OK, what does this sound like to you?

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I started in the accounting department of this company late last July. The accounting dept. had previously had 4 members--I was the 5th. There was no spot for me to sit in the accounting department, so I sat elsewhere.

The accounting area is kind of small. The controller has an office, and the other three persons (assistant controller, the person who does accounts payable and other accounting functions including billing, and the Human Resources person) are in the outer room area, and there are also some files, etc. There is kind of a long u-shaped desk unit with 2 people at either end of it, and then the assistant controller's desk is jammed in behind that, not too far from the controller's office wall. So it is kind of crowded.

Since I've been there I've had to move desks because I was a backup receptionist and had to sit near the reception area, then they gave that duty to someone else (woohoo!) and had her move to that seat (she also needed to sit nearer to another person she worked closely with--which is why they said she also had to back up the receptionist). Now I'm sitting on the other side of the office and quite a distance from accounting, but there was no other place to move to.

Well, the person who had been the backup receptionist has left the company, and they are not going to replace her. I'm going to have to be the backup again, which sucks but which isn't what I'm concerned with here. They were going to have me move back to that space, which I had thought would be great because it's by a window.

Then yesterday morning my boss called me in and said that the boss's fiance, who also works there, wants the Human Resources person to sit in that space instead, and that I'd have to stay in the same place I am.

I was a little disappointed about losing the window, but at first I was OK because I'd rather not sit so close to the reception area--that way they will have to call me over to do backup, log out of their computer etc. and probably won't do it as often as when I was sitting there and they were leaving their desk pretty often and I had to monitor the phones, which meant I couldn't do phone calls for my regular job.

But then I started thinking that now there is an extra space in accounting, and they don't want me to sit there. They (accounting people) have always said if we had more room or if we move to a different part of the building as had been talked about, that they wanted me sitting with them because I'm in the accounting dept. Now it seems my own department doesn't even want me to sit with them.

When I was talking to the receptionist about how we'd handle backup times, he even asked me if I'd be moving back there, and I said no. I pretended to think it was because I'm on the phone a lot (I do the accounts receivable and collection) and it's hard when three people are sitting really close together and they're all on the phone. But I'm sure he knew no one wanted me sitting in accounting, and now he probably thinks I'm one of those people who is really stuck on herself and thinks everyone loves her, and can't believe she is hated and has no friends.

What does all this sound like to you?

if there is space now in the Accounts office, then i would talk to your boss and say you would like to move to that space, after all it is not an unreasonable request (you ARE an accountant)... if i know bosses, they will be impressed by your forthright manner, but do it firmly and respectfully and you should be there soon.

The thing is, she implied when she talked to me that I wasn't to sit there. She said something about it always being too crowded back there, especially when people are all on the phone at the same time. I assumed she meant that's why they were moving the human resources person out of there, to free up some space. But now I realize she was making a phony excuse for why I couldn't sit there, answering my question before I could even ask it.

For what it's worth, it sounds to me like the boss' fiance just wanted to be by the window and got what she wanted because of her relationship with the boss, even though you would have been a more logical choice for the spot. Of course that isn't fair, but the same thing might have happed to anyone else in your position.

When you know there is a lot of communication going on all around you that you aren't able to follow, you naturally feel vulnerable. Are they passing mesages about you? If they were, you'd never know it. It's easy to get carried away and imagine things being directed against you personally when that really isn't the case at all.

Believe me, I've been there

What's worked best for me in this sort of situation is to step back, take a *very* deep breath and observe what's going on around me very closely for a while before drawing any conclusions.

OK, I haven't made this very clear in my first rambling message. The boss's fiance isn't the one moving by the window; she's the one who slated the Human Resources person to move from the accounting department to the seat by the window. It wasn't the loss of the window seat I was upset about...it's that I"m not being asked to move to accounting to sit where the human resources person sat.

The accounting dept. is 4 people besides myself: N the controller; P the assistant controller; K the Human Resources person, and Y the Accounts Payable and general accountant. Currently N has her own office and K, P and Y sit in the outer office area, which is quite crowded but the three have been sitting there since before I started.

When I started I sat behind the receptionist's desk by a window but not in the accounting dept. Then I was moved to the design dept to an empty desk because someone else needed to sit by someone they worked with. Recently that person left the company, and I was told I could sit by the window (which still was not in accounting).

Friday my boss wanted to explain to me that I couldn't move to the window after all, which she thought I'd probably been looking forward to; she probably also wanted to forestall any question from me about moving into the accounting area. So she said "When I told you you could move to the window seat behind t he receptionist, I didn't realize A (owner's fiancee) had slated K to move there. You know, it's always been really overcrowded here in accounting, particularly since people have to be on the phone a lot and all talking at once."

So at first I took that to mean that my boss (N) was explaining to me about why I couldn't sit in that window cubicle because K was being moved there to free up space in accounting. But now I take it to mean that for some reason, A didn't want K sitting in the accounting area (K helpe A with her wedding dress, maybe she wanted to reward her with a better desk). So A moved K out of the accounting area, but that the seat is still open. However, none of the accounting people still sitting back there (N, P and Y) probably want me to move into the seat vacated by K.

The problem is...is K being moved on a whim of A, or is she being moved because it is too crowded in accounting and they want to free up some space? Because if she's being moved because A wants to reward her and give her move space, then supposedly her seat in accounting is free and I could move there, and the fact that they havent' asked me to is because they don't want me sitting near them. But if she's being moved because she (K) and everyone else agrees that there wasn't enough room back there, then of course there wouldn't be room for me, not because they didn't like me but because it's too crowded. (Of course, they still may not like me. In fact, they probably don't, but at least in the second scenario they're not actively banning me from even sitting near them.)

I haven't been hearing any communication about me because people there are very careful not to talk about someone where they might hear, be rude to them to their faces, and so on. But I can tell I'm not liked because they used to invite me to things occasionally after work, and they don't anymore. For instance, I'm sure there was something last night for the person whose last day was yesterday, but I wasn't invited. I can't imagine there wouldn't have been, because she was the one who used to organize things like that and surely she would've organized something for herself.

I'm sorry; your post was not rambling at all. I should have been reading it more carefully.

Still, based on the evidence you give, it sound to me like the accounting dept. really was crowded, but maybe not crowed enough to move anyone out just for that reason. When someone *wanted* to move, though, they were happy to let her do it, and wouldn't want to move anyone else in.

That's just my guess; all I'm saying is you don't need to assume the worst.

It does kind of seem that way, and it is pretty crowded in there.