Did I just hear you say our colleague is handing in her resignation??

One of the best parts of my workplace is that it promotes flexible working. Except on a Monday and a Thursday, when it is compulsory for everyone to come to office, just so that everyone can see everyone and talk to one another, on rest of the days, most of  my colleagues work from home. Among the 40 people in my team, on a day other than a Monday and a Thursday, only 6 people turn up to the office. I am one among them as I don’t like working from home. Because we are such a small number in the office, it is a nice environment as everyone just gets on with their work and lets others get on with their work and you know, the other equally important things such as orkuting, facebooking, tweeting, blogging etc etc!!! It is a quiet and peaceful environment.

That is only until something like today happens….I had lost my internet connection. After initial fiddling up with the PC, soon I realised that the ethernet cable was dislocated. Perhaps, when the cleaners were hoovering the office last night, inadvertently they would have caused the cable to dislocate. I got under my desk to put the cable back in its place. But, because of the numerous other cables there- one for PC mains, speakers, docking station, ete etc ….I did not realise where this particular cable was meant to be connected ….I ended up sitting under the desk trying to locate the right place for this cable and in the process, I dislodged two other cables…..so now the scene was me sitting under the desk looking puzzled with three cables that needed fixing back, not knowing how to put them back in their right places….It may sound dumb to you…but if you take a look under my office desk you will realise my plight…

Anyway…. finding my chair empty (totally unaware that I was under the desk), my colleagues L and M assumed I must have popped out to answer nature’s call. They decided this was the best time for some office gossip that they didn’t want me to listen….they began talking about our colleague K…what was I supposed to do then? Come out from under my desk and ask them to stop? Make some noise so that they are aware I am present? May be next time I find myself in that situation (mind you, I don’t go and sit under my desk often! but just in case the stupid cable got dislodged again) I think I will put a post on my cubicle saying that I can be found under my desk!! Yeah, right….that won’t make me look crazy!

Finally, I decided to stay under the desk for some more time and let them continue their gossip. Thanks to L and M for filling me in (albeit unknowingly) that K is planning to hand in her resignation as she is not able to cope up with the job pressure! I sympathise with K...she has had a hard time.

After few minutes, L and M decided that it was high time they got back to their desks and did some work. I had no luck in putting the cables back in place. Eventually, I gave up and sneaked back to my chair without letting L and M notice me do that. I got the IT guys to fix my internet connection for me later.

So- if you find your colleague away from his/her desk and you decide that is the appropriate time for some gossip with another colleague - don’t forget, people do work from under the desk (if their cables dislodge) and can hear you!!!!!! HUSH!

http://blog.blogadda.com/2010/11/09/blogs-democracy-obama-women-suicides-parenting