No room at the inn

Lest you think life is wine and roses for yours truly, here's a reality check. Out of 130+ employees in my office, only one of them seems to believe me when I say that we're essentially out of space. In the past year we've filled positions that didn't even exist 6 months ago. Our spacious 3 floors which has the false appearance of tons of open space is now filled to the gills. How?

Intern season. I'm planning on nearly 25 interns to be swarming my office in May. Every single workspace is claimed. Sure. It's empty now, but wait until May 1 and this place is going to look like a clown car. You'll open the door of a conference room and people will just tumble out. We're retrofitting an old office to be a work area for 4 people. The size of said office is smaller than my kitchen! (Which trust me, is small.) My boss and I spent yestereday afternoon discussing design plans and options for doubling people up in an office. Yeah, that's gonna go over well. "I have to share!!?"

It's not just interns, we're dealing with people from other offices hiring full time staff who only want to work in NYC. Look. If you interview for a job that is supposed to be in Oakland, CA, you don't work in NYC! Trust me, the commute is a bitch. We're dealing with staff members who interview and offer jobs to people HR doesn't even know about. And when we try to bring up the issue of "where is this person going to sit?" we're always told "oh you'll find space"! Oh really?? Where? The roof? I hear it's nice up there in July. Or our rat infested basement? Does that sound like a good place for a cubicle??

I think what's the most difficult part of all this is the feeling that no one is listening. My boss and I have been saying since last year we need to address the space issue. Yet we seem to be addressing it by ignoring it. Last week when an unnamed senior staff member jokingly said he sees a lot of empty offices, I had a breakdown!! (Although it was worth it when the guy realized I was in tears. Thank YOU acting classes!)

If this keeps up, we're gonna end up like the dudes in the picture, all jammed into a corner. One of them looks like he's staring intently at a stack of paper instead of a computer doesn't he? You laugh, but it could happen. We run out of space, why couldn't we run out of equipment?

We have so much important work that must be done and we need more staff to do it, but when you run out of space, what then? Does the work not get done? It can't. This is the earth we're talking about here. Do you stop your intern program so the space can be used for full time staff? Again, not gonna happen - our intern program is one of the most competitive and desired in the enviro world. And everyone loves free help. All the other floors in our building are held up in leases for the next 5-10 years since the powers that be blew the shot at getting the 15th floor last year. Yeah, still bitter about that one. But I have a blog and they don't so I get to talk about it. Oh wait. They do. Their blog is titled wetotallyblewourchanceatgettingthe15thfloor.blogspot.com


On the bright side, in less than 100 hours I'll be on a cruise. With no phone or internet access. The biggest problem I will have is whether SPF 45 sunblock is strong enough for my pale Scotch skin.