riptide
Senior member
Posts: 387
I should have been a donut maker.
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« on: November 18, 2009, 06:52:38 AM » |
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Any thoughts on the closed-door policy? How does this come across to colleagues?
I have tried to maintain an open-door, but I have several colleagues who have time to talk all day and do so. It is affecting my research and what I need to get done.
Honestly, my mood is also very negative when I see others playing computer games all day and talking in the hallway and going to get lunch and snacks and etc...when I am drowning in work.
So, I want to close my door...work hard...and try and cultivate some life outside the job to survive here for a couple more years.
But the closed-door is not common in my department..
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Quote from Jackit: on June 13, 2009 1:55:33 PM
It's not friendly to fvck over a junior faculty member.
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altim
Junior member
Posts: 90
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« Reply #1 on: November 18, 2009, 08:27:18 AM » |
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Leave your door open during your required office hours. Leave your door just ajar at other times, so that people know you are around but they might be discouraged from casual interruption. Close your door (or go elsewhere) when you are facing a deadline.
Certainly part of an open-door culture is being available to students and colleagues, but another part of it may just be that folks just want reassurance that their colleagues are around and that they're not the only ones left stuck on campus. Leaving the door ajar but not fully open might assuage them.
Oh, and for those who spend your time playing computer games or pursuing other diversions, consider re-arranging your office so that your computer screen is not directly visible to passers by in the hallway!
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neutralname
A person without qualities, except for being a
Member-Moderator
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 5,429
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« Reply #2 on: November 18, 2009, 08:37:57 AM » |
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Riptide
I'm guessing you are required to be in your office--otherwise you would go off campus, right?
You know your school better than we do, but as a general reaction, I would respect a colleague more if they worked in their office being productive with a closed door rather than sat chatting with others with an open door.
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"My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music." Vladimir Nabokov
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janewales
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« Reply #3 on: November 18, 2009, 09:42:55 AM » |
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We're very social in my section of the building-- so people also feel free to say "I'm closing my door, because I've got to [fill in the blank]. I'll join you later for [lunch, coffee, drinks]"...
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nocalprof
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« Reply #4 on: November 18, 2009, 10:11:24 AM » |
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Plaster your door with your publications and abstracts - then people will know why it's closed.
:)
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conjugate
Compulsive punster and insatiable reader, and
Member-Moderator
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 16,690
Tends to have warped sense of humor
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« Reply #5 on: November 18, 2009, 10:15:38 AM » |
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Count your blessings. I have a cubicle in a shared office, and if anyone has office hours, the door is open whether I want to be interrupted or not. I would leave the door ajar, as suggested elsewhere, or perhaps apologetically say you have work to do when someone drops by (per JaneWales's suggestion).
"Listen, I'd love to chat, but I have to have these minutes/notes/memos done by 4:00, and I'm a little bit behind. Can we continue this conversation later? Sorry!"
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Unfortunately, I think conjugate gives good advice.
∀ε>0∃δ>0∋|x–a|<δ⇒|ƒ(x)-ƒ(a)|<ε |
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mozman
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« Reply #6 on: November 18, 2009, 10:24:29 AM » |
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Just close it. If you need to, put a sign on the door that reads:
CONFERENCE CALL - DO NOT DISTURB
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Could you grow the foot into another patient? I mean, you are a scientist.
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ls410
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« Reply #7 on: November 18, 2009, 12:52:23 PM » |
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My door is always open but mostly because I have no window and it's terribly gloomy otherwise. I'm in a little hallway off the main corridor so I don't get too much traffic but when I really want to work I keep the door barely ajar - but put something kind of heavy behind it (another chair usually). When the person has to put some effort in opening the door, it seems to discourage casual chatting.
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magistra
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« Reply #8 on: November 19, 2009, 03:30:15 PM » |
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Not that anyone cares here (in a good way), or can even tell most times, but I have my door closed so I can have music on. Maybe play music -- it's a good excuse to close the door and block out other sounds. Make a point of asking whether your music is bothering anyone, saying "it helps me concentrate, and I've just got so much to do". "I'm so stressed with all this work this year, and it helps me relax" is another good one, especially if you then launch into a description of how much work you're doing. That'll clue them in that you're engaged but crazy busy and stressed, and eventually they'll be used to seeing the door shut.
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First it was Wolfram and Hart, now it's Blackboard. There's not much moral difference, if you ask me. -- Malcha
Grammar is the chocolate in the buttery croissant of life. -- Yellowtractor
Okay, so that was petty. Today, I feel like embracing pettiness. -- Mended Drum
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macaroon
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« Reply #9 on: November 19, 2009, 04:17:32 PM » |
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Put headphones on. You don't have to turn on music - just put the headphones in your ears.
When your friendly colleagues come to your door, don't answer the first time. Answer the second time, act startled and pull the headphones out. Be kind and chat for a second. Then fiddle with the headphones.
After a couple of times, they won't bother you when you have headphones on.
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mended_drum
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« Reply #10 on: November 19, 2009, 04:23:16 PM » |
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If what you really want to do is publish so that you can get out of there in a few years, then, sure, close your door. If you'd rather form some relationships with colleagues, then create a few "open door" hours so that they can wander by and chat. If I didn't do that at my current institution, I wouldn't know what was going on half the time, and I would have made some pretty severe mistakes.
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glowdart
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« Reply #11 on: November 19, 2009, 05:31:55 PM » |
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If what you really want to do is publish so that you can get out of there in a few years, then, sure, close your door. If you'd rather form some relationships with colleagues, then create a few "open door" hours so that they can wander by and chat. If I didn't do that at my current institution, I wouldn't know what was going on half the time, and I would have made some pretty severe mistakes.
I agree with this. Hallway conversations can be a real barometer of a place's hidden undercurrents and make you aware of pitfalls, problems, issues to avoid, etc. Try to figure out a compromise position between open/closed door. Thirding the usefulness of hallway conversations -- although I understand the need to get work done. Each semester, I adjust the hours when I can expect to get work done in the office and the hours that such dreams will be dashed like mussels dropped by seagulls on the rocks. It isn't ideal, but working around the hours of the more talkative people helps. |
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carebearstare
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« Reply #12 on: November 19, 2009, 06:46:17 PM » |
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In my department, everyone has the door closed all the time, unless in the office with a student. So I do the same. I get a lot done.
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Well, some posters were being naughty here.
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der_gadfly
SSOB-hatin', snarklet-writin'
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 1,844
oy vey
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« Reply #13 on: November 19, 2009, 10:40:08 PM » |
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Put headphones on.
A few years back, I invested a few minutes to 'obtain' (ahem) a pair of those ear-protection devices worn by airport tarmac workers... Honestly, they really cut out about 95% of all normal level noise. So some schmuck pounds on the door... If your desk is oriented properly, you can SEE them, but with the device on, you can always ignore them OR hold up a finger to indicate that you are in the middle of a thought (you may select whichever finger that seems most appropriate) and continue to type/play your videogame until they get bored and leave...... Ok, a bit tongue-in-cheek, but in a shared office/cubicle environment. the devices can be sanity clauses |
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(and I bow before der_gadfly) Don't forget, that cat hair can come in handy as a good luck charm! |
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neil9
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« Reply #14 on: November 19, 2009, 10:55:37 PM » |
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" others playing computer games all day " Tell me the name of your uni. I want to apply a job there. I will not bother you in your office, I promise.
Any thoughts on the closed-door policy? How does this come across to colleagues?
I have tried to maintain an open-door, but I have several colleagues who have time to talk all day and do so. It is affecting my research and what I need to get done.
Honestly, my mood is also very negative when I see others playing computer games all day and talking in the hallway and going to get lunch and snacks and etc...when I am drowning in work.
So, I want to close my door...work hard...and try and cultivate some life outside the job to survive here for a couple more years.
But the closed-door is not common in my department..
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Officially the bad guy on this forum.
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