I need Ammo, for an arguement, about office work. let me know what I missed. I want to have all my arguements ready.
Basic info:
We have files on a wall (thousands of files), one file for each property and all the info for that file from 2 or 3
different divisions all goes in that same file. That part is fine it's the method for filing that is stupid.
Picture this... Our world is divided up in a big grid, or Township, Range and Section (TRS), based on the latitudes and longitudes. The TRS is basically like a series of benchmarks, this system is how the surveyors find a piece of property and determine it's boundarys. A TRS generally looks like 18N02W32
Most of you are familiar with subdivisions, when a big piece of land is divided up into little lots. Subdivisions typically have a name like McKinley Heights, Windsong or River Bend.
Each lot has a tax Id NUmber, which is unique to the property, much like a social security number or driver's license number is unique. A typicall tax ID number looks like 6983B12L013
Ok, our filing system is arranged by TRS then Subdivision then Tax ID.
or
18N02W32 then Ranch The Phase 7A then 6983B12L013
Numeric - Alpha - Numeric
DUMB!
Tha battle is with the bimbo that plays secretary. She thinks this system makes sense. I say it's too confusing, we use a lot of temps and some interns and trying to explain to them how to find a file is ... ridiculous. And, no one can figure out where the files go so they are always mis-filed (not helpful) But she guards this system with her life because it's always been done that way.
I think it would be simpler to just go numeric. everyone understands numbers, 2 comes before 4 no matter what. No worries about filing it under "T" for The or "R" for Ranch.
Another issue is that we have labels on our files (duh) but the label writers automatically shrink the text for longer names so that it still all fits on the label. Some subdivision names are so long the font gets shrunk to 6 pt. The default is 12 pt. so you have labels that are nice and clean looking, and then labels that are microscopic. A pain to read if you are squinting at the top shelf.
In addition to that, we disagree on how to write teh subdivision name. As a subdivision gets recorded, it is assigned a name and the lots get their tax ID number. that system only has 35 characters to use for a subdivision name so some get abbreviated.. She does not want to use the abbreviations and she wants to add words like "subdivision" onto the name even if it is not legally part of the name. I think we should use EXACTLY what our other system has dictated the name to be as everyone else in the building has access to that system and will be looking for the property as the name it was assigned.
EXAMPLE: System calls a subdivision Ranch The Ph 7A; she types the label The Ranch Subdivision Phase 7A. Yes, they mean the same thing, but if you look up a property and see that it's called Ranch The why on earth would you automatically assume that the word Subdivision has been added? I understand it's gramatically correct, but my computer doesn't know grammer, it looks for what is typed. I can't even begin to tell you howmany times I have to help other employees find a file because it is not labeled with it's own name
And last but not least... She insists the labels NOT be in all caps. Our main system that we do all our work in HAS TO BE IN ALL CAPS. so when I'm typing labels, I keep right on tying in all caps, I probable make 25 or 30 files a day and I'm too lazy to make the extra keystrokes. Actually, I forget. I'm typing, I just keep typing.
Our new boss just came to me and said he wants to call a meeting to discuss the file labels. He wants them to use the same font. One font, every label, every time.
The simple answer is SURE! Let's do it! and the simplest way to do it is to omit the alpha part of the label. The TRS is always the same number of characters, Tax ID numbers are almost always the same number of characters, give or take 1 or 2 out of every 500 (so not all that common).
To me, this solves all the problems
1) The same number of characters = consistant font size
20 No alpha means no renaming of properties
2) No alpha makes the CAPS arguement moot
3) I don't want to teach people how or filing system works.
Bimbo is going to argue that she will have to relabel all the files on the wall and all the files in archives. That's like 4 or 5 thousand files. So what. Call it job security. Pass it off to a temp. whatever.
This meeting will probably take the whole hour and be continued for later rehashing. It may even end in bloodshed.
Although, I'm interested to see how the new boss handles the hysterical aversion to change.
