Misadventures in moving

We just had an office move, so I am a bit strung out this week. Two of our building are being torn down to build a fancy new space, so they moved one building during the October 15 weekend and moved by building this past weekend (except for the 6-8 people that are being moved to a different location in a month or so.) Last Thursday and Friday were maddening, since many of my co-workers waited until the last minute to get things done (I had the luxury of packing gradually, since Boss was out of town for about 17 of the last 20 work days.) So, I no sooner got my cube packed up and cleaned out than someone was bringing me the crap they decided not to keep, thinking that perhaps I wanted it. Since, you know, I really want to fill my 7'x7' cube with the outdated publications and cast-off office supplies that they don't feel like taking to their new, spacious offices. The move was planned and implemented by two people, mainly, the VP of Our Fancy New Proposed Building and the head of the Administrative Stuff department. VP sent us an email about the move, telling us to avoid going to the temporary building until at least Wednesday last week, to avoid being in the way of the people who were still unpacking and getting settled. Then, Admin Stuff guy tells us we have to go to the temp building to check out our offices/cubes and make a details floor plan for the movers. VP told us to leave all computers except laptops on the desks, but to make sure that our laptop docking stations were left behind. Admin Stuff guy told us to pack our docking stations and only leave CPUs, monitors and keyboards. You get the picture. I also got to listen to all of the people staying behind complain about how disrespectful it was that no pictures, vending machines or shredder would be left for them, and they would have to go to the adjoining building to get a soda or shred documents. I stayed at work for about 45 minutes past quitting time, even though they encouraged us to leave early to avoid being in the way of the movers, because I kept finding last minute crap that needed to be addressed (did anyone ensure that the shredder and its accessories were tagged appropriately? No, gotta take care of that. After I shred the 48,000 tons of documents that my co-workers have left in my cube.) I had two boxes that I hadn't gotten labeled for the movers, so I asked VP if I could move them myself after the big move was done. She said it was no problem, but I should put a sign on them indicating that they should not be moved or discarded. (This will be relevant later, I promise.) Monday morning: All of my crates are here. That's a good sign. All of my furniture/office equipment, except my chair mat, is here. Another plus. A printer stand, complete with networked printer, has appeared next to my cube. OK, I can put the fax machine on my desk instead, although it means more visitors. But, what is this? The movers are taking away the conference room furniture from the room behind me? Oh, they are replacing it with the office furniture of one of the VPs. The space originally slated for his office will now the the conference room. Oh, here come the employees and vendors who are scheduled to meet in this conference room! They are standing in my cubicle doorway looking very forlorn and confused. So, I will find them a new room. I feel like dork wandering around the hallways looking for another conference room that is ready to use (one is full of movers reassembling the furniture) but I finally find them a space. How nice to have a new neighbor. I am so sure that anyone who is looking for the VP is going to walking back down the hall to where his administrative assistant is, instead of bugging me about his whereabouts! Right? 'Cause, of course, everyone is fully aware that I'm not responsible for everyone who sits in my area, since sometimes keeping track of my Boss is enough of a challenge. Tuesday: Things have settled down. Everyone is mostly unpacked. Work can begin. I go to make some copies to put in a binder, only to find that our copier seems to have lost the ability to punch holes. Last week, it had a hole-punch command on the display screen. Today, nothing. And the autofeed is not auto-feeding. So I call the repair service. When the repair guy arrived, he looked at the unit and informed me that it doesn't have a hole-punch function. It seems that in the move, the finishing unit from my machine was reattached to a different copier, one that did not have the function. I find Admin Stuff guy to ask him what the deal is. He tells me that we can just order the part needed to do the hole punch function for my copier. So, the department who has my finishing unit is going to have a new function, and we will get a quote from the copier company for getting a new piece so that my copier can regain the function in a month or so. CRG and I return to copier to attend to the autofeed misfunction. CRG tells me that something got knocked loose in the move, and if he cannot salvage the piece, it will cost big bucks to replace. Aghast, I ask why it will cost big bucks for us to replace a part that was knocked loose by the copier company moving the machine. He apologizes, and says that it will cost us nothing to replace, since his company broke it. Moot point, though, because he manages to fix it! Yeah! His work is done. Back to the front desk- CRG wants to know if we validate parking in the garage. Receptionist says that we haven't worked it out yet, but that I can let CRG use my card to scan out of the garage and not be charged. So, I do. CRG is on his way, I go in search of the copier that has my finishing unit, since it also has my user manual and repair log. I find in on another floor, and when the Admin for that department wants to know why I am visiting her copier, I explain the mix up of finishing units. She is surprised that she can punch holes now. I show her the function. She is happy, but then tells me that she really doesn't need hole punched copies, so she will never use the function. Lunchtime Tuesday: I return to my old building to catch up with a friend in the department who works in the building not being demolished. I drive over instead of taking the shuttle service, because I have to bring back my boxes of stuff. When I exit the garage, the gate arm will not lift. The parking attendant comes out of his little booth. "It's not working?" he asks. "No." "It's not working," he says tersely, "because you gave your card to someone! I saw you do it!" "I'm sorry," I reply. "We just moved in and don't have validation for vendors and repair people. Our receptionist told me to use my card." "NO. I saw you give your card to someone, and you cannot do that! This card is for you! Only you! You can't give your card to anyone! If you want to keep your card, you are the only one who can use it!" Parking Lot Nazi ("No parking for you!") manually lifts the arm. As soon as I drive through, the car behind me passes me and the driver glares. I return to my old cube in my old building and there are no boxes. No one still working in the building remembers seeing any boxes. The boxes are not in the nearby closet, or a nearby office, or anywhere to be found. I am frantic. I never find the boxes, and I do not manage to catch up with my friend. I ask the head of the maintenance crew, the VP of Building Stuff, and the two people who were coordinating the old building end of the move this weekend. Bottom line- nobody has any idea what happened to my boxes, so I am just out of luck. In further "moving" news (moving on instead of moving out)- two of my coworkers are leaving. One is moving to Las Vegas to make a new start. Her last day is November 2. The other put in her resignation on Monday and was told to not worry about coming to work for her final two weeks. She had her exit interview less than 24 hours after resigning. OK. Don't let the door hit ya on the way out...