We have these folders for shared projects stored in the department office. For each project, a couple people need a given folder set. We all have department office keys.
So before the weekend, I chatted with another person on my project, who had our folder set in hir office. I said it was no problem, because I wouldn't get to it over the weekend.
And then when I went to work on it yesterday morning, it wasn't in the department office, and hir office light was on, but it was closed. (I didn't try the door, because, well, I didn't. Nor did I get an admin assistant to let me in, which I probably should have.) So I sent a short (polite) email asking hir to leave the file in the department office when she got a chance so I could do my part.
This morning, zie stopped by my office to apologize (which was nice) but didn't want to move the file to the department office, but instead wanted me to store part in my office and let hir keep the rest in hir office. Gah! It took a lot to try to convince hir that we both had keys to the department office, and it would be helpful to leave it there, and only get it when zie was actually working on the project so that I, too, could use it at my convenience.
I really, really don't get the need to keep something in my office if I'm not actively working on it at that moment, since it's really easy to go into the department office and pick it up. (The department office is, at most, about 50 steps from hir or my office, and we all have keys, so we can get in on the weekend or at night.)
(I also don't get why one would leave one's office light on all day when one was out at meetings. My dad would have made some comment about owning the electric company, no doubt.)
On the other hand, I really need to go finish my part of this project. I hope zie has moved the file back.
GAAH indeed. We had this problem when I was on the committee that evaluates promotion and tenure files, which at the time were honking big binders stored in the provost's office. Each member of the committee was assigned a specific time and day for reading the files, and then they had to be returned to the office, and of course none of us had keys to the provost's office so we had to fetch and return files during limited hours. Nightmare. That's why we moved to electronic portfolios: any member of the committee can read the files any time, any place with an internet connection. Much better.
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