Construction Everywhere

We found out this week that there’s some major work happening on our office floor, and that folks will be relocating desks soon. I wanted to capture just a historical photo of the old desks (that’s mine there, on the left), before we switched over.

I forgot to mention the enormous monitor I have to work with. My coworker Joe requested a nicer monitor, and IT Services brought over two of these guys – which was more than he needed. He offered me the other, and I balked given how comfortable I was with my single monitor… but since then, gave it a try, and have gotten used to it.

I still don’t think I need all that real estate, but I really do feel like I’ve gotten used to it.

The funny thing about all the construction at the office this week: all the plastic sheeting everywhere. It’s like this at my house, and now it’s like this at work. Construction work/life balance!

Though I was looking at those zipper things, and thinking: we need some of that! The mat on the ground has a super sticky substance, so that you’re not dragging drywall pieces everywhere, outside of the work area.

Another funny thing: rolls of platic sheeting by our desks. The conference room behind where I sit was basically demolished last night, and there’s a sheet of plastic about 5 feet behind my chair.

Given the added construction slated for tomorrow, everyone’s working from home. Which for me, is kind of a moot point, given all the construction progress at the house. Pretty funny, when you think about it.

There were a lot of the same moving boxes at Grubhub (though they were yellow), and it made me think of my early days at Emmis Interactive – and the various big moves that happened over the years. It’s funny, in that those big office changes felt like more of a big deal, back then.

Also, one of the first exposures I had to working from home resulted from the office renovation (circa 2005). At the time, remote work was a novelty – but something necessary, given the fact that our office was being worked on.

Today? No one even blinks at someone working from home. In fact, I’ve got several team members who work remotely – Dave in Detroit, Mark in the suburbs, Steven in Minnesota, and Luis in Ecuador. And we all coordinate with folks from NY, from time to time.

Ah, funny thing – I was going to say this was all before Slack. But I guess more accurately, I should have said this was during the era of Glitch.

Related:
Saying Goodbye to the Merchandise Mart
A Glitch in Slack