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IAm 1 of 2 employees left behind in a vacant office when our company relocated everyone to a new building 2 years ago. AMAA
Nearly 2 years ago, my employer moved 400+ employees into one new office building. I am 1 of 2 employees left behind at our old headquarters. The entire building is vacant and somewhat eery looking.
Because I am still employed, I cannot reveal the identity of my employer, or the industry in which we operate. I've also made this throwaway account. I can provide proof to the mods.
AMAA!
throwaway90x45 karma
Ya, we have a lot of friends and vendors come and hang out. We're respectful of the space. We don't trash it or leave a mess, but we want guests whenever they'll come!
DeMiNe032 karma
Have you ever slept at your office? Have you ever had a party at your office? Have you ever had sex at your office?
throwaway90x27 karma
My 1 employee was on vacation and I was (even more than usual) alone for about a week. My (now ex-) GF visited me-- every day.
throwaway90x23 karma
Not a mess necessarily, but I'll never forget it-- it's that fantasy we all have.
In7meanFlavors29 karma
Do you have anyone supervising you in this empty office? Do you and your coworker have wheelie-chair races? Does he/she get angry if your music isn't playing at a reasonable volume?
throwaway90x40 karma
I'm the "boss" in this situation. I'll go months without talking to my (remote) supervisor about anything work-related. She just trusts us to get the job done, and we've never missed a deadline...
Eversmot26 karma
Do you just browse reddit since you don't have to worry about someone on your back 24/7
Dajbman2224 karma
What job do you perform that requires you to remain at the vacant location?
throwaway90x30 karma
Months before the move was announced, the company invested a lot of $ into special infrastructure to hard-wire our offices. They couldn't convince the board to eat that cost and re-run that new cabling-- so we're stuck, for at least 6 years.
carlos_the_dwarf_23 karma
Aren't they eating the cost of maintaining both locations instead?
throwaway90x29 karma
Ya, the way I understand it-- is that they pay rent per-square foot. The lease isn't up for 5+ more years.
throwaway90x29 karma
Big enough for about 120 people. Offices around the walls, and cubicles in the middle.
It feels like it was evacuated... papers & office supplies were left in place. (computers and phones were taken in the move)
jakesonthis18 karma
Thank you for the surprisingly amusing AMA. Sounds like a blast for you!
Archfeared16 karma
Have you ever fantasised about killing your coworker, thus becoming the king of the building?
cmphot16 karma
This happened to my grandfather when he worked for a zipper factory. The company still owned the building so they paid him to stay behind for 10 years and just look after the place while they sold the machinery little by little.
buffalocentric13 karma
Have you ever taken time and gone through the rest of the building to find things people just left behind like staplers, post it notes, things like that? Being in the building sounds awesome, but it sounds like it would get boring too.
throwaway90x25 karma
Ya... interesting things all over. Whiteboards still have writing on them. It feels like an abandoned ghost-town frozen in time.
Documents and numbers that are basically useless, but must have seemed so important at the time.
Damadar13 karma
Why were you left nearly alone in a near-vacant building?
Do you ever run through the halls?
Do you play music really loud?
Do you ever just bring in NERF weapons and invite the family over for Nerf Warfare?
Do you ever prank the person you work with by making ghost noises or other such things?
WHY?
throwaway90x28 karma
Why were you left nearly alone in a near-vacant building?
See above
Do you ever run through the halls?
All the time. And ride our bikes!
Do you play music really loud?
Yes!
Do you ever just bring in NERF weapons and invite the family over for Nerf Warfare?
Believe it or not, we did have quite the NERF arsenal for a few months. Even that grew old though...
Do you ever prank the person you work with by making ghost noises or other such things?
Ya... sometimes I'll move some papers around or other things on his desk... and put them in random offices around the building. He's easily gullible and it's too easy.
throwaway90x23 karma
We actually have 10 coffee makers in 6 different break rooms. We only use one, but if you like one of the other break-rooms, you can use that instead.
throwaway90x18 karma
Because of the hard-wire note I mentioned earlier, we've been forced to stay in the same offices.
There are 30 unused offices with window views! :/ haha
mangage9 karma
Why not just install your own router for wireless access? VNC to your work station.
throwaway90x21 karma
We process large amounts of data... roughly 80-100 TB per day over fiber. We handle it in real-time, and can't do it remotely. I wish!
throwaway90x13 karma
Only task-related reasons. We're held in high-regard, and (I hope) well-liked by everyone else!
throwaway90x14 karma
Ya, we have days where it gets a little lonely. We try and break it up every once in a while and work from home. It's even creepier when one of us is out sick or on vacation.
badgarok7259 karma
Do you listen to the Roosterteeth podcast? This sounds just like Gus' situation where he eventually made a fort out of cubicles and basically acted like the Wizard of Oz when people came in the building
Asdar6 karma
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=xLjqLbq6FpM
it's near the end of the video.
Hoppmjac0008 karma
This seems like a perfect plot for a mystery thriller. You get decapitated at the end of the second act, unfortunately.
consumeradvocacy8 karma
Why would the company move from the original office if they still had a lease for that office and had already installed that expensive wiring? Great IAMA btw.
throwaway90x6 karma
We were originally spread out over 5 office buildings in the city. They moved everyone (but us) to the new building. :/
consumeradvocacy7 karma
What was the reasoning for having 5 different offices? Did the company grow quickly and just keep opening up new offices, before it decided to consolidate into one office? Or did it shrink in size and have to downsize to just one office instead of operating five?
throwaway90x10 karma
Good guess. Rapid growth, as well as acquiring other small companies.
ThatOneKidWithHair8 karma
whats the creepiest experience you've ever had in the building, if any?
throwaway90x27 karma
About a year ago, we started to hear strange sounds, and see remains of small animals, as if they had been eaten. We'd hear them in the walls and it always seemed to be coming from places where we weren't. We'd go downstairs and it would be upstairs, etc. We didn't know what it was for over a month, until one day the sound stopped. Turned out to be a stray dog that must have been scared and sick. The security company found it's body after we reported a smell.
Afa12346 karma
Is the other employee a sexual match for you, if so, can I get the rights to the porno based on your work life?
[deleted]5 karma
As someone whose job has no supervision, but who works on the road...
Do you have a game console?
Do you make use of the internet speed to torrent/download music/movies/etc?
do you have a non-work PC for goofing off?
what's the craziest thing you've done just because you could?
throwaway90x5 karma
Do you have a game console?
No, but I do watch plenty of TV. We have satellite with most channels.
Do you make use of the internet speed to torrent/download music/movies/etc?
Ya-- it can pull good speeds.
do you have a non-work PC for goofing off?
Ya-- on it now, but I'm at home. (Laptop)
what's the craziest thing you've done just because you could?
Probably the sex. (see above). We also have our fridge stocked with beer at all times. Although that's not crazy per se.
Holden_my_Beans3 karma
This hit me like being punched in the dick. This is YOU! Workaholics
throwaway90x5 karma
I'm sure. There is a good internet connection, and plenty of space & ports. Just no computers.
piouspaul2 karma
Have you considered renting out the rest of your building to another company, not telling your employer, and keeping the money?
throwaway90x7 karma
Not a bad idea. I've got plenty of time to be the landlord. I could set up an office as a rental manager office. I'll let you know how it goes. How's this for an ad?
"SUBLET OFFICE AVAILABLE: Room for 118 people. Bring white board cleaner. Tenants with dust allergies need not apply."
nofuture092 karma
Do you have cleaning ladies or do you just clean the offices yourself? Why is the company not renting the empty offices?
throwaway90x5 karma
Ya, a cleaning company comes in once a week to clean the kitchen and vacuum our 2 offices and the hall.
lisasimpsonfan2 karma
Do you feel out of the loop being physically separated from the rest of the office? Does someone keep you up on all the office gossip and make sure you know where to meet after work for drinks? Are you a Dwight or a Jim?
throwaway90x2 karma
Ya, we do. It's actually really lonely. If we didn't have music and eachother, we'd probably go crazy. We take time to visit the new office, but they never come visit us. We are going to try and have our next big work party at this office. There's plenty of room, and it could be fun to spruce the place up a little.
shastapete2 karma
my GF's company has 4-5 offices around the world, in their cafe/break room they have TVs set up with webcams that stream video and audio from cafe to cafe (they obviously have other video conferencing stuff for meetings) but it is an interesting way to bridge the multiple offices
throwaway90x2 karma
I love that idea, but I think the other office would be creeped out by seeing a vacant office. Especially when the fluorescent lights are on. Many of them flicker, and there's never been a need to replace them. We keep them off in most areas but halls and our offices.
fraggedears2 karma
Do you have the liberty to make it more cozy in your office? Like couches, throw rugs, warm lighting, and books so it doesn't feel so empty when you step in?
throwaway90x3 karma
Yes, We've got courches, TVs and MUCH better lighting. We bought specialty movie "interview" lights that make everything feel much more relaxed.
throwaway90x10 karma
At first, probably 90% of a 10-hour day. Now, probably 50% of an 8 hour day?
MeccIt2 karma
Hi, would you prefer to keep working in this 120-people sized ghost-office or a much smaller one (if they sub-let and divided off the unused offices)?
Do you ever get to visit the new office and see what you're missing?
Thanks for AMA, still wondering how you could prove it)
throwaway90x10 karma
At first, I was fascinated by the idea of being "left" here. Sort of like the kid who pretends to be sick on his birthday party. That may or may not make sense, but it does to me.
We do go to the new office regularly for meetings. (We actually still refer to it as the "new" office.) Sometimes I go there just for face-time. If you're out of sight, your bosses have a tendency to overlook your contributions. I like to be noticed when it comes to hard work and the like. Really important for my career.
throwaway90x7 karma
But if you asked me today, I'd say I'd much rather be in the bigger office with everyone else. We get "forgotten" about, understandably so. Never for Christmas and other big work parties, but the smaller things - like random "office" lunches and stuff.
Believe it or not-- it's always weird having to introduce yourself to new people. People that have worked at the office for a month, but they have more friends and stronger relationships with everyone else. To them, they probably see us as outsiders or contractors. :/
CuriosityK3 karma
Sounds a little like working from home when there's also a bunch of people who work in an office setting. The in the office people bond strongly, but us WFH people tend to get news last, and if we ever go into the office (once every few years at this point) no one knows who we are. It's strange. Sometimes it's easy to be out of sight, out of mind, so to speak.
throwaway90x3 karma
I have friends that share that same experience. They work from home and constantly feel as we do -- forgotten about. :/
We are pretty important to the overall operation, but easily overlooked.
iEasyBakeOven57 karma
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