I work in an office with a hot-desking policy. We are required to clear our desks completely at the end of each day and we have caddies and lockers to store our things.Thing is, we actually have more desks than people. So pretty much everyone sits at the same desk every day. Including me. Mainly because I am a creature of habit but also because I have to set up my seat height, desk height, and screen heights to a particular position to avoid neck and shoulder pain and it’s annoying to have to do this daily.
*I have been sitting at the same desk every day for 2 years.*A few days ago I came into the office in the morning and someone else’s belongings were on ‘my’ desk. Surprising, but not a problem – if someone arrived before me, they are perfectly entitled to take that desk.Except they didn’t arrive before me. They hadn’t come in yet. They left their belongings on the desk overnight and sauntered in one hour after me. The next day was the same. I came in to find their stuff on the desk but they were nowhere to be found until an hour later. So one day out of nowhere they just made the decision that the desk I had used for 2 years straight was now permanently reserved for them.
If this was any other person, it might be possible to just remind them that we do have a clear desk policy and they cannot leave items on desks overnight to claim them for the next day. Unfortunately, this person is a manager (not my manager, but A manager) and they are known for being a bit difficult to deal with. They are the kind of person that if I asked someone else what to do they’d say “Oh it’s her?…. yeah I think it’s best you let that one go”
So that’s it. I have to find another desk further away from the people I actually work with while she sits next to a bunch of people she doesn’t work directly with at all.
Grr.
