The more things change

Ever since I got this job the powers that be have been threatening to move us to a difference "space." I gather this happens a lot when you work for a large university. They shuffle. Still, it's been over three years and it hasn't happened so I'm not holding my breath. The current move date happens to be when I am gone on maternity leave, but to put that in perspective, we were supposed to move the last time I was on maternity leave, too.

I just got a look at the latest floor plan for our new offices. They have cut down on the number of offices we are getting that have windows. I don't have a window currently, so it shouldn't bother me that I'm not getting a window in the new office, either.

But here's the thing.

They (the crazy lady that "runs" the office and her hench-lady) decided that window offices needed to be assigned based on seniority. This works for them, because they've been here since the dawn of human-kind, and also if we decided to base it on productivity, they'd have to sit in the hallway.

In the end, I missed a window office by one. Because I was hired at the same time as this other guy. You might assume that that indicates that this fellow was more useful or have more responsibilities than me. BUT WHAT DID I JUST TELL YOU ABOUT OUR DECISION TREE AROUND HERE?

I understand that there are many people around the world who would be grateful for any office at all. People who work in cubicles who would weep with thanksgiving if presented with a full wall that connected to the ceiling. But we're not talking about those people. We're talking about me, a Project Manager, a Clinical Research Project Coordinator, if you will, losing out on a window office to a man who regularly wears Velcro shoes and pleated jeans. A man who has a permanent, "I'm confused," wrinkle between his eyes. A man who, while you are talking, will alternately (and repeatedly) squint and then widen his eyes as if to convince himself that you are, in fact, standing there asking him to "work." A man who has been taken off project after project until there is only one thing around here that he is trusted/allowed/asked to do.

And this man, who was hired, not EARLIER than me, but AT THE SAME TIME, has been granted the window office.

You know, I didn't pay that much attention to my mom when I was growing up, but I'm pretty sure I remember her repeatedly telling me, "Well, life is fair!" But, guys, she was wrong.