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Another recent thread reminded me of this one.
A long time ago I worked in an office where each day one person had to see the customers walking in, one caught up on their paperwork, all the others saw appointments. The appointments had proper rooms, the people being seen for the first time were just seen at a desk that was partioned off from the main room. The customers would come in the door to the room, and there was a desk in this partioned off corridor. We could walk straight down into the main room when we weren't seeing customers, but when the worker was at the desk anyone else was prevented from walking through (and the staff used a different door).
3 problems with this.
1) When you were doing paperwork you got disturbed by the noise of someone else working with the customers (and it could get noisy). I always hated listening to my colleague run the session much more than doing it myself. I can stick up for myself but she got a lot of abuse from customers when having to uphold our stupider policies.
2) Sometimes people felt a bit uncomfortable talking there because it wasn't wholly private.
3) Children.
Inattentive parent + busy adviser + small child = small childwandering into the main office.
The main office was fairly large (maybe 7 desks, whole lot of storage, kitchen area, emergency exit with fire escape, 3 other offices off). You couldn't see all of it from any one place, and normally there'd only be one person sitting there having their "quiet" day.
So on top of getting to hear my poor colleague (a really sweet woman) bullied while I was trying to do my paperwork, I also got to return all the lost children. While I insisted the parents, you know, actually parented, and told the children they couldn't go through, she was too unassertive.
So one day I'm sitting there and this little boy of around 3 walks past. I stop him and explain he has to go back to his (peers over divider and takes a guess) mother. He toddles off. He returns a couple of times just to look at me and grin, I grin back. He walks right back, I say hello again and this time take him back to his mother and ask her to keep hold of him.
2 minutes later I see him again, but I'm on the phone. I think I'll take him back as soon as I'm finished.
6th sense makes me turn right around just as he picks up the large bread knife from our kitchen area, and I have to drop the call to go and take it from him.
The mother didn't let him out of her sight after that...
Bonus - small child theft
At the same place we had a customer with a little boy who had a bit of a thing for stationary. He was also around 3 or 4, and after a long interview with his parents they stood up to go - checked the bag they had brought with them and returned my stapler and hole punch
As a stationary junkie myself I couldn't be angry, and neither apparently could his parents. He took it very well when told he couldn't have them, and apparently they just had to check regularly that he wasn't trying to run off with pens and selotape and stuff and make him give them back.
Recent bonus - how NOT to teach a child
Personally I don't have anything against a child asking out right for things, as long as they are OK with being told no sometimes. Little ones tend to feel everything more strongly, and when they want something they say - fair enough. I do expect adults to be a bit better about it though.
When I'm not working with customers I have a desk in a little office that my colleague and I got because no one else wanter - but is actually the best in the place. I am a nester, and have more personal stuff than most people (As mentioned above I'm a stationary junkie, and tend to steal fun stationary from home to bring into work
). I like my desk a lot. My latest addition was some little glass jars with sweets; they look nicely like a sweet shop, cheer me up when I eat one and mean I get more visitors from other parts of the office.
My room is very occassionaly used for seeing customers, but when that happens they use my colleagues desk not mine. However the other day I was sitting at my desk working when someone used the little office that opens off our room to see a customer. Customer turned up with her small child (6?) and a friend, when the child became disruptive (loudly saying "we go now" when he got bored, apparently having no idea he didn't get to choose) the friend brought him out of the room. Which brought them into my room 
They weren't exactly great at entertaining themselves - but not TOO bad after I lent him my colouring pencils.
What annoyed me was them asking for sweets. If the boy had asked I wouldn't have minded at all, and once I'd checked with the person looking after him I'd have said yes - but the woman asked for herself, and then as an afterthought for him. (He decided he didn't like it and kindly tried to give it back half eaten but was pursuaded the bin was a better place for it).
He really wasn't a bad child, but I did think she was rude.
Victoria J
A long time ago I worked in an office where each day one person had to see the customers walking in, one caught up on their paperwork, all the others saw appointments. The appointments had proper rooms, the people being seen for the first time were just seen at a desk that was partioned off from the main room. The customers would come in the door to the room, and there was a desk in this partioned off corridor. We could walk straight down into the main room when we weren't seeing customers, but when the worker was at the desk anyone else was prevented from walking through (and the staff used a different door).
3 problems with this.
1) When you were doing paperwork you got disturbed by the noise of someone else working with the customers (and it could get noisy). I always hated listening to my colleague run the session much more than doing it myself. I can stick up for myself but she got a lot of abuse from customers when having to uphold our stupider policies.
2) Sometimes people felt a bit uncomfortable talking there because it wasn't wholly private.
3) Children.
Inattentive parent + busy adviser + small child = small childwandering into the main office.
The main office was fairly large (maybe 7 desks, whole lot of storage, kitchen area, emergency exit with fire escape, 3 other offices off). You couldn't see all of it from any one place, and normally there'd only be one person sitting there having their "quiet" day.
So on top of getting to hear my poor colleague (a really sweet woman) bullied while I was trying to do my paperwork, I also got to return all the lost children. While I insisted the parents, you know, actually parented, and told the children they couldn't go through, she was too unassertive.
So one day I'm sitting there and this little boy of around 3 walks past. I stop him and explain he has to go back to his (peers over divider and takes a guess) mother. He toddles off. He returns a couple of times just to look at me and grin, I grin back. He walks right back, I say hello again and this time take him back to his mother and ask her to keep hold of him.
2 minutes later I see him again, but I'm on the phone. I think I'll take him back as soon as I'm finished.
6th sense makes me turn right around just as he picks up the large bread knife from our kitchen area, and I have to drop the call to go and take it from him.
The mother didn't let him out of her sight after that...
Bonus - small child theft
At the same place we had a customer with a little boy who had a bit of a thing for stationary. He was also around 3 or 4, and after a long interview with his parents they stood up to go - checked the bag they had brought with them and returned my stapler and hole punch
As a stationary junkie myself I couldn't be angry, and neither apparently could his parents. He took it very well when told he couldn't have them, and apparently they just had to check regularly that he wasn't trying to run off with pens and selotape and stuff and make him give them back.
Recent bonus - how NOT to teach a child
Personally I don't have anything against a child asking out right for things, as long as they are OK with being told no sometimes. Little ones tend to feel everything more strongly, and when they want something they say - fair enough. I do expect adults to be a bit better about it though.
When I'm not working with customers I have a desk in a little office that my colleague and I got because no one else wanter - but is actually the best in the place. I am a nester, and have more personal stuff than most people (As mentioned above I'm a stationary junkie, and tend to steal fun stationary from home to bring into work
). I like my desk a lot. My latest addition was some little glass jars with sweets; they look nicely like a sweet shop, cheer me up when I eat one and mean I get more visitors from other parts of the office. My room is very occassionaly used for seeing customers, but when that happens they use my colleagues desk not mine. However the other day I was sitting at my desk working when someone used the little office that opens off our room to see a customer. Customer turned up with her small child (6?) and a friend, when the child became disruptive (loudly saying "we go now" when he got bored, apparently having no idea he didn't get to choose
) the friend brought him out of the room. Which brought them into my room They weren't exactly great at entertaining themselves - but not TOO bad after I lent him my colouring pencils.
What annoyed me was them asking for sweets. If the boy had asked I wouldn't have minded at all, and once I'd checked with the person looking after him I'd have said yes - but the woman asked for herself, and then as an afterthought for him. (He decided he didn't like it and kindly tried to give it back half eaten
but was pursuaded the bin was a better place for it). He really wasn't a bad child, but I did think she was rude.
Victoria J