The drama level at work has been unusually high the last couple of weeks. Allow me to share some highlights (for obvious reasons I’m not using their names):
One afternoon Queenie, one of the ladies in payroll, had cross words with Sparky, our office admin. I was on the other side of the office doing invoices for the new company, and when I got back Queenie, Sparky, and the boss had all gone.
Toward the end of last week, there was a similar kerfluffle with Chalina, another of the payroll ladies. Again they got the boss involved. Again, I missed the details by virtue of being on the other side of the office at the time. I’m liking this new gig more and more.
(After this one, my quasi-supervisor went into the boss’s office and said, “Boss, I’m very annoyed with Bertha.” He gave her a horrified look. She laughed and said “Just kidding.”)
Now, all unintentional, I’ve gotten the drama going again. When I came in on Monday, someone had clearly been on the computer I use to log in to the new company’s books. Internet Explorer was open to some flash game site, the antivirus program had popped up a warning that it had intercepted a virus, and there was a piece of paper in the trash where someone had stamped all over it with my various business stamps (return address, check endorsement, etc.).
Obviously someone’s kid had been playing on the computer. I know sometimes one of the ladies will work over the weekend, and have to bring a kid along for lack of babysitting, so the kid will play games on another computer while she works. But I was worried about them playing on the only computer that has access to the new company, especially if they’re going to games that trigger malware warnings. I didn’t know whose kid it was, so I sent a note to the boss letting him know what had happened and what my concerns were. I figured he could just make a general announcement not to let the kids play on the company computers any more. (Don’t get me started about the policy on passwords for the computers.)
Instead, he told my supervisor lady to put a lock on the door to the office. There wasn’t a general announcement about it, so everyone else was surprised to see the new lock on the door, everyone is quietly asking each other what’s going on with the lock, Queenie thinks it was my supervisor’s idea and that it’s a personal statement on her trustworthiness (turns out it was her kid, who had always been allowed to play on that computer in the past and no one had mentioned that the policy had changed).
So this time I didn’t get to miss out on the drama, unfortunately. I guess instead of e-mailing the boss, I should have asked around to find out whose kid it was—although I was also concerned it might be a recently-fired employee.
For some reason I thought that an office with fewer than twenty employees would be less prone to drama. Shows you how little I know of the office world. And the new girl and I are just trying to keep our heads down and stay the hell out of it all.