Call me unconventional, call me spoiled, call me young, whatever you want to call me, I'm really not too concerned. Lately, I've noticed that I do things a bit differently that the rest of my office, and I'm beginning to think that they look at me differently for it. Not a good different, but a "gee, I wonder what that thing is" kind of different.
Example 1: My iPod. It's my bestest friend at work. When I'm sitting at my desk, I've got my earbuds in and my iPod on, unless I'm on the phone or talking with a co-worker. This was apparently a ghastly thing to do when I first started here. The gall! But as I've explained to people over and over again, my job involves mostly interfacing with my computer. The office is usually eerily quiet, which is a huge distraction for me. I'd much prefer to listen to music or podcasts while I'm working, and it actually increases my productivity. However, I was told at one point that I couldn't wear headphones at work but I could instead bring a personal radio to play on my desk. Given the nature of my office and their status symbols, it wasn't long before everyone had personal stereos on their desks, which turned out to be a Very Bad Thing. Shortly after, we were allowed to wear our earbuds again, and I haven't turned back since, but I still get gruff for it from time-to-time.
Example 2: Shoes. I don't wear them at my desk. Yeah, I know this sounds a bit weird, but I'm just not too comfortable in my shoes. So I kick them off when I'm sitting at my desk. This is apparently another affront to my offices' sensibilities as I've had the dress code conveniently placed on my desk overnight more than once. No one has ever confronted me directly on it, but more than a few people have made casual "jokes" about my lack of footwear while seated. The bottom line though? I'm comfortable and I work better when I'm comfortable. I'm not running around pantless or showing off anything erogenous, so they'll just need to get over it.
Example 3: This goes with #2. I don't keep a trash bin at my desk. Correction, I do keep a trash bin at my desk, but I don't use it for trash. It's currently flipped over and serving as my personal foot stool. Again, it's all about the comfort. Any trash I have I walk over to the trash bin in the break room at toss it there.
Example 4: My flash drive. A while back, the company decided to cap the size of emails being sent. That meant that I could no longer take screen shots and email them as I had been doing (my preferred tactic for showing someone their errors). In comes Portable Apps, a suite of Apps that includes a great little screen capturing app and PDF separator/compiler, as well as many other apps. I was originally chided by my superior for it because it was against some policy she was sure we had but could not find anywhere. But after she saw that I could send screen shots again (something she was even more fond of then I), and that I could easily manipulate PDF files, she stopped complaining. She's even asked if I can "get her one," to which I say sure but just never do.
All these things combined make me look rebellious, I suppose, in the eyes of the ancient Methuselah overlords. The are looked down upon on occasion, but I just laugh at it all. Why, they say, would I need additional software to do my job? IT should be able to provide it all! Yeah, I'm sure they could, but is it really worth the hassle of submitting requests and filling out forms justifying why I need a particular program if I can get a portable, free ware version of it?
Honestly, it doesn't bother me too much. People may look at me weird and think I'm a bit odd, but there really is a reason I'm the youngest person on my team by several years. I love being almost 28 and still being "that young kid."
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