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Antiwork

Got chewed out at work for moving to a vacant desk with a window, because having a window is “above my position”.

This is after multiple discussions with my boss, albeit casual ones. I'm the admin assistant for a small office that has no dress code and has no visitors, but they had me set up at the reception desk when I first started working here 11 months ago during my trial period, which I was fine with. There are two vacant offices here and one of my coworkers recently swapped, from her “starter office” to the largest vacant corner office, and during the process there was discussion of me moving since I have no natural lighting at my desk and no thermostat, which led to me using a space heater all winter. My boss seemed casual about it and would chime in things like “I don't see why not,” which gave me the impression that it was fine to move and that she could care less. I'm the one who cleaned…


This is after multiple discussions with my boss, albeit casual ones. I'm the admin assistant for a small office that has no dress code and has no visitors, but they had me set up at the reception desk when I first started working here 11 months ago during my trial period, which I was fine with. There are two vacant offices here and one of my coworkers recently swapped, from her “starter office” to the largest vacant corner office, and during the process there was discussion of me moving since I have no natural lighting at my desk and no thermostat, which led to me using a space heater all winter. My boss seemed casual about it and would chime in things like “I don't see why not,” which gave me the impression that it was fine to move and that she could care less. I'm the one who cleaned out the larger office for my coworker and got everything set up for her, and when she moved into it I cleaned out her office too, and finally yesterday brought my stuff in. It was so nice to be out of the harsh overhead lighting, actually know what the weather is, be able to track the passing of time, have circulating air…

My boss is moving into a new waterfront home and working from home during the transition, and apparently yesterday after hours one of my coworkers emailed her to let her know that I had moved. This morning my boss sent me a furious email that if I “felt entitled to an office” I should have discussed it with someone (both her and the office manager were there during those conversations, but my coworker who moved offices seems to be the only person who remembers this besides me and is just as blindsided as I am). She said the office I moved into is the nicer of the two vacant ones (they look exactly the same to me) and “slated above my position”, and that if I were to receive an office it would be the “other” one, “but even that would warrant much further thought”. And of course, demanded that I go back to the reception desk immediately.

So yeah, here I am at the reception desk with a hook on it where they hang the bathroom passes, too much of a low-rank toadie to be worthy of a window or a fan. And that workspace will just sit empty, along with the apparently smaller and shittier one, which I also apparently am not deserving of. Hindsight is 20/20 and I should have checked with my boss before finally going through with the move because if I had I would have discovered this sudden onset amnesia, but because I didn't, I've been shown just how lowly I'm actually regarded… yeah, can't even lie, I shed some tears over the sheer humiliation of this. I came into work at peace with my job, now I fucking hate it.

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