Steelcase desk/cart

My New Desk Cart

Moving to Budapest, Hungary three years ago gave me culture shock, but not the kind you might expect. Hungarian culture was different, sure, but I expected that. Nothing shocking. Campus Crusade for Christ culture in Budapest shocked me. I had not expected differences, so when differences appeared I was surprised. They were all minor changes, but they required unexpected energy.

There were nice changes, too. My office was relatively enormous compared to my 8′ x 8′ cubicle in Orlando. It had a great view of the hills behind our village. It was normally quiet but had enough people around to avoid the deserted feeling. I knew that moving back to Orlando meant giving all this up, but I was prepared for whatever cubicle God had waiting for me.

Reverse culture shock hit me today. Having not learned the first time around, I was surprised to find unexpected changes at Campus Crusade for Christ headquarters. Apparantly God didn’t have a cubicle waiting for me at all, but rather a cart. Really. While my seating assignment has not finalized, judging by the looks of the partially redone work area I’ll be in, my new location will be a cart!

Words cannot express my befuddlement over this discovery.

Once you place a phone on this working surface, and then a small laptop computer, there no longer remains any free space. I am a paperless kind of guy for sure, but occasionally I like the feel of using wood-based products such as paper. Have I become this old fashioned in my absence? Frankly, I don’t know what I’ll do. The situation looks so bad that, for now, I will assume I have been sorely mistaken and that I will either wake up from a bad dream shortly or will find that the carts I mistook for desks were really intended for the espresso machines they will be issuing each of us.

  Category: Orlando, Transition