There were two types of new-hires those that get to order a new chair and those that are given a hand-me-down. I always thought that your chair was a metaphor for your career path. We were confined to the stationary seats from grammar school to college and even throughout the job search interview process. Then you land your first job and more often than not, you’re landing in a standard rolley chair with fairly cheap upholstery. Eventually you earn arm rests. A few years later, maybe a title or two up the ladder, you move into the “L” stages - leather, lumbar support, luxury. And finally, there’s the few who make it to deep-buttoned tufting with brass trim or those thousand-dollar ergonomic mesh ones.
I recently discovered, however, that not all entry levelers are seated equally. One week ago our newest employee came over to my desk asking me to order him a new chair. Sitting in my non-reclining rolley without arm rests, I threw the wheels into a rugged reverse and grabbed the office supplies book. Citing his bad back, “The Chair Man” chose a $234 head-high leather seat with padded arms, swivel, tilt tension, and pneumatic adjustment - yes, the chair came with its own vocabulary.
It was three hours into work today that The Chair Man came over to my desk and asked when his chair was coming in because “that one sucks!” What he did not know was that after he had left the office last night, a late delivery rolled in looking like a first class seat ripped out of 747 and planted on wheels. He had been sitting in it all morning, without spinal symptoms.
I see two lessons learned from The Chair Man. First, an entry leveler can find a way to upgrade the standard rolley with a convenient bad back. Second, you don’t really have to have a bad back to be a pain in the ass.