Petty.
I used to track the finances for all capital equipment (any furniture, equipment, etc. that cost more than $1000, basically) at one of my former jobs. This included furniture and fixtures - including every desk/workstation/cubicle configuration.
In one division, there were easily a couple hundred employees, packed in sardine-style to these modular workstations and performing rather monotonous duties day in and day out. Not the most envious of jobs, unless you’re really in to that thing.
Still, a co-worker of mine expressed dismay when she happened to glance at a listing of their existing capital items.
“CUP holders? They get cup holders included with their workstations? Hmph. Must be nice. I can’t believe they actually bought desks with built-in cup holders. You know it had to cost more than the regular desktops, and with all the people they have in there, that really adds up. Hey ——, did you see what they have in the other building? Look at this. CUP HOLDERS!”
I’m sure to some it did seem kind of frivolous.
I had been over to that building to help the auditors verify that we really did have some of the assets listed on our books. The workstations were just large enough to allow someone to sit or stand in front of them. The top of the workstation had just enough room to hold a monitor, with a little workspace left over for any related paperwork they had.
Down underneath the “desk” was a small shelf, which held the computer. In all, they were very modest workspaces. Again, not a whole lot to be envious about.
I didn’t bother to share with her that there were no cup holders to be found. In fact, my predecessor had mis-spelled the asset description and the cup holders were actually CPU holders.
It was a shelf.
Just goes to show though, people will bitch about almost anything.
