If you ever walk into City Hall, you’re in the lobby. It’s a nice lobby. There are really about five options you have in that lobby.
- An empty conference room.
- A hallway to the other end of city hall
- A set of heavily windowed double-doors
- A deeply recessed, almost hidden, door
- My office door (which is usually open)
I know this might come as a huge shocker, but the receptionists are located behind the heavily-windowed double doors. Crazy, huh? Look. I’ve been in this office for a month or so now… and nary a day goes by that I don’t interact with a dozen members of the community who all insist on asking me questions. I’ve decided that if I act chipper and happy to see them and then answer their question, there’s no incentive for them to leave me alone and let me work. So I’ve begun working on my “What the hell do you want?”, “Are you a damn moron?”, and “Please die now.” looks. Not that I didn’t have these looks before, mind you, but they’re getting better.
One of the most common questions I get is: “Where can I get an application for ______?” This one I can actually understand, not that it makes it any less annoying, because… hell… I guess I could be the HR guy (not really). I generally try not to be too bitchy when people ask for applications. Especially not if they’re hot, which they rarely are, but every once in a while I want to be like “Oh, I’ve got a job for you. No application necessary… but there will be a brief interview. Under my desk.”
I also get a lot of questions about paying speeding tickets, picking up accident reports, and the like. Hello? You do those things at the police department which you have the address for. This big ass road that you had to turn off of to get to the City Hall parking lot? That is McFarland Boulevard. Say it with me… Mc… Far… Land… Boul… e… vard. Your ticket clearly states that the police station is on 26th… so, no, this is not the police station. You might also have noticed the startling absence of uniformed officers here… this is, again, because the police station somewhere else. Now go away.
But by far the most annoying thing I get asked… “Where do I go to renew my tag?” It pisses me off just thinking about the question. Why? Well, remember the hallway? Would you like to know what is protruding out into the hallway above one of the doors? A sign. Would you like to know what the sign says? It says… “TAG RENEWALS“… when people ask that question I really want to look at them and say “Well, do you see that sign right down there *points* that says ‘TAG RENEWALS’? Well, you’re never going to guess what they do down there…”
I swear to Paris… I’m going to kill someone.
you’re so funny, and dirty.. which makes you funnier
maybe close your door? then less people would come wandering your way? (and it’d also be easier when you hold those private interviews).. unless you secretly love the attention
I don’t want to adjust my work habits for idiots. I’d rather just be rude to them.
OK… why in the name of Yoda is your office in the front like that… most “tech geek” offices are buried in the back closets!
Know I not. Crazy it is.
I sympathize… my old office was in a huge factory building with about 10 tenants. They all had different entrances in weird locations, and for the most part I didn’t know who they were, what they did, or how to find them. But our office was on the 1st floor, at the main entrance. So we became the unofficial ‘information desk’. Really freakin annoying.
When I worked at the Front Desk of http://www.grandlakelodge.com all I did was answer stupid questions from stupid tourists all day long. Oh, and get yelled at for stuff I had no control over.
The men’s bathroom was on the front porch, and there was a huge sign hanging above the door to the porch, and on the front of the front desk, explaining where the men’s bathroom was. But I promise you these signs might as well not have been there. Asking me was much easier than going to the trouble to read words - even if they were in english. Maybe it was the altitude. In Colorado you can blame everything on the altitude.