You are fresh out of college. You’re grades are decent, but not good enough to land a job with an office. You have to start at the bottom, and you’re ok with it. You just want a position in the career field of your major, with a company that has room to grow.
It takes most of the summer and multiple interviews, but you finally get hired. Your home for the foreseeable future is a 4’x5’ cubicle in a sea of the same. But again, you are ok with it. You realize you have to put your time in. You’re mostly thrilled just to be employed.
For the first week, another employee is training you. His cubicle is directly in front of yours, connected. He brings his rolling chair over to your desk. He teaches you the system on your computer. Just one week is all it takes to bring you up to speed.
But here’s the dilemma. This guy who trained you is constantly crashing your cubicle, like an uninvited party guest. He leans over the cubicle wall to talk about last night’s game or the new girl down the aisle. He rolls his chair over during breaks, and at lunchtime he eats at your desk. He usually gets something smelly from the food truck outside and puts the trash in your can. He’s always borrowing a pen or a stapler, and he never returns them. You have to get up and search through his mess of a desk to retrieve your supplies. Worst of all, you have been staying later and later to catch up on work, while he leaves right on time.
Are you ever going to be rid of this intruder? Does the boss see what’s happening and think you are just as guilty of slacking? Will you be stuck in that cubicle forever? How do you Callemonit?
