Jingle Jingle!

I don't think any working experience is truly complete without stories of a coworker that just doesn't seem to be "all there." I'm lucky with my current job... My desk is situated next to one of the most absent-minded people I've ever met.

My coworker doesn't make it into the office until 10. At the earliest. His presence is always announced by the jingling of keys when he's about 20 feet away from his office door. That's about how long it takes him to fish out the right key. I'm thinking he played the part of Filch in a previous job.

He seems to be paranoid, too... it's rare for him to keep his door unlocked. Or open. Even when he's in his office. I'm not quite sure what he thinks he has to hide from the rest of our division, but it must be something pretty good.

He is rarely in his office for more than an hour. I have no idea what sends him on his merry way so often... it's probably a mixture of meetings, catching up with scientists in other areas, or looking for more keys to add to his key ring. Oh, and going to the cafeteria to get food. This is one of his favorite daily activties. Both breakfast and lunch come from the cafeteria. Getting the food into his office, though, is still a very challenging task.

Then, there's the printing. The printer in my area is shared by 13 people. 99.99999% of all printing jobs are from this one coworker. And it isn't that everyone else rarely prints... it's mostly that he is printing documents at all times. Our printer runs out of paper daily, and ink weekly. He also has a tendency to print stuff and leave it on the printer for hours before going to pick it up. The skill I'm most impressed with is his ability to print when he's not in the office. I've heard the printer going at 9:30, and then half an hour later, he rolls into the office, grabs the stuff off the printer, and jingle-jingles into his office.



An accurate interpretation of his office thanks to all of his printing.

My favorite part comes at the ends of some work days. The door opens, he saunters out and closes the door behind him, making sure it's locked. After taking five steps away from his door, he remembers that he forgot something in his office. He returns to his office, checks the door again only to find that (surprise!) it's locked. He sighs (something that he does more often than regular breathing), reaches into his pocket, jingle-jingles his keys to find the right one, and re-enters his office to grab whatever is is that he forgot.

The moral of the story? Locking your office door during the day does nothing but cause problems.