Ringing in My Ears

Directly behind my desk is the lobby area for my office. Along the back wall are 2 doors one on the left and one on the right. My boss' desk is directly through the door on the right as you face them, directly behind where I sit with a glass wall in front of her. She has a direct view of my desk area. This is important because when I am not at my desk she is supposed to watch it in case anyone walks up needing help.

Two years ago when my desk was first moved here I purposefully made no mention of the possibility of getting a bell for my desk. Bells are abused when they are sitting on a counter. Not by customers who come by but by other employees who think its funny to sit and ring it a whole bunch just to annoy whoever is sitting there. And I know of at least 3 people who would ring it every single time they walked by.

My previous boss would come and sit at my desk whenever I needed to be away for more than just walking to the back of the office. This meant there was no need for a bell as there was still someone at the desk. My new boss does not do this. She sits at her desk working away and rarely looking up. And because of this, she has now sent me an email asking me to purchase a bell for the desk because "sometimes it takes me a while to notice when someone is at the desk."

Oh for Pete's sake. If you know I'm not at my desk, and I make sure to tell her any time I leave the office, then make sure you are paying more attention to what is going on. And really she should be moving to my desk when I'm away because people have no situational awareness. They get off the elevator and for some reason always turn away from where I am sitting to look for someone to talk to. So most of the time I have to say something to get their attention before they'll even walk over to the desk. So who knows how many people wondered away having not been helped because she couldn't be bothered to leave her desk for 5 minutes.

I know I could only put the bell out when I'm away from my desk. It would just be a habit that I would need to develop. But even then, it will probably be rung more often by someone who doesn't need to ring it than someone who does just because they'll want to see if I come running.

I do not want a bell for my desk.