working in an office

Green Mile · 08-01-2015 1:51pm

I have the option to work from home or the office. I have only worked from home once when I was as sick as a plane to Lourdes. I don’t think I’d like to work from home, I like routine and I think if I worked from home, my right biceps would be larger than they are now and tissue expenses would skyrocket.

Magico Gonzalez · 08-01-2015 1:55pm

Working in an office when you are busy enough to fill the hours in your day with a task that isn't too repetitive is OK.

If you haven't enough to do the internet starts to suck the life out of you and you end up spending your days online arguing with strangers and dreaming about impractical path to poverty entrepreneurial schemes.

KungPao · 08-01-2015 1:56pm

It's nice in the winter, all warm and supping a nice cup of tea while the cold rain lashes off the window.

However, all the collections and silly celebrations and forced fun is tedious. As is the obliged 'good morning' or 'hi' every time you pass someone.

The worst is when you are having a smoke or preparing your tea/coffee, and somebody starts chatting to you about dull work stuff.

ChopShop · 08-01-2015 1:57pm

MadsL wrote: »

The days pass in a blur of boards, facebook, reddit and staring out the window.

You'll love it.

You have a view?

All there is out my window is a sea of breezeblock and pebbledash .

kfallon · 08-01-2015 2:01pm

KungPao wrote: »

It's nice in the winter, all warm and supping a nice cup of tea while the cold rain lashes off the window.

However, all the collections and silly celebrations and forced fun is tedious. As is the obliged 'good morning' or 'hi' every time you pass someone.

The worst is when you are having a smoke or preparing your tea/coffee, and somebody starts chatting to you about dull work stuff.

Don't forget people bringing in their newborn babies too.....like I give a fúck :rolleyes:

You mostly end up working with twats and geebags, the kind of people you'd have nothing to do with in the 'real' world. However, if you worked in an office of 200 people you will invariably find 4 or 5 'gems' of people that you will remain friends with for a long, long time. For that, it's worth the facade of having to put up with the cúnts who do your head in!

Magico Gonzalez · 08-01-2015 2:04pm

KungPao wrote: »

However, all the collections and silly celebrations and forced fun is tedious. As is the obliged 'good morning' or 'hi' every time you pass someone.
.

Where I am at the minute (obviously not Ireland) there can be HR issues if you don't formally greet people in the morning with the customary kiss/air peck on the cheek. I've seen it happen.

I play the Jonny Foreigner card and ignore them.

kfallon · 08-01-2015 2:06pm

Magico Gonzalez wrote: »

Where I am at the minute (obviously not Ireland) there can be HR issues if you don't formally greet people in the morning with the customary kiss/air peck on the cheek. I've seen it happen.

I play the Jonny Foreigner card and ignore them.

Try to 'introduce' a finger in their hole while you are at it, they won't ask you to do the whole 'kiss cheek' thing again!

Then again you'll prob get the sack too....but worth the risk!

mariaalice · 08-01-2015 2:07pm

kfallon wrote: »

Don't forget people bringing in their newborn babies too.....like I give a fúck :rolleyes:

You mostly end up working with twats and geebags, the kind of people you'd have nothing to do with in the 'real' world. However, if you worked in an office of 200 people you will invariably find 4 or 5 'gems' of people that you will remain friends with for a long, long time. For that, it's worth the facade of having to put up with the cúnts who do your head in!

Sound very like secondary school!

Magico Gonzalez · 08-01-2015 2:08pm

kfallon wrote: »

Try to 'introduce' a finger in their hole while you are at it, they won't ask you to do the whole 'kiss cheek' thing again!

Then again you'll prob get the sack too....but worth the risk!

I've absented myself from the whole tradition by refusing at the first fence on day one. First person leant in for a nosh of my cheek and i ducked them like Muhammed Ali.

I'm the weird foreigner in the office, stared at and ignored mostly !

KungPao · 08-01-2015 2:17pm

kfallon wrote: »

Don't forget people bringing in their newborn babies too.....like I give a fúck :rolleyes:

You mostly end up working with twats and geebags, the kind of people you'd have nothing to do with in the 'real' world. However, if you worked in an office of 200 people you will invariably find 4 or 5 'gems' of people that you will remain friends with for a long, long time. For that, it's worth the facade of having to put up with the cúnts who do your head in!

Or the oddball jobsworth who comes into the office on his ****ing time off to have a chat! **** off! Is this place your entire life?

kfallon · 08-01-2015 2:25pm

mariaalice wrote: »

Sound very like secondary school!

Without the wedgies :pac:

WesternZulu · 08-01-2015 3:02pm

I like working in an office but I have slowly realised that everyone and anyone annoys me when I am trying to get work done or hold concentration.

I dream of the day where I have an office of my own.

Jawgap · 08-01-2015 3:12pm

kfallon wrote: »

Don't forget people bringing in their newborn babies too.....like I give a fúck :rolleyes:

A former colleague - and still good friend of mine - used to refuse to put in to the collections that went around when someone had a kid.......

......her logic was that it was just congratulating them for having sex!

Dr.Winston O'Boogie · 08-01-2015 3:17pm

Just on the point of working out in the sticks. I commute outside of Dublin each day, about a half hour drive, now its against the rush hour traffic as you are heading out of town so only takes about half an hour, which is at least half the time I would be sitting on a manky sweaty bus stuck in traffic with all the other drones if I was heading into town. I blare the tunes in my warm car going in and out of work, having a great old time. Park right outside the offfice so never have to worry about weather. So in that respect its far better than town.

I agree options for lunch are very limited, but you can look on this as a money saver. To be honest I don’t mind that much, just make my own lunch and read a book or something. Flying through loads of books I have always wanted to read right now, whereas when in town I used to just waste entire lunch breaks in shops etc. I did used to work in town up until recently and the option to get stuff done as you are close to everything is what I miss the most. Other than that to me it’s all pretty much the same.

The social life actually is another now I think of it, but I am at the stage now in my life where that would have been on the backburner anyway having become a father recently.

eviltimeban · 08-01-2015 3:18pm

If you ignore all the birthdays and collections you can have a happy office life.

Or signing birthday cards. A boss I used to have would always write "ignore them all" on someone's birthday card (responding perhaps to the usual "now you're old ha ha ha" comments that people would write). One card went around so I wrote "ignore them all" on it before the boss could. I don't know what his reaction was.

eviltimeban · 08-01-2015 3:19pm

Dr.Winston O'Boogie wrote: »

The social life actually is another now I think of it, but I am at the stage now in my life where that would have been on the backburner anyway having become a father recently.

Congrats. Julian or Sean?

ThisRegard · 08-01-2015 3:23pm

Jawgap wrote: »

I do miss the social aspect of working in an office.

Working from home, has it's advantages - 30 second commute, you save a fortune on lunches but waste it on heat - but it lacks the personal contact.

On the plus side I only need to put a shirt on when I'm teleconferencing and even then I can sit there in just my jocks and no one is any the wiser.

Same as myself, but our office is pretty barren anyway so might as well be at home alone than in an office alone. The lack of effort getting dressed in the mornings does make you feel like a bit of a scruff bag during the morning and evening school runs though when everyone else are wearing business attire.

Summer was fantastic though, open up the doors into the garden, every day wearing shorts and feeling like I'm working outside.

Dial Hard · 08-01-2015 3:31pm

kfallon wrote: »

You mostly end up working with twats and geebags, the kind of people you'd have nothing to do with in the 'real' world.

That's not limited to office jobs, though.

Seriously, anyone moaning about working in an office should read Cries of Retail and then get down on their knees and kiss the carpet tiles upon which their swivel-chair sits.

The Mulk · 08-01-2015 3:34pm

eviltimeban wrote: »

You're lucky alright, and I agree with the second paragraph. I wasn't rating them in order of preference, just listing them.

The best in fairness, is probably the IFSC / Quays option.

I'm down past the IFSC on the North Quays, it must be the biggest Sh1t hole around, we were originally just off Stephens Green and it was great.
There's one shop and one pub, although you could walk up to Mayor Square in about 20 mins.
It's amazing what you take for granted.
I worked on sites for 10 years and one great thing was if you were working in a bad location or the commute was a killer you knew it would change in about 6 months, now it's the prospect of being stuck here for the next 30 years:mad:
I'd prefer to be out in Citywest or Parkwest and gladly never work in the city centre again but that's solely due to commuting

Jawgap · 08-01-2015 3:35pm

ThisRegard wrote: »

Same as myself, but our office is pretty barren anyway so might as well be at home alone than in an office alone. The lack of effort getting dressed in the mornings does make you feel like a bit of a scruff bag during the morning and evening school runs though when everyone else are wearing business attire.

Summer was fantastic though, open up the doors into the garden, every day wearing shorts and feeling like I'm working outside.

One of the things I always (well nearly always

) do is shower shave and get dressed for work - even if it's jeans and a sweatshirt - just to get my head in the zone for working.

Only started from home last September, so I've yet to have the summer experience. My wife has done it for a number of years and she's already made it quite clear which bit of the garden will be hers when the summer rolls around.

eviltimeban · 08-01-2015 3:44pm

The Mulk wrote: »

I'm down past the IFSC on the North Quays, it must be the biggest Sh1t hole around, we were originally just off Stephens Green and it was great.
There's one shop and one pub, although you could walk up to Mayor Square in about 20 mins.
It's amazing what you take for granted.
I worked on sites for 10 years and one great thing was if you were working in a bad location or the commute was a killer you knew it would change in about 6 months, now it's the prospect of being stuck here for the next 30 years:mad:
I'd prefer to be out in Citywest or Parkwest and gladly never work in the city centre again but that's solely due to commuting

Yeah if you go past the IFSC that's pretty bad, but around the Docklands / IFSC is pretty good. I'm lucky that I'm 3 mins from the Dart station and equally close on the other end so commuting is a breeze. I get up to Grafton street easily and can go across to the IFSC to meet people for lunch.

I've worked in Parkwest / East Point / Walkinstown / but I would always choose city centre, D2 area now. The more variety around you, the better.

So, what do you look for in an office? Open plan? Groups of four desks together or single desks? Large office space, or smaller?

_Kaiser_ · 08-01-2015 3:53pm

So true about the big office parks. I worked in Ballycoolin way back when and there was nothing around it except more bloody offices - not even a shop! Hope it's improved at this stage.

Eastpoint wasn't quite as bad in that there was a decent pub in the middle that served nice food at lunchtime and even better drinks on Fridays

Sandyford is another one of those half-finished jobs with little in it but there is a coffee place and shop at least

ThisRegard · 08-01-2015 3:56pm

The Mulk wrote: »

It's amazing what you take for granted.

Indeed. I worked in the city centre ranging from Grafton Street to along the canal since the early 90s and only recently we moved to one of those small business parks in which is basically in the suburbs. Jeesus, depressing with nowhere just to walk to during lunch or after work, unless you have a penchant for Spar, Mace and builders providers.

I can now see the attraction of people going into "town" on a weekend just to take a stroll around.

Jawgap wrote: »

One of the things I always (well nearly always ) do is shower shave and get dressed for work - even if it's jeans and a sweatshirt - just to get my head in the zone for working.

I sacrifice that time for an extra few minutes in bed, or usually getting the kids ready as my wife would have left the house at that stage. I used to do all that stuff at lunch after a run but too busy these days so more often than not it happens in the evenings.

_Kaiser_ · 08-01-2015 3:57pm

eviltimeban wrote: »

So, what do you look for in an office? Open plan? Groups of four desks together or single desks? Large office space, or smaller?

I hate open plan. Our other office moved to that layout 2 years ago and it'd drive me mad sitting there all day with people walking by and being able to read over your shoulder (not that I'd be at anything but even still..). Plus the place is as lively as a morgue as everyone sits silently tapping away on their keyboards

Our current setup is the cube farms you mentioned but at least you can have a bit of craicv with the people you're beside (usually)

Me I have my own office which is nice when you need to take a call without everyone else overhearing or worrying about talking too loudly. Plus I have a great view of a lake

The Mulk · 08-01-2015 3:59pm

The building we're in is brand new, all open plan, generally 6 to a bay, it's very nice. We have parking because the majority of us drive for work so it's dealing with the quays and city centre for the majority of us.
At the moment it's very under developed but supposedly it will all change and the transport links aren't too bad.

I remember working in Ballycoolin when it was all a building site, a women used to come around in a van selling rolls she made at home, the a chip van set up and put her out of business. Although his cans of coke were always covered in grease and tasted like last weeks chips. Happy Days.

eviltimeban · 08-01-2015 4:35pm

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Eastpoint wasn't quite as bad in that there was a decent pub in the middle that served nice food at lunchtime and even better drinks on Fridays

I quite liked East Point actually. Something to do with being beside the sea I guess. Also it was quite close to my house so the commute was fine. My job at the time was field sales so I had to drive around and only go into the office when I wasn't doing meetings. Had a parking space so that was handy enough.

I remember the Red Cow during the bad times. One evening it took an hour to just cross the roundabout. It was awful.

Also, I think its funny when people on trains are referred to as "drones" - by people sitting in their cars in a row of traffic!

dx22 · 08-01-2015 4:46pm

Gongoozler wrote: »

For me it's a battle against your weight, as everybodies birthday, leaving, engagement, pregnancy, returning from holiday etc are celebrated with cake, biscuits, sweets, popcorn and chocolate. And then there's the random "we haven't had a birthday to celebrate in a week" sustenance boxes of roses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unxHTEdye2A

Egginacup · 08-01-2015 5:00pm

Green Mile wrote: »

I have the option to work from home or the office. I have only worked from home once when I was as sick as a plane to Lourdes. I don’t think I’d like to work from home, I like routine and I think if I worked from home, my right biceps would be larger than they are now and tissue expenses would skyrocket.

I "worked" from home for a while when I had a contract in Dusseldorf. This was my routine:

1. Wake up at 9, turn on laptop, start up email client, and messenger. Set status to "online".

2. Go back to bed

3. Wake up again at 10:30, check laptop for messenger alerts for requests to do something. If there were any, send back an acknowledgement that "I'm on it".

4. Get dressed at 11:00, packup laptop, head out to the bierkeller

5. Get to bierkeller find table in back where power socket is. Setup laptop, connect to wifi, launch vpn client and get back "online". Light cigarette.

6. 11:30 order first beer, read usual selection of online blogs, newspapers, boards, etc

7. Acknowledge a few emails.

8. Chat with barmaid.

9. 17:30, pissed as a newt, turn off laptop, go sit at bar and chat to Cristiana or Dee for a couple more hours.

10. Go home locked, go to bed, rinse, repeat.

Sounds great right? Fucking nearly killed me.

eviltimeban · 08-01-2015 5:10pm

Its a dangerous one alright. I used to do the same (without the beer or German girls). The trick would be to get in there early, and send your boss an email or leave him a VM BEFORE he got in - so it looked like you were on it early. So, you'd send something about 8am, then head back to bed, and maybe then by the time you get up he's replied. Buys you a bit of time in the morning!

nelly17 · 08-01-2015 5:17pm

Its bollox and its not the work that makes it bollox its the 'personalities', I've started working from home a lot more now and I'm way more productive and happier

working in an office

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