCCA sticker (vintage 2002, circa my old Rabbit GTI racing days), and my “Corrado Classics 2007” calendar.

This is different from other cubicles/offices in the building, which typically include a poster of a Corvette and/or a 2-d wire drawing of a prototype part. The only thing my desk has in common with the others (and this is only recently) is a box filled with used diesel fuel soaked engine parts.

I purposely made the decision to decorate my cube so that it would appear occupied. I’m still the new guy here, with out a name plate, and when I pack up the lappy to go home at the end of the day the cube is essentially empty and appears un-occupied. This is a fast growing group that I’m in. Heck, Other New Guy (ONG) and I were two out of eight new hires that started June 1st. Thus by hanging things on the wall I’ve effectively made my claim in corporate “seat-savers.” This seat is taken, bitch!

ONG has not done this. His cube looks completely unoccupied when he’s out of the office. Today he was off for jury duty and I had someone ask me if this cube (his cube) was free. They asked in a way that didn’t make any sense though and it wasn’t until they’d left that I realized what the question was. So I’m guessing my response of, “uhhh, yeah” might not have been in ONG’s advantage. On a positive note it certainly would add some entertainment to his work day (he was complaining about being bored earlier this week) if he returns to find another new guy sitting in his cube. If you look at it that way – I’ve inadvertently done him a favor. You’re welcome ONG.