What Happens Behind Closed Doors

My cat, Mikah, doesn't like it when the door is shut. Especially if he's on the outside and he knows I'm inside! He wants to be where the action is and see what is going on without him. He sometimes is even curious as to other random doors that he thinks might be shutting him out of something interesting. For example, he's meowed at the closet door before thinking it was just another door shut that he couldn't open. It must be frustrating to be a cat and not be able to open the door and see what is on the other side.

For my boss, however, what happens behind closed doors is some horrible nightmare apparently. Even though he can easily turn the knob and open the door and walk in, it makes him nervous that he can't see what is on the other side without making the effort to open the door. As I've described before, he's a bit of a control freak, and yesterday he almost made me lose it with his controlling behaviors.

So picture this: It's about 2 pm on Tuesday, super busy around the office for some reason (apparently every attorney known to man - especially asbestos attorneys - are freaking out now that Bush is back in office and Daschle was voted out because of the pending legislation that would put an end to asbestos lawsuits and set up a trust fund to pay the victims, something I personally think is an excellent idea after spending two years watching the unfairness of how payments are handed out in the court system although it could be a complication for me if I have no other job!) - so anyways, it's been busy lately! On top of the normal mounds of paper we receive, we also have the pleasure of dealing with a new set of rules and regulations in the state of Texas that are very unclear and that we are all having to learn as we go. Because of this (again think control issues), we were required to do this massive chart of our cases so that we can "track" the documents and information relating to these cases. So me and my office mates are sitting there trying to dig through our files and e-mails and paperwork to get this chart done. Let me also add that our entire office is cold like a freezer except our specific office. Sara said the maintenance guy told her that our office is not supposed to be that, it's supposed to be a file room and as such it only has one vent. Therefore, it stays warm year round which is good in the winter and kind of annoying at times in the summer but at least we can put on a fan and be happy. Anyways, so we have warmth whereas the rest of the office does not. So yesterday afternoon, I decided to shut the door to our office so that we could concentrate more (we already get to listen to the droning of the elevators which surround us on two of our three walls) and keep warm.

Apparently shutting the door is a crime. Our boss wanted to come in and talk to one of us about something work related and the door had locked when I shut it. We got up and opened it for him and he showed us how to fix it so it wouldn't lock. Then he muttered something about the door shouldn't be shut anyways and went on to talk to our office mate. I asked him what he said and he didn't answer so I didn't figure anything and moved on. After he left, I got up and shut the door again because it wasn't locked any more and I didn't see the problem. Personally, I believe I have the right to keep my office door shut if I want to. Other people around the office shut their doors with no one saying a word, but apparently this is not allowed for us.

Because wouldn't you know five minutes later, he comes bursting open the door asking if we thought he was kidding the first time. I explained to him that I thought he was objecting to the locking of the door and didn't know why we couldn't have the door shut. I explained our reasons behind having the door shut (warmth and concentration) and told him that I had seen other people's doors shut around the office. He said that we are to only have the door shut when we are on a private business meeting and that the rest of the time it is to remain open. I told him that I did not understand why it was a big deal and he just walked off in a huff leaving the door open.

I know this seems trivial probably to some of you that are reading this but when you've dealt with this man for almost two years, it was just about all I could take. I had to fight back the tears and concentrate on what I was doing in order not to lose it. Oh and might I add that about 5 minutes prior to the first door exchange, my desk broke yet again. My desk breaks about once a month and has been doing this for almost the past year. Apparently there is "nothing" that can be done except to screw it again and wait until the next time it breaks. So here I am typing sideways on my broken desk and I'm not even allowed to have the door shut to my own office. It was just about all I could take. I finally e-mailed and got someone to screw the desk back in so I could at least work for the rest of the day and finished up the stupid chart.

I came in this morning and found out that my boss will at least be gone the rest of this week as well as Monday so at least I can shut the door for a few days if I want to. And that gives me ample time to do some research to see what I can find out about issues in the workplace. ;) But I thought I would share with you all my little story so that you can be very very thankful that you aren't working at a place that worries about what happens behind closed doors.