I'm in the North York office now. My boss was asked to take over the duties for another manager here in north york because the normal guy is sick, or on vacation (i'm not sure yet, still trying to find out.. not that it matters). Anyway, it's sorta neat, because I can wake up a full hour later than normal, since it's only a hop, skip and a jump away from my house.

The trouble with this place is there's no partitions, no cubicles. It's just an open space. Computers and drafting tables scattered all over the place, and not all facing the same direction. Well actually they are all facing the front (the reception area), except me, I'm facing the opposite direction. So if not for my HUGE 21" dual monitors, I would be looking right into the face of everyone, especially the guy who sits across from me.

The worst thing about this open-concept office is the phones. Doggone it, not a minute goes by that a phone doesn't go off, and it's very distracting. And what's worse is the work mentality in this office is nothing like at Metro Hall. Over there, people work all the time, socialize only during lunch breaks. Here, since it's open, people socialize all day long. People are rarely at their tables/desks to answer their phones, so it goes on, and on, and on. Ring-ring.. Ring-ring.. Ring-ring.. Ring-ring..

And so much for the 2x15 minute breaks and 1 hour lunch breaks. Over here it's the 2x30 minute breaks, or even 45 mins, and then 1 hour, but you'll see people cheat that too. They'll go 1.5 hours, or, goof around while their boss is on lunch, then when he gets back, they'll go for their lunch. So in essence, it's a 2+ hour lunch.

One thing I did notice though, was at around 2pm every day people finally settle down and get down to business. So from 2pm-4pm, people here are actually working. Not to point any fingers though, there are certainly some people here who put in a decent 5 hours of work.

Well, my break time is over.