The office panorama

The view from my office window. Pretty neat, huh? Of course, I've cropped off the part of the view that includes the dingy Golden Mile Complex carpark and what appears to be a makeshift outdoor storage area for some workers. That strange little white-&-black object in the lower right hand corner is apparently the laundry of the aforesaid workers hanging out to dry....and appears to include some underpants.

My office has had the 'privilege' of being right next to the Nicoll Highway collapse site. Right before I joined the company, Francis (my boss) told me that one day they were suddenly told to evacuate the building, though he had no idea why. He later found out it was because of the collapse on the highway that day. During that time, if you'd looked for my office in www.streetdirectory.com, you would have been pointed to a spot within a circle labelled "Accident Site"! But that also meant that if you'd travelled along Beach Road outside the office for the next six months after 5pm, you would've been trapped in horrible traffic.

Today, someone visiting the office commented, "Oh, it's quite nice and cosy, isn't it?" Whenever I hear that tone, I can't help but think that what that person really means is, "My, I never thought your office was so tiny." Each time someone waltzes in, gapes for a moment and then comments on the 'cosiness' of the place, you marvel at how polite people can be and yet be just as annoying as if they'd made a tactless comment.

My company's little workspace occupies a studio-apartment sized unit in InCity Lofts, a building that has based itself on a "live and work" concept, meaning that its units can be used as apartments to live in or small offices. This is perfect for our little outfit of five people, two of whom are hardly ever in the office (the sales gurus who bring in the moolah). We hope to move into the bigger unit next door when (and if) we expand. The next door unit is quite lovely, and includes two separate bedrooms (that can be converted into more 'private' working areas...*rubbing hands in glee*) and a kitchenette.

It's small, but quite pleasant in general. The ceilings are high, and there's a loft-like space above our huge wall cupboard. But to date, no one has brought in a ladder yet, so that space is not doing very much. It gets pretty dim too, since most of our natural light is obscured by Golden Mile Complex next to us. Even with the room lights switched on, it's pretty dim. The desk lamps don't do much except irritate my eyes. Our furniture almost entirely comprises Ikea stuff, right down to the letter holders.

There's an odd yet interesting phenomenon among the tenants here. Whenever a person is alone in the lift, and the lift stops at any floor other than the desired floor, the person will start to walk out without checking which floor it is, and look utterly shocked when someone else enters the lift. I've done that myself quite a few times! I guess everyone's so used to having few people around to share the lifts with. But it's still priceless to see the look on someone's face when they start to walk out of the lift and then have that OH!! expression when they see you walking in.