the ocean

There are very few drawbacks to my firm's recent office move. If there is one, however, it's how close my office now is to approximately a dozen admins and library staff, all of whom I feel must be watching me eating my sandwich and dropping mayonnaise everywhere through the glass walls of my new space. And because there is literally two feet between my office and the nearest cubicle, I am generally quite careful to close the door when I'm on the phone or in a meeting, since no one really needs to hear me ordering ear medication for my dog. That does not, however, prevent my secretary (who is the boss of me) from demonstratively marching over and shutting my door any time I don't manage to get it done myself.

The first time this happened, she waited until I was off the phone and reprimanded me, adding insult to injury by referring to me as "Mr. Jay." I was so caught of guard that I found myself making excuses, noting that I had not been expecting the phone to ring and that my phone cord did not reach all the way to the door. The result of this, of course, was that my secretary ordered me a wireless headset. Her convenience is of course paramount.

The other day, though, she tried her door shutting maneuver on a relatively senior partner, which did not go nearly as well for her. I'm not sure she'd ever before been forced to consider that she might not be at the very top of our office org chart. Not that this will change anything, of course. I'm still living in fear of her calling me out again for leaning on her credenza or not saying "hello" to her in a cheerful enough tone of voice.