Show Us Your Desks

January 30, 2013 12:40 PM

In honor of this FPP and cause it's been a while, I propose a 2013 round of "Show Us Where You Work!" Cause sharing is caring.
posted by The Whelk to MetaFilter-Related at 12:40 PM (289 comments total)

Okay.

(Please note the WNYX Newsradio mug and the awesome lunch my girlfriend made for me.)
posted by griphus at 12:44 PM on January 30 [5 favorites]

Sorry but my NDA with Veridian Dynamics prevents me from participating.
posted by elizardbits at 12:44 PM on January 30 [19 favorites]

you're no longer with Scorpio's Globex?

Mine. I have many books. But half of them are like PARSNG NATURAL LANGUAGE and ELECTRICAL STIMULATION AND ELECTROPATHOLOGY and thus, not relevant to me.
posted by The Whelk at 12:48 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

Here's my disaster of a desk at the bowling ball company. Not pictured: a dorm fridge full of Diet Coke and beer, bowling balls.
posted by slogger at 12:50 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

Where the Canadian version of your favourite mobile quiz show gets made. It's not as dingy as it looks. At least not quite. Note the Zoodles can left by an assistant editor many years ago, filled with pencils left by an editor just a few years ago. The pencils used to be dull and unusable but we recently got a space aged sharpener so now they are sharp. I still don't use em.
posted by yellowbinder at 12:54 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

Here's where I sit right now. Thankfully I just picked up things this morning and I don't look quite so disorganized.
posted by FlamingBore at 12:54 PM on January 30

I am still waiting for photos of Apple in a party dress, FYI.
posted by elizardbits at 12:55 PM on January 30 [3 favorites]

Ha. Hilariously the last photo that I posted to flickr was last year, roughly at this time and it was also a desk shot.
posted by FlamingBore at 12:55 PM on January 30

Huh. Exactly a year ago to the day I posted this photo.

Here's what's behind me, and to my left.
posted by rtha at 12:55 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE BOWLING BALL COMPANY
posted by griphus at 12:56 PM on January 30 [11 favorites]

Here's mine. It's a homemade standing desk.
posted by KokuRyu at 12:59 PM on January 30 [4 favorites]

griphus: We sell bowling balls. Here's about 40,000 of them.
posted by slogger at 1:02 PM on January 30 [12 favorites]

rtha - fyi, the "behind me" and "to my left" are set to private or otherwise not visible.
posted by FlamingBore at 1:03 PM on January 30

YOU SELL THEM ON THE CEILING?!
posted by The Whelk at 1:04 PM on January 30 [28 favorites]

This is my work-cave. Not pictured: the other two pretty walls or pretty carpet or gorgeous lobby (through a strange combo of circumstances, I actually helped with the design input into this building, so it's basically tailor-decorated for me.) Definitely pictured: a small portion of the collection of tea mugs that indicate academia is happening right this very moment.
posted by WidgetAlley at 1:06 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

Here you go.

so many piles...
posted by R. Schlock at 1:06 PM on January 30 [4 favorites]

I had no idea there was such a market for bowling balls.

I love America.
posted by griphus at 1:06 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

The Whelk: "YOU SELL THEM ON THE CEILING?!"

I bet they're dispensed from the ceiling. Like you order a ball, then there's a few minutes of "rolling ball" foley sound effects and then CRASH!
posted by boo_radley at 1:08 PM on January 30 [15 favorites]

Doh. Public now. Thanks, FlamingBore.
posted by rtha at 1:10 PM on January 30

My behind is also set to private. Bowling balls, too.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:15 PM on January 30

It's exciting stuff. And I need my copy of Functional Neurology for browsing metafilter.
posted by gaspode at 1:16 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

Don't you mean Dysfunctional?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:17 PM on January 30

gaspode: I enjoy imaging that your mug says HATERS.
posted by slogger at 1:17 PM on January 30 [3 favorites]

I won't bore you with my desk, but here is a vulture sitting atop the entrance to the building I work in.
posted by Burhanistan at 1:18 PM on January 30 [9 favorites]

(two, actually)
posted by Burhanistan at 1:19 PM on January 30

This is mine, on a good day.
posted by ambrosia at 1:20 PM on January 30 [8 favorites]

slogger: again, necessary for browsing mefi.
posted by gaspode at 1:21 PM on January 30

Goddamn I need another monitor. Is that part of the sign-up rules and I just skimmed that part?
posted by WidgetAlley at 1:21 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

Inspiring, I know.

posted by Doleful Creature at 1:21 PM on January 30 [4 favorites]

I thought all you people were already watching me from inside the computer.
posted by scratch at 1:22 PM on January 30 [3 favorites]

You know what a monitor rotated 90 degrees is awesome for, gaspode?

Galaga.
posted by griphus at 1:23 PM on January 30 [7 favorites]

Dear Madamina (and her galloping ADHD):
Do NOT stop what you're doing to take a photo of your desk just because The Whelk said so. REALLY REALLY do not take this opportunity to redecorate.
posted by Madamina at 1:25 PM on January 30 [14 favorites]

We sell bowling balls. Here's about 40,000 of them.

Upside down or not, I was actually disappointed that they were in boxes. I guess it's embarassing that I imagined there'd be 40,000 loose bowling balls rolling around in a big fenced in area in a warehouse. But it's true.

Goddamn I need another monitor. Is that part of the sign-up rules and I just skimmed that part?

I don't know about two monitors, but an open laptop in a docking station allows you to look (and keep) busy with "real" work in your monitor and still have MetaFilter open next door. Or so I've heard.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:26 PM on January 30 [7 favorites]

This isn't me but a friend of mines who watches that tiny wall clock a lot while he writes bad jokes.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:27 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

I guess it's embarassing that I imagined there'd be 40,000 loose bowling balls rolling around in a big fenced in area in a warehouse. But it's true.

100% ORGANIC
CAGE FREE
BOWLING BALLS
1 DOZ.
posted by griphus at 1:28 PM on January 30 [12 favorites]

Notice the professional website I am viewing. Sadly out of frame is my sweet Kate Beaton calendar.
posted by activitystory at 1:29 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

DESK. We sell wine. Sadly it is only coffee in that cup.
posted by something something at 1:31 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

Mine, in all of its bland, middle-management glory.
posted by JeffK at 1:32 PM on January 30 [3 favorites]

Wow I am having monitor inadequacy feelings.
posted by ambrosia at 1:33 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

Potomac: that's a bottle of Bulleit Burbon hiding there, isn't it?
posted by slogger at 1:33 PM on January 30

Yes, my friend says it reminds him what is important in life.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:34 PM on January 30 [4 favorites]

Mine is a bare cubicle with a 15" laptop and a chair. There is a single mug, a gift from the recruiting firm, which has tea in it. There are a few binder clips I play with when I get tired of staring at my computer, and a small notebook I doodle in to keep myself sane. My coworker's cubes are equally bare, except for awards they have won through the years.

There are no pictures because it is simply too dreadful.
posted by hellojed at 1:34 PM on January 30 [3 favorites]

Thank GOD! Because I need an excuse to tidy up, and I just set up a new area. With lighting! Pix tonite.
posted by carsonb at 1:34 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

This is mine, with the professional white background on display. Last year I could have shown you my private office with a door but they tore those down and stuck us all in cubes (not that I'm bitter or anything).
posted by octothorpe at 1:34 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

gaspode: "It's exciting stuff. And I need my copy of Functional Neurology for browsing metafilter."

.... ERS ....

What does the mug say?
posted by zarq at 1:35 PM on January 30

Does everyone have the same exact Polycom phone?
posted by griphus at 1:35 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

This is still reasonably accurate, but I have been putting off cleaning out my office, so maybe tomorrow I will strip it down and clean it and put it all back together, and do a photo series of the process just for y'all. People seem fascinated by the office-closet.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 1:37 PM on January 30 [9 favorites]

What does the mug say?

Oh, the most boring thing ever. HERS. A friend made my husband and I cheesy his and hers coffee mugs one time. He thought it was hilarious, but they are awesome mugs because they are big! Plus, my husband doesn't drink hot drinks, so I get them both to myself.
posted by gaspode at 1:38 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

I'm living at home while applying for art school so I've hijacked the family dining table for my nefarious creative purposes, meaning that my parents can't host any parties until April, muahahaha.
posted by brieche at 1:40 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

MetaTalk has been all weirdsies this week. It's awesome.
posted by Think_Long at 1:41 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

I love the fact that we do this regularly enough that I have a set on flickr just of photos of my desk.

When we really want to open the kimono, though, we will all post photos of the inside of our refrigerators.
posted by ambrosia at 1:42 PM on January 30 [4 favorites]

I am sadly between desks at the moment, and half of my stuff is at my other location. Also I'm really not supposed to have cameras in here because SECRETS but maybe once people leave this evening I will snag a depressing photo of depressing, nasty, fabric-covered cubicle walls. And a cactus.
posted by backseatpilot at 1:42 PM on January 30

The exciting desk of an office worker!
posted by royalsong at 1:43 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

I also have two (TWO!) slide rules on my desk, so nyah.
posted by backseatpilot at 1:43 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

Your tax dollars at work. Billings, MT Federal Building.

Currently quality-checking scans of those piles of reports. In preparation for moving to a new building we are reducing paper archives by 80%. Those will all get shredded.

(Picture of home office later.)
posted by The Deej at 1:44 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

wait....how many of us are sitting with our backs to pianos RIGHT NOW?
posted by The Whelk at 1:44 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

My desk.

[Rakim's is a horrible mess!]
posted by ericb at 1:46 PM on January 30 [7 favorites]

The Whelk: "wait....how many of us are sitting with our backs to pianos RIGHT NOW?"

Not me. But I do have a bookcase filled with medical implants, cosmetics and other assorted beauty products behind me. And a lot of binders.

Will have to clear the client-related paperwork and products off my desk before i can snap a pic.
posted by zarq at 1:50 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

I quit my job on Friday so I don't really have a workplace now unless watching Murder, She Wrote is work in which case I am really, really busy, far too busy to post to Metafilter.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 1:50 PM on January 30 [16 favorites]

Desk
posted by infinite intimation at 1:52 PM on January 30

I'm a big fan of sticky notes.
posted by alynnk at 1:53 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

Hoping that this shames me into cleaning it up a bit. Jesus.
posted by chococat at 1:53 PM on January 30 [10 favorites]

Wait, that is space, bed-desk, bed-desk more realistic
posted by infinite intimation at 1:53 PM on January 30 [3 favorites]

unless watching Murder, She Wrote is work

$2.5 million. Same as in Dream Town.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:53 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

It is physically impossible for me to sit with my back to a piano.
posted by Doleful Creature at 1:54 PM on January 30

My home "office". I got the spinner rack from a bookstore that was remodeling. Love having my paperbacks so accessible!

Enjoy the Commons category that my non-San-Francisco colleagues and I have: "Wikimedia Foundation remote staff offices".
posted by brainwane at 1:54 PM on January 30 [5 favorites]

Mrs. Pterodactyl: "watching Murder, She Wrote "

Man, if I were living in that town I'd be terrified of seeing Jessica show up on my doorstep or in my place of business. People were constantly dropping dead around her.
posted by zarq at 1:54 PM on January 30 [3 favorites]

my desk
posted by jacalata at 1:55 PM on January 30 [4 favorites]

I often work in this corner, under Charmander's stern watch.
posted by ignignokt at 1:55 PM on January 30 [3 favorites]

Oh man, infinite imitation, are you a top secret geologist or something? Because I don't know what you're doing, but I'm pretty sure you could just print second photo on a business card with "SCIENCE" and a phone number underneath and start some kind of expensive consultancy.
posted by WidgetAlley at 1:56 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

The Whelk: "wait....how many of us are sitting with our backs to pianos RIGHT NOW?"

I'm sitting with my front to a piano but only because it can't be trusted.
posted by brieche at 1:56 PM on January 30 [3 favorites]

the piano has been drinking
posted by The Whelk at 1:58 PM on January 30 [3 favorites]

Man, if I were living in that town I'd be terrified of seeing Jessica show up on my doorstep or in my place of business. People were constantly dropping dead around her.

zarq I think of you as a wide-eyed ingenue so I'm pretty sure you'd be okay. Jessica would take you under her wing and you can marry one of her nephews or something.

Also God I really do love this show.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 1:58 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

Mrs. Pterodactyl: "zarq I think of you as a wide-eyed ingenue "

Ha! :)
posted by zarq at 2:02 PM on January 30

This is weird. I just took a picture of my desk yesterday. Here it is.
posted by duien at 2:03 PM on January 30 [3 favorites]

Does this work?
posted by backseatpilot at 2:08 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

at the salt mine
posted by porn in the woods at 2:08 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

Mrs. Pterodactyl, you saw this thread yesterday, right?

(Because if I'm going to go on and on about my love of Murder, She Wrote in a public forum, I'm damn well going to make sure that somebody else who appreciates it sees it.)

Speaking of appreciation, my phone is acting weird so I can't take a picture, but as I framed it my mind's eye, I realized that the framed photo of my cats, my wind-up Dalek, the Thomas Pynchon book I read but never took home, and the Golden Age of DC Comics - 365 Days book I use as a desk calendar makes me feel like I've been posing my workspace for Metafilter for years. It's all authentically mine but seeing it all together and thinking about posting it makes me feel like I'm trying too hard to impress the group even when you aren't looking.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:10 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

Upside down or not, I was actually disappointed that they were in boxes. I guess it's embarassing that I imagined there'd be 40,000 loose bowling balls rolling around in a big fenced in area in a warehouse. But it's true.

I was friends with a guy in college whose little brother got obsessive about collecting stuff, and for a while collected bowling balls. When he'd go back home for the holidays he had to share a room with said brother, and there were always like twenty errant bowling balls underfoot, under the bed, under piles of clothes in his messy high school kid bedroom..
posted by tapir-whorf at 2:12 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

I don't have a desk.
posted by mollymayhem at 2:13 PM on January 30 [18 favorites]

You're the Phantom?
posted by The Whelk at 2:14 PM on January 30 [22 favorites]

The nature of my employment prevents me from entering the premises with a camera, but imagine: a menagerie of plants, several photographs of Boston Terriers (mine and others'), like 6 different calendars, tons of candy to keep my tribe happy, every type of office supply known to mankind, a decrepit Dell PC running Windows 2000, and reams upon reams of noxious bureaucratic paperwork atop a blisteringly un-ergonomic L-shaped desk, surrounded by decades-old water-stained beige cubicle walls, all overlooking one of my city's most blighted and dangerous blocks.

Life is good.
posted by divined by radio at 2:16 PM on January 30

Jesus, I'm a slob.
posted by Phredward at 2:17 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

Nah, just a stagehand. Sometimes I have a clipboard, but mostly I just have a toolbelt.
posted by mollymayhem at 2:18 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

Jesus, I'm a slob.

Your Rubik's cube is tidy
posted by The Whelk at 2:19 PM on January 30

Damn. Why did I see this AFTER I got home. I'll get one up tomorrow I guess
posted by ShawnString at 2:23 PM on January 30

I sit here.

It's a converted shower room, with textured paper over the tiles to make it look better. I am curious as to whether the safety pull to the right of the monitor is still hooked up to the hospital's system but have never checked. The heat lamp overhead does still work, which I take advantage of on cold days.
posted by rewil at 2:25 PM on January 30 [3 favorites]

Murder, She Wrote was my unemployment drug of choice this summer. That late night back to back set on the Hallmark Channel was a perfect lead out to NBC's Olympics coverage. It was also the perfect lead in to the next day's Olympics coverage.

My desk at work I can't share for reasons like divined by radio's but the only interesting thing in sight anyway is the Nats bobblehead on my neighbor's desk that peeks down over mine. Frank Howard agrees with every decision I make.
posted by troika at 2:26 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

Look-at-this-workstation-What-a-complete-slob.mp3 (quoted only because it is a great line, people's desks look excellent) also, a mirror world mefi, where the background is white, and the desks are messy)
posted by infinite intimation at 2:27 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

Home office. Overseen by Mr. David Gilmour.
posted by The Deej at 2:32 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

Here. Or sometimes here.
posted by book 'em dano at 2:35 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

Why, yes; this is my desk ... featuring model wind turbines, an RPN calculator, only one slide rule, a David Barnes sketch, an expired copy of the Canada Aeronautical Information Manual, and a do-nothing from Branson, MO.
posted by scruss at 2:36 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

I got a pretty good view of Stockholm from my desk.
posted by rpn at 2:37 PM on January 30 [9 favorites]

rpn: I see that you're still working in DN-skrapan! :)
posted by soundofsuburbia at 2:44 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

Yeah, OK. Here are some picture of the laboratory I work in.
posted by Scientist at 2:50 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

Straight ahead for Seattle Public Library, pivot left for Elliot Bay (though today it is too foggy to see it)
posted by Kwine at 2:50 PM on January 30

Here's a photo of me, at the office.
posted by soundofsuburbia at 2:50 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

It would be funny if it was this, but no, it's the next photo along.
posted by unliteral at 2:55 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

This is still my workplace desk. However! I just ordered a new desktop computer today. If it shows up while the thread is still open, I'll post a new photo. (Dell Optiplex 330, WinXP, L4U library software, etc etc..)
posted by Lynsey at 3:01 PM on January 30 [3 favorites]

I am relieved that I am a volunteer. Although I have an office in my house, I do not have a 'work' office. Therefore, I don't need to clean up for a picture. Actually, I am not sure that clean up is possible. Consider yourselves lucky because you would not be able to unsee the mess.
posted by Cranberry at 3:02 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

I don't have my laptop in the pictures because I'm using its webcam to take them, but at home here is my primary work space and a secondary one that I use on nice days.
posted by Blasdelb at 3:02 PM on January 30

my work bench

I'm a tech. I'm allowed to be messy right?
posted by right_then at 3:11 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

I remember doing this last year almost to the day, so I went and looked at the photo. Sort of sad, really, because my work desk still looks exactly like that right now - down to the types of paperwork on the desk, the pen, and the mug...
posted by gemmy at 3:22 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

I can only bust out my laptop if my son's asleep. When he's awake, there's too much damage control going on. This is what my corner of the toddler mines looks like at the END of the day. In the middle of the day... subtract the laptop, add in at least three sippy cups, some crackers, sixteen assorted cars/trucks, and a really stinky bear.
posted by sonika at 3:29 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

An old coffee table filled with some art projects is my connection to the world.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:37 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

Actually, if you want to talk about where I *work* as opposed to where I decompress on the internerds... it's this room.
posted by sonika at 3:44 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

Here are my favorite work spaces. And now, back to it!
posted by ChuraChura at 3:48 PM on January 30 [11 favorites]

I work all over the place, but you can get a look at my photo studio right on my website.
posted by blaneyphoto at 4:10 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

I'm a ski bum and work as a ski valet/doorman at the moment.
posted by pwally at 4:19 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

I work at an electric utility company. These (1,2,3) are from a month or so ago & unfortunately, my red poinsetta is now on its last beautiful legs. :(
posted by eunoia at 4:21 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

Here is my desk/office when I'm at the stables.
Here is my workspace at the workroom right now.
posted by Tchad at 4:23 PM on January 30 [6 favorites]

I had to take a picture of mine a few months ago to go with an article I wrote. It felt weirdly personal...so hey, why not post it here too.
posted by DestinationUnknown at 4:39 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

Here's mine.
posted by exlotuseater at 4:46 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

Here is mine .
posted by Fig at 4:52 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

Here is a view of my fishbowl.
posted by Rock Steady at 5:01 PM on January 30

My work desk is utterly unchanged from last year except for the stupid Epson scanner that died.
I added a display to my home setup since the last go-round, and my MOTU Traveller died, so I have a new audio interface. I've atcually been keeping it pretty clean -- no papers were disturbed in the taking of that picture.
posted by Devils Rancher at 5:13 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

This is where I am sitting right this very minute. (Also, I better get my ass in gear and finish putting out those new magazines...)
posted by sarcasticah at 5:14 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

I'm working at home now, this is behind me in the basement office (not be be confused with the upstairs office)... my primary job is chasing the Husky.
posted by HuronBob at 5:31 PM on January 30 [6 favorites]

I'm having a vicarious mini panic attack observing how many of y'all seem to work without the tinest little sliver of natural light.
posted by threeants at 5:47 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

My not-exactly-minimalist office, just now (it's quite bright during the day).
posted by thivaia at 6:14 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

The day star burns us.
posted by The Whelk at 6:16 PM on January 30 [6 favorites]

Here is my new desk. Much less fun than the old desk, but with actual money involved so yay!

This is where I am sitting right this very minute. (Also, I better get my ass in gear and finish putting out those new magazines...)

Stress pig! Stress pig! So round and SO ALERT. :)
posted by zennie at 6:21 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

My lovely cluttered home desk
posted by ColdChef at 6:24 PM on January 30 [5 favorites]

At the risk of being all sappy here, I just want to say how heartwarming it is to see in a lot of these photos "Postcard from a MeFite" or "Gift from a MeFite" or "MetaFilter art". My office and my home are full of cards, gifts, pictures, clothes, a fantastic towel, a lovely poster, a pack of pens, a dirty comicbook...all gifts from my imaginary friends who all live out on the internet somewhere. You are all lovely people.
posted by ColdChef at 6:51 PM on January 30 [11 favorites]

The surface upon which I work.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 6:57 PM on January 30 [3 favorites]

ColdChef gets only the *finest* dirty comicbooks, just FYI
posted by The Whelk at 7:01 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

"Disgustingly wonderful"
posted by ColdChef at 7:05 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

Autographed
posted by ColdChef at 7:07 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

I stand by my word.
posted by The Whelk at 7:12 PM on January 30

Workplace? I have no workplace. Hunted, despised, Living like an animal! The jungle is my workplace. But I will show the world that I can be its master! I will perfect my own race of people. A race of atomic supermen which will conquer the world!

/Currently between jobs.
posted by Artw at 7:25 PM on January 30 [3 favorites]

/Currently between jobs.

Come here! Jessica Fletcher just passive-aggresively disapproved of her ingenue friend's boyfriend and she is poised to meddle. God, that woman can meddle.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 7:28 PM on January 30 [7 favorites]

she's like a shark, if she stops meddling, she dies.
posted by The Whelk at 7:30 PM on January 30 [6 favorites]

This is basically what I have, though my external monitors match now. I love my stand-up desk.
posted by rockindata at 7:46 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

Oh, and it is an actual office, with a door. I love my door.
posted by rockindata at 7:48 PM on January 30

I don't really have a desk anymore, but (Warning: contains meat processing!) but this is where I work lately. When I'm doing paperwork it's sitting on the couch.
posted by stet at 7:56 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

she's like a shark, if she stops meddling, she dies

Also, she's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 7:59 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

Jessica Fletcher, Devourer Of Souls.
posted by The Whelk at 8:07 PM on January 30 [5 favorites]

Last time I posted a picture of my work bench which hasn't changed that much. If you'd asked this a few weeks from now I'd have a spiffy new Atomic Clock to show off.

So, here's my desk at home, sorry the cat isn't looking out the window. Yes, that's a plush Dalek.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 8:07 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

I'll play. A couple views of my desk at work.
posted by Miko at 8:16 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

Also, she's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes.

Jessica Fletcher, Devourer Of Souls.

Wow, these make me weirdly sad; yes her meddling is awesomely ridiculous but I also really like her and I think she is strong and kind and helpful and genuinely warmhearted. I don't think there's like a teen pregnancy episode of Murder, She Wrote or anything but I think that if one of Jessica's friends or some kid in Cabot Cove was struggling with being gay or getting an abortion in the early nineties Jessica Fletcher would be a thoughtful and understanding advocate. I mean she's always standing up to racists and heartless factory owners and stuff.

Also she actually is a genuinely strong female lead and basically every episode of Murder, She Wrote passes the Bechdel test and she's gracious and respectful without letting anyone push her around. People underestimate her and are constantly talking down to her because she is a woman but she holds her own and is considerate without letting them win and she never says I told you so because she is too classy and I can only assume she is an excellent tipper because she actually pays attention to people. Other characters might judge her for being pushy and nosy but the show itself never does and they never make her anything less than really smart. Basically if I end up as Jessica Fletcher when I'm older I'll be pretty proud of myself because she's smart and she's kind and she's thoughtful and she's confident.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 8:17 PM on January 30 [10 favorites]

I have a rather demanding in-basket.
posted by wallabear at 8:18 PM on January 30 [17 favorites]

she's like a shark,if she stops meddling,she dies

Also,she's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes.

Jessica Fletcher,Devourer Of Souls.

Y'all are confusing Jessica Fletcher with Mary Worth again...common mistake.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:23 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

Here are my favorite work spaces. And now, back to it!

Boulevard Pale Ale?! That's an old box too, the brewery is literally, across the street from me. How did that end up a foreign and exotic land (you will also piss off friends on the coasts who cannot get it)?
posted by geoff. at 8:53 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

I'm kind of cheating, since this was a day I was reformatting one of our lab's iMacs. IBM Model M, Topre RealForce, 2x 30" monitors, blah blah.

Poster is from the summer, but it's still up because I'm a narcissist.

The coffee machine is the biggest boondoggle ever. Jura X7.
posted by supercres at 9:01 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

Here's an 11-year-old picture of me standing in front of my workplace, which ran in the Boston Globe.
posted by not_on_display at 9:44 PM on January 30 [5 favorites]

Since the last time we did this, I moved and also switched from a desktop to a laptop. I actually blogged about my workspaces a few weeks ago as part of this blog series. It was hard to find stuff to talk about since my set-up is pretty minimal these days. So I just talked about my cat.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 10:22 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

an 11-year-old picture of me standing in front of my workplace, which ran in the Boston Globe.

I would have gone with something along the lines of 'platinum gazelle' to describe you, sir, and wouldn't hold it against you if you were a bit upset at the 'bronze rhino' the Globe went with.
posted by carsonb at 10:25 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]

Right now I work out of my kitchen. Which looks like this.

I would show you guys my "desk", but it's basically a kitchen table with a bunch of clutter, a laptop, and a Zabar's mug. The fridge as idea board is a lot more interesting, probably.

I use the top/freezer section for general brainstorming of new ideas (the close-up is some ideas for an Ada Lovelace thing which might be my next screenplay). The bottom/fridge section is a detailed outline of the thing I'm currently working on.
posted by Sara C. at 11:40 PM on January 30

Here's a photo from last year of my desk at home. You can see I have all the essentials: laptop, triceratopses, picture of a cat, 2l volumetric flask etc.
posted by daisyk at 12:08 AM on January 31

I am the manager of a half way house for zombies.
posted by y2karl at 12:26 AM on January 31 [2 favorites]

No pix handy ... but these four guys are always looking at me, keeping me honest.
posted by philip-random at 12:38 AM on January 31

I'm not allowed to photograph my workplace, which makes me sad, as I've got a cool tea mug with the (sadly appropriate) biohazard symbol on it that I wanted to show you.
posted by Harald74 at 12:50 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]

I am prohibited, as are many here, from photography in the office. However it does happen but the sights are far too ghastly to share, I'll spare you the sight of my colleagues.

This is the view from the window though.
posted by hardcode at 3:02 AM on January 31

Here's mine. You might just be able to catch a glimpse of my Finance Director in the foreground.
posted by MuffinMan at 3:26 AM on January 31 [4 favorites]

My desk is in the bedroom (the chair has changed, otherwise it's the same). It used to be in the kitchen. But I rilly rilly miss my old home office, because the view from my window had a big sky, and a mountain, and a sun and a moon.
posted by taz (staff) at 3:28 AM on January 31 [2 favorites]

sigh, mine haven't changed since last time, except at home the plants are bigger, and at work I have a second monitor
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 3:43 AM on January 31

Finally, here's my desk at home.
posted by carsonb at 3:56 AM on January 31

(Oh, but as I'm reminded just now glancing out the window – this view has occasional cats and birds, so that's cool. Yesterday I was treated to a 30-minute comedydramadocumentary of black and white cat mesmerized by a mocking bird while yellow cat crept up slowly and silently behind him in ambush. All the actors survived the making of this very special edition of Outside My Window.)
posted by taz (staff) at 4:02 AM on January 31 [5 favorites]

I don't have a desk either. I just grab whatever space is available.
posted by Stynxno at 4:23 AM on January 31 [9 favorites]

This is my "fun office".
posted by backseatpilot at 5:02 AM on January 31 [2 favorites]

what do you do styxno?
posted by PinkMoose at 5:30 AM on January 31

My lovely cluttered home desk
posted by ColdChef

Nope. Sorry. Not buying it. I refuse to picture ColdChef's desk as anything but piled with bodies in a giant in-box.
posted by The Deej at 5:41 AM on January 31 [5 favorites]

My desk is fairly boring except for my Certified* Office Monster. His name is "Bulgaroktonos's real name's Happy Little Monster," and he assists me with office tasks; he also keeps binder clips in his belly. I set up a Gmail account for him, but I don't know if he ever uses it.

My wife would also like me to point out that he made the Wall of Fame at the paint your own pottery place where we got him.

*I actually have a certificate for him.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 5:47 AM on January 31 [2 favorites]

Ok here's mine....kinda boring, but at least Im not using the folding table any more.
posted by ShawnString at 5:53 AM on January 31

I set up a Gmail account for him, but I don't know if he ever uses it.

He does! He sends me e-mails keeping me updated on things in your office. He is a very helpful and professional monster.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 5:59 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]

Since I have peeked into everyone else's workspaces, and because I've just finished one project and barely begun a new one —thus things have not yet descended into utter chaos— I took some photos of my workspaces with bonus cats.
posted by Orb at 6:10 AM on January 31

I decided to take one from the other direction this morning, including a bit of the environs.
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:25 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]

Here is where I pretend to work. The arch-shaped window is in the middle of the roof; it's an "eyebrow" type. My desk and our bed are in the attic of our built-in 1928 house.
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:26 AM on January 31 [2 favorites]

Love that eyebrow dormer, seanmpuckett.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:28 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]

Well, if you insist...

Desk 1 Desk 2 Desk 3

What, you don't have a separate desk for everything you do?
posted by pipeski at 6:28 AM on January 31

Here's mine.
posted by jazon at 6:36 AM on January 31

I am *currently self employed so this is where the *magic happens

*Not by choice not real magic
posted by Sailormom at 6:37 AM on January 31

My desk is in the bedroom (the chair has changed, otherwise it's the same).

Gee thanks taz for getting me all excited to see your workspace in your bedroom only to be met with a

403. That’s an error. We're sorry, but you do not have access to this page.
posted by Sailormom at 6:43 AM on January 31

oopsie... Okay, I just recopied the link and pasted, and it should work now.
posted by taz (staff) at 6:51 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]

Welcome to my office. Can I sort your mail, help you find a country, offer you a clipboard?
posted by obscurator at 6:51 AM on January 31

I guess you only remove staples for your real friends?
posted by taz (staff) at 6:58 AM on January 31

PinkMoose: what do you do styxno?

I have three titles: Vicar (i.e. Lutheran pastoral intern) & Director of Children, Youth, and Family Ministries & Director of Communications. I work at a church that currently has too little office space for all the new staff it recently hired. It's a grand old 100+ year old building, Tiffany everything, that has currently started the beginning stages of a new renovation to fix the office space/old-style worship space/the fact it has a high altar, etc etc.
posted by Stynxno at 7:01 AM on January 31

So, last time we did this this was my workspace, and it was the least humane place I've ever worked. Sick building, acres of 70's/80's office furniture outgassing, constant fluorescent flickering. It was awful. But!

We moved and now I have a lovely office, with a great view and huge windows and a door, and lots of room, and I keep waiting for someone to steal it from me it is so so so so so nice. (Panorama taken with Cycloramic, which is a hilarious and awesome app)
posted by dirtdirt at 7:03 AM on January 31

I would love to represent the blue collar here on the gray, but I'm pretty sure a picture of the inside of one of our trucks would be a terminable offense. Also I have no way besides twitter to upload photos.
posted by kavasa at 7:09 AM on January 31

You people with your neat desks and orderly work environments! I'm going to blow the curve. I'm in the midst of reorganizing my office & studio (which is excellent timing since I'm hip deep in a big project).

Since I showed the office half last year, here's my studio in it's disconfigured state.

I was originally going to use that awesome vintage green table as my new work surface, but I can't bring myself to actually do it (I don't want to ding it and stain it more than it already is), so I have to find new work surfaces. This is my excuse for not getting everything back in place.
posted by julen at 7:16 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]

You people with your neat desks and orderly work environments! I'm going to blow the curve

You have given me the courage to clean my desk. I mean, it's not as bad as...you know.
posted by ColdChef at 7:34 AM on January 31

You open your eyes to find yourself in an office, about three metres on each side. What would you like to do?

> LOOK

Leaning back in the chair and looking ahead seems to suggest that you lack interior design skills and are the kind of person who firmly believes that only people with small monitors say size doesn't matter.

> LOOK LEFT

To your left is an external wall, with a window looking out onto the Westway. It's fair to say its not one of West London's greatest views. Next to the window is a large canvas picture of dogs playing poker and a poster that carries the slogan "TRADITION: Just because you've always done it that way doesn't mean it's not incredibly stupid". Classy.


> LOOK BEHIND

Behind you is another external wall, constructed entirely of obscured glass bricks - the kind that were popular with coked up architects in the 1980s, who spent more time worshiping at the feet of Thatcher than worrying about the summer heating dynamics of the spaces they were constructing. You now understand why there is a fan in here.

> LOOK RIGHT

To your right is an internal glass wall, with blinds open. Beyond it are some people that you desperately hope aren't your staff, given that they all seem to be more concerned with throwing a ball around the office than actually doing any work. A sinking feeling in your heart, however, seems to suggest that they do indeed work for you.

> SHOUT AT STAFF TO DO SOME WORK

You look up from the text adventure about your office that you seem to be writing to shout at your staff about their productivity. Seriously. Are you really going to do this?

> NO

Damn straight.

> END GAME

Yeah, that's right, get out of here you hypocrite.
posted by garius at 7:36 AM on January 31 [12 favorites]

I was originally going to use that awesome vintage green table as my new work surface, but I can't bring myself to actually do it (I don't want to ding it and stain it more than it already is)

Have you thought about tracing the top or taking precise measurements to get a custom glass top? A shop will cut an exact piece for you for around $70.
posted by Burhanistan at 7:37 AM on January 31

Apparently I like having drink options while I work. I hadn't really noticed before now.
posted by VeritableSaintOfBrevity at 7:50 AM on January 31

I have considered a glass top actually. I'd be more likely to cover it with oil cloth or a tarp (so I could take it outside and hose it down). Glass is more slippery and if -- when -- I spill something liquidy, I think it's more likely that the liquid would end up between the table and the glass. Also, between glass cutter slips and dropped tools with blades and ends, I can see a glass surface going to heck. A large plywood top, however, with bumpers to fit it into place so it can't slide, might work, and still protect the top. hrm.
posted by julen at 7:53 AM on January 31

I have no workplace. Hunted, despised, Living like an animal! The jungle is my workplace.

Were you at least welcomed by Axl Rose?
posted by octobersurprise at 7:56 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]

I have considered a glass top actually.

Two of my desks are glass-topped, although you wouldn't notice unless you happened to drop by immediately after my monthly tidy-up. They do indeed trap liquids against the table if you have a spillage, which can be annoying. But on the positive side, they're nice and cool to the touch, and stand up to plenty of wear and tear. They're especially good for soldering.
posted by pipeski at 8:04 AM on January 31

I've found my deskelganger in ShawnString. I am looking at the same picture of Vincent, TARDIS mug (my youngest son gets a huge kick out of the effect), thermos (got as a gift by reccommendation of a 'Which Thermos?' AskMe), and MacBook (at least by size and vintage) right now. I'm not allowed to take pictures here, but substitute the surroundings for a very bland cube in a government office and you're halfway there.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 8:05 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]

my desk, super messy, but that's how it look at any given time, so. Filled with spiders, but the difference is that I want them there :)
posted by dhruva at 8:10 AM on January 31 [3 favorites]

Here's my desk in my bedroom.
posted by azarbayejani at 8:11 AM on January 31

Here is my desk. Not shown: the three small chihuahuas who are sleeping under it.
posted by ralan at 8:13 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]

I probably can't take a picture in here, so:

Imagine a room filled with long tables; 16 of them arranged in a line on one side of the room, 8 more on the other side. A row of offices occupies the space where 8 more long tables would go. Four long rows of file cabinets are set up paralell to the ends of each table, so each table is bracketed between a portion of file cabinets.

Each table sports eight people - four along one side, four along the other. Computer PCUs are tucked underneath each table in a cabinet; the monitors, phones, and chairs are all that differentiate between one person's work place at each table and the next. Some work spaces have two monitors; some have four. There is no physical barrier between one side of the table and the other, or between one workspace and another. A few monitors sport small flags from one nation or another, haphazardly clipped to the top of the monitor with binder clips.

The Empress is at the far end of the first table you come to upon entering the room, and is the only woman at this table. Her place bears a mousepad with a medieval-looking woodcut of a cat and the slogan "a harmless necessary cat," crediting that slogan to the play The Merchant of Venice; this mousepad appeared on her desk at a different job several years hence, and no one seemed to know from whence it had come, so The Empress kept it as a talisman as she moved from job to job during her Temp Work years, along with a few postcards and other artwork she liked. However, at this desk - because of the lack of vertical surfaces - there is no room for the X-Files postcard and the watercolor her mother made her, so the mousepad is the single personal stamp she has at her workplace. Last year, she additionally had a Mary Engelbreit-themed page-a-day calendar which she received as a gift from a cousin; The Empress is not a particularly huge fan of Mary Englebreit, but accepted it for its usefulness and the fact that it was a calendar she could actually use at her desk. However, as 2012 departed, so did the calendar (her cousin went with a different gift this year).

A file rack is the only thing separating her from her nearest neighbor at the table (a man who has the unfortunate habit of pounding angrily on the table when frustrated, even though The Empress has once very delicately requested he not do so).

The only ornamental detail in this room, saving the occasional flags at people's monitors, is a large sculptural hanging representing the company's logo on a wall over The Empress's shoulder, and a large semi-transparent decal, promoting an in-house networking tool, covering the bulk of one of the glass walls to an office at the far end of the room. Such a decal was also meant to cover a second glass wall nearer The Empress, but the assistant to the bearer of that office forbade the crew from hanging said decal on the grounds that it was "stupid-looking". (This is, in fact, a fair assessment.)

Find me another job. I beg of you.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:21 AM on January 31

My desk, my surroundings, my whiteboard. This is a "lab," though you wouldn't know it. I wish we had windows.
posted by invitapriore at 8:29 AM on January 31

Clinging to the Wreckage that was prob my askme too
posted by ShawnString at 8:29 AM on January 31

Here is my grim paper-strewn MDF crap desk at the sorrow factory where I am one of the chief sorrow engineers.
posted by Mister_A at 8:34 AM on January 31 [2 favorites]

Here's me. Super-messy desk, but nice view of Downtown Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan! The view in the other direction is even cooler; Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Red Hook, then Staten Island out in the distance. I can almost see my house from here!
posted by saladin at 8:35 AM on January 31

Clinging to the Wreckage that was prob my askme too
I was ready to be really amazed, but it wasn't your ask that I'm thinking of. I read yours though and the answers are almost identical to what I remember. MeFites *really* like Thermos Nissan it seems - and now that I have two I can see why.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 8:39 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]

Here's where this awesome elephant works!
posted by Mister_A at 8:53 AM on January 31 [3 favorites]

I realized the most important element of my desk in the Federal Building can't be seen in my earlier photo.

It's my Halliburton baseball cap. I keep it on my desk. I tell my coworkers it's my job security safety net as a Federal employee. When Halliburton finally takes over the entire Federal government and marches through our office, I can quickly don the cap to let them know I am "one of them."
posted by The Deej at 9:09 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]

When Halliburton finally takes over the entire Federal government and marches through our office, I can quickly don the cap to let them know I am "one of them."

Well, that's a depressing take on idea that it's nice to have a contact on the other side when the revolution comes.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 9:14 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]

Oh, I forgot the five televisions arrayed along one of the walls, all of them permanently and wordlessly tuned into CNBC.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:21 AM on January 31

Here's my replacement checking out his new desk.
posted by charred husk at 9:25 AM on January 31 [7 favorites]

I don't have a camera with me, but right now in my office there is a toy unicorn that poops rainbows and a singing Pinky Pie.
posted by mippy at 9:26 AM on January 31

Here is my desk at the ad agency. I got hired on at a time when they were rather pressed for funds (but more pressed for people) so that's an ancient monitor I scrounged up from one of the non-functioning workstations, my personal laptop^[1] and way too many cables than I care to account for ^[2]. But a little birdie told me that I'll be getting a Mac Mini to work on soon, which I am very excited about.

The more interesting parts about my workspace are the reversible posters behind me sending a status message to everyone else in the production room.

***

[1] There are actually loads of benefits to doing your official work on your personal computer, ease of iTunes syncing, the freedom to pick your own tools, and not worrying about using chat programs at work being chief among them. But it would be nice to have a computer with a wee bit more processing power that didn't lock up when I have all my requisite programs open. Also, I paid a fortune for this laptop, and I'd like it to not be as heavily used for someone else's profit if I'm not going to get compensated for its depreciation^[3].

[2] If anyone has any suggestions for how to easily manage an external monitor, a Time Machine back-up, an iPhone charger, an external mouse, an ethernet cable, and a power cord that doesn't involve 20 seconds of plugging stuff in and taking stuff out at the beginning and end of each day, that would be super. I have a USB hub that accounts for the iPhone charger and the mouse, but the Time Machine HD can't draw enough power through it so it really doesn't save me that much energy at the end of the day.

[3] Once an accountant...
posted by Phire at 10:00 AM on January 31

I swear I had participated in one of these before and was going to say "Mine looks the same as last time" but I can't find the last time so here is my desk before I covered it up with a lot of lunch conveyors.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:09 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]

Here's what passes for my desk these unemployed days.
posted by dersins at 10:31 AM on January 31 [2 favorites]

A rare moment when there's only one cat on my desk.
posted by jamaro at 10:31 AM on January 31

at work.
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 11:06 AM on January 31

quonsar II, how did you get your desk glued to the ceiling?....
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:07 AM on January 31

Geoff., that picture is actually my lab in Columbus OH (admittedly, an exotic place to some). The beer carton was used to carry stuff from STL, my previous home!
posted by ChuraChura at 11:15 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]

My desk. Do I win? Do I win worst most awful desk award? Does it help that out of frame is a graveyard of broken HPLC equipment?
posted by twoporedomain at 11:33 AM on January 31

My office is strange. A big room with a cubical inside it. The computer stays locked within the cube while I pace window to window, looking out unto my little mayberry, dreaming of the days when I will be free to frolic with the...

Oh. Desk. Album. I'm a programmer, so yes, I use all those screens. If you happen to know anyone with a need for a developer, it would be nice to be an employed programmer.
posted by Folk at 11:41 AM on January 31

twoporedomain:
"My desk. Do I win? Do I win worst most awful desk award? Does it help that out of frame is a graveyard of broken HPLC equipment?"

You'd be neck in neck with me, twoporedomain. I took a full cube picture minus the puppy and it is Dell Hell. I didn't post it due to some sensitive documents that were visible in the picture...

Heck. Here it is, lol.
posted by charred husk at 11:57 AM on January 31

Because of massive remodeling at work, my old desk is gone and my new desk is so cramped that I can't get a photo from the other side. My coworkers have to walk behind my chair all the time. I can't complain, though, because I just heard this summer I won't even have a desk.
posted by hydrophonic at 12:07 PM on January 31

Seeing all these different, and unique, places people work reminds me of those books I read with my kids....those "These Are The Places People Work". Its awesome.
posted by ShawnString at 12:41 PM on January 31 [1 favorite]

I don't have a desk. I work here.
posted by Decani at 1:39 PM on January 31 [1 favorite]

Thanks so much for this! I haven't gotten any less nosy since the last round.

When I do some of my paid writing work, I do most of the thinking, researching (and being sidetracked by MetaFiltering) from here. Considering that this week I'm dog sitting, I'm currently working under direct supervision. If I have to concentrate and write like a grown-up who is working like someone who works, I'll move here. The ugly truth is that today is a housework day, so though I'm at my "desk" with my laptop, I'm looking at this.

In other domestic issues, I work here - both with household management and wife and mother business stuff (it is so work) and in re-selling and renting vintage tchotchkes.

But when I work at the school, I work here and here and yes, here.

I'm also currently working at clearing out and getting my in-laws' house ready to sell. Very sadly, that means my "desk" is here.
posted by peagood at 2:17 PM on January 31 [3 favorites]

Showing you the place I work for science! insert comma as needed
posted by wanderingmind at 3:32 PM on January 31 [2 favorites]

Stress Pig, aka Squeezy Pig, came from my husband's workplace. Up until a couple of weeks ago, Squeezy sported tiny paper antlers and a red nose. Perhaps he shall have bunny ears for Easter. (Librarians get a little bored sometimes...) He's a very therapeutic Pig; today when I got to work my coworker had him in a death grip.
posted by sarcasticah at 3:39 PM on January 31

I almost moved my laptop off my coffee table to my unused desk. Instead, I left it where it physically was, but closed all tabs and turned off my bookmarks.
posted by RainyJay at 3:39 PM on January 31 [1 favorite]

Here is my office, and my office assistant. This picture is from last year, but it looks eerily the same this year.
posted by drlith at 4:12 PM on January 31 [1 favorite]

I wanna play.

Here I am behind the kind of "desk" I usually work at. We'll be getting a couple of these soon.

This is my desk for actually doing office-type work. This is some of the rest of my "office."

This is the warehouse area where I actually spend most of my time when I'm not doing something like this or this or this.
posted by soundguy99 at 4:32 PM on January 31 [1 favorite]

Here's the same pic of my desk at home except on flickr, and just for kicks I put up the background image on my desktop too. That image is as far as I've gotten referencing this inquiry on enlarging offset/half-tone prints. I did the editing myself and it was really easy but I am still outrageously proud of the result. (I am still looking for print shop recs. I had one printed but the colors came out all dull and muddy.)

I rotate desks at work based on what's available, and what's available just isn't worth the digital and mental space taking and looking at a photo of it would require.
posted by carsonb at 4:45 PM on January 31

This is my desk old door at work.
posted by tallus at 5:20 PM on January 31

Current desk mess, with thorough annotations; compare and contrast with similar shot from last year.
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:25 PM on January 31

Ok! I am finally on the internet after rearranging my office. As promised, here are pictures.

1. Stripped most of the way down. (To remove the desk and chair, I would have to actually disassemble them, and I'm far too lazy.) The closet is about five and a half feet square, although with the layout of the door and the shelves it looks longer than it is wide. This is post-cathair-removal - the downside to not moving every year or so is that it builds up to blizzardlike drifts in remote corners.

2. The Desk. This is a shitty $60 IKEA desk that I bought at least ten years ago. It looked exactly this terrible within about six weeks and hasn't changed since - but it's survived any number of moves. Let's hear it for plywood and cheap aluminum pipes!

3. The Last Beanie Baby. A gift from my little sister. He used to lurk on top of my old CRT, but had to move to a higher perch when I got the LCD.

4. The rest of the furniture. I should really take a picture with the computer on - it's an absolutely ridiculous Alienware box, and it glows red. Nice laser printer scrounged from a video game office closure - serious UPS/surge protector likewise.

4b. The shelves. For software and tchotckes. These were a relatively recent addition - cheapo modular units from Target. I am a bit of a sentimentalist when it comes to keeping boxes of games I worked on. (Bigass collectors editions live on the real bookshelves.) Covered with leftover corkboard so they double as cupholders.

5. Loaded up. See, now it looks like a closet. (I still need to sort and fold all of my tshirts and things, but those will go on the high shelves.)

5b. A little buried. It's really not as bad as it looks.

6. The real experience. Yes, I have a red party bulb installed in the closet - the clip-on lamp is for when I need to see the colors of my clothes. It seems to help me fall asleep some, since I work kind of late and am on the computer right up until bedtime. (The cat is also a permanent fixture. Man, she was sooo upset while I was moving things around.)
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 5:27 PM on January 31 [4 favorites]

I finally culled most of my game boxes in the last move, r_n. I did photograph them, though.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:40 PM on January 31

I especially like the cat-sconce.
posted by Devils Rancher at 5:56 PM on January 31

Or is that wainscating?
posted by Devils Rancher at 5:58 PM on January 31

Here's my desk. The view is better in autumn.
posted by jeoc at 6:15 PM on January 31

Firefox ignores the EXIF Orientation. That's hilarious.
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 6:48 PM on January 31 [1 favorite]

I recently changed desks so mine is rather empty at the moment. But I'm enamored of my adorable desktop wallpaper.
posted by capricorn at 7:13 PM on January 31

And, when I'm not chasing the Husky, this is the downstairs desk. I'm hanging out down here a lot, the woodstove is here...

Yes, that's a Detroit Tigers English D. And, yes, we've decided to keep the tree up all year, we like the lighting.... The repurposed entertainment center is pretty much full of the kids old Lego sets.

I have to get back to work now, people are wrong on the internet, I need to fix that!
posted by HuronBob at 7:57 PM on January 31

My office in my loft with a temporary desk. I am researching a new desk - I may have one built - any carpenters/cabinet makers among mefites?

This vast space is new to me. I worked for about 8 years in a space that was about double the size of restless nomad's cozy little nook. Now that I have enough room, some of my clients come visit me instead of the reverse.

I love these threads. I am a voyeur at heart, love peeking in your home and office spaces. It gives me a touch of Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response ;-) Fun to see some non-office environments. Y'all are an interesting crew.
posted by madamjujujive at 8:02 PM on January 31 [6 favorites]

I'm often mobile: it's not unusual that I have to work from a motel room.
posted by pjern at 8:18 PM on January 31

Here's a picture of part of my desk.

Here's a picture of a visitor that came to check in on me a few days after I moved into the new office.

And here's the new tumblr I just started a couple days ago, with nothing but pictures taken out the window from my desk.
posted by Balonious Assault at 9:59 PM on January 31 [3 favorites]

My desk is way, way too messy to reveal to the Internet just yet. Maybe tomorrow...
posted by en forme de poire at 10:08 PM on January 31

Here's my home office. It's very cosy. The building used to be a clothing mill in Victorian times and the brick is from then. The desk is an old partner desk I brought with me from San Francisco.

We live in the Cotswolds in England. The windows on the left have a pleasant view of a green hill with cows grazing and sometimes even rainbows.
posted by vacapinta at 2:55 AM on February 1 [9 favorites]

Here I am this year in a new location and everything.
posted by safetyfork at 5:07 AM on February 1 [1 favorite]

My cubicle. The clipboard holds a list of who is responsible for bringing in bagels each Friday. I'm still not 100% sure why I'm the Keeper Of The Bagel List.
posted by Karmakaze at 6:59 AM on February 1

Not suggesting anything, but "Keeper Of The Bagel List" is an anagram for "Free Peek: Hot Legal Bits."


Not my place to judge.
posted by taz (staff) at 7:27 AM on February 1 [2 favorites]

Here's me! Annotated for the Real Grad Student Experience.
posted by pemberkins at 7:30 AM on February 1 [3 favorites]

I do have a desk; I'm at it right now. It is in a dingy, dusty, fluorescent-lit office with a well-used bathroom beside it. It's appallingly cluttered.
Luckily, I don't spend much time in it because I mostly work outside, often in very pretty places. I don't have any good photos here, but here's a video (kinda boring) from a couple months ago.
posted by Red Loop at 7:55 AM on February 1

madamjjj, I am so jealous of your loft. Man, all that natural light!
posted by Phire at 8:27 AM on February 1 [1 favorite]

I'm a little late to this party, but I wanted to give a shoutout to my own sweet Desk by a Window. It has unicorns and owls and a plant!
posted by redsparkler at 9:51 AM on February 1 [1 favorite]

do cafes and a regular spot in a community workspace count?
posted by okbye at 10:15 AM on February 1 [1 favorite]

My 'office', storyboarded and pinned just for ya'll.

I'm at home and lazy, so the first pic is my bedroom.* I'm learning to get used to a new tablet right now, so I hang out in there with the cats most days, despite having a perfectly good (but really cluttered!) den I could use, full of lovely books.

Probably best, as I'd just get distracted, anyway.

*WTF, so Pinterest uses FILO? Bah.
posted by misha at 11:03 AM on February 1

I'm so late to the party! We just moved to new space, so taking photos seems appropriate. I tidied up my desk a bit for the photograph, but my lab bench can be seen in pristine, natural conditions. I also included the most depressing "fortune" I have ever seen.
posted by maryr at 11:41 AM on February 1 [3 favorites]

I was going to post earlier but I've been at work way too much this week, which seems to fit somehow. This is my office desk. I share with one other person (one because they only put two computer ports in our actually quite large room). And this is my lab bench where I was setting up an experiment this morning that I then fucked up right at the last minute so won't have the beautiful results for lab meeting next week I was counting on. I also spend quite a lot of time at my desk at home, but it's covered in all kinds of crap so no photo.
posted by shelleycat at 11:44 AM on February 1 [1 favorite]

Phire, wonderful natural light, I am so lucky - I think that every day. And when the weather is wild outside, I almost feel in it. Electrical storms are very dramatic.
posted by madamjujujive at 11:51 AM on February 1

Wow, these are amazing. I love the lab shots, and the ones with window views, but especially the humor in all the descriptions.

I am doling out favorites like whoa: Leonardo da Vinci book holding up a monitor? Sure! Cute monster toys? Obviously. Stuff we are not allowed to steal? Well, okay, why not.

And it's an automatic favorite for anyone who prefers tea over nasty black coffee, precious.
posted by misha at 12:16 PM on February 1 [2 favorites]

Mine from the sunny (but COLD) south.
posted by raisingsand at 1:50 PM on February 1 [1 favorite]

shelleycat - are recently poured gels? That is something I do not missed from my old lab. (Especially since I can buy the ones with 26! lanes from Biorad)
posted by maryr at 1:54 PM on February 1 [1 favorite]

Yep, late to the party as usual but here's my epically messy desk (hopefully I get bonus points? for the standard issue government wall calendar and the Northwest Coast design orca hanging out amongst the interoffice mail envelopes).
posted by gudrun at 2:06 PM on February 1 [3 favorites]

charred husk - that's pretty good, but you need more messy piles.
gudrun - that's what I'm talking about.
posted by twoporedomain at 2:22 PM on February 1

gudrun - it isn't your physical desktop that makes me cringe but your virtual one. FOLDERS, man!
posted by maryr at 2:39 PM on February 1 [2 favorites]

Oh maryr, but I do have plenty of folders, that's the sad part about it. The desktop is usually just cluttered with hot button stuff I am working on "right now", which then gets put in folders or dumped as things cycle out of red hot panic mode. It's a reflection of how many tasks I am actually doing simultaneously at any one time.
posted by gudrun at 2:44 PM on February 1

I don't have any pictures, so here's a video of my workplace. I'm not in it but I know most of the people who are. I had a cameo in another video they did a few years ago, but I don't think it's online.
posted by TedW at 4:43 PM on February 1 [1 favorite]

While we're all playing around with desk pictures, there are plastic placemats exploding on the green. Get back to work, people!
posted by raisingsand at 6:14 PM on February 1 [1 favorite]

Stress pig meets his cousin Squeezy pig.

Family portrait.
posted by zennie at 6:31 PM on February 1 [2 favorites]

That's awesome, Zennie!! Squeezy Pigs for everyone!
posted by sarcasticah at 7:33 PM on February 1

Yes they're poured gels. My lab did buy in some precast but didn't like them for some reason I'm not sure of. Pouring gels with the Atto system is super easy though, and was by far the least annoying part of my most annoying day.
posted by shelleycat at 9:45 PM on February 1

Here are my desks, plus the collage that has been moved and re-assembled five times in the last three years. The desk on the right was my grandfather's old illustration desk from when he did the posters for Ringling Circus, among other things. It serves as my computer/writing desk now because it's far too warped and messed up to draw on.

On the left is my old drafting board from college that simply serves as a nice smooth drawing surface (the mayline is still attached, though, in case I want to relive the glory days).

The physical shape of my bedroom/home office is pretty bizarre; what you're looking at is the exterior wall, which cuts in at 30 degrees, while at the same time the wall on the left cuts out at 45 degrees. The living room is a nice hexagonal shape, but boy is that a weird corner.
posted by daniel striped tiger at 2:55 AM on February 2 [3 favorites]

Here's my desk in the corner of my home office/music room. Even though this was my work-from-home office for five years, most of the shelves are actually filled with notebooks, drawing pads, pens and markers, and other implements of creative enthusiasm. The desk is actually a table that was one section of a much larger conference table from my old office. Also pictured is another souvenir from my old office, a platinum plaque for Billy Squier's Don't Say No.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 4:30 AM on February 2

I corrected a typo above and somehow lost the link to the picture - HERE'S my desk
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 4:50 AM on February 2 [1 favorite]

My lab did buy in some precast but didn't like them for some reason I'm not sure of.

Lack of flexability? Takes up tons of refrigerator space. Relatively short use by date? Smiling dye front? Stop me when I get to one you like.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 8:00 AM on February 2

Here is my aforementioned (and previously) old office as it looks today. I'm going to miss that window, even though it looked out onto a brick wall.
posted by hydrophonic at 11:16 AM on February 2

Why is this so fascinating and why do I feel compelled to look at every single picture?
posted by bongo_x at 3:26 PM on February 2 [3 favorites]

ugh

my cube mate is a dick
posted by Lou Stuells at 4:54 PM on February 2 [4 favorites]

I have a new home office this year. I took a panorama so I could share the great map of Oregon I have hanging on one wall.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:44 PM on February 2 [1 favorite]

my cube mate is a dick

ooh I love the "I want your lunch" stretch. soooo cute
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 3:54 AM on February 3 [2 favorites]

I WISH MY OFFICE HAD A PARROT!
posted by Miko at 5:55 AM on February 3 [1 favorite]

I don't want to downplay the awesomeness of my buddy, but one must not overlook the fact that apart from stealing lunch, parrots are also fond of screaming, masturbating, and pooping on one's shoulder. Depending on your office culture, worker morale may or may not be bolstered by these factors.
posted by Lou Stuells at 10:52 AM on February 3 [5 favorites]

fond of screaming, masturbating, and pooping on one's shoulder.

Sounds like more than one of my previous law firms.
posted by ambrosia at 11:17 AM on February 3 [3 favorites]

There's a guy in a our neighborhood who sometimes brings his macaw to our local brunch place. The bird is really beautiful. And noisy. And clearly very smart in a way that I find terrifying.
posted by rtha at 11:29 AM on February 3 [2 favorites]

I imagine the gel thing was more to do with money since most things are. We don't have a lot and lab consumables are significantly more expensive here than in the US. Plus the suppliers are often bad and getting them to actually send us stuff can be surprisingly difficult, so making our own probably makes sense. But I also remember it being kind of political for some reason so I stayed out of it.

Even the cheapest, most perfect gel doesn't mean shit when you transfer the protein the wrong way, which is what I did on Friday sigh.
posted by shelleycat at 12:02 PM on February 3

Significant upgrade over last time!

Sadly, even the best and most beloved vintage secretary desk that's the only really good piece of furniture you own comes up a bit short with respect to dealing with modern electronics and all their cords.
posted by EvaDestruction at 5:24 PM on February 3 [1 favorite]

I've got several hats that I wear. I made this video a few years ago of my primary workplace for the "My Day, Yesterday" Flickr group (it also involves a kitty adoption), and here's a pic of my pop-up workshop inside a cafe. Here's a few bird's-eye perspectives. Sometimes other MeFites come to visit!
posted by ikahime at 6:36 PM on February 3 [1 favorite]

Finally remembered. My desk is not usually so Horst-themed, but it was today.
posted by frimble at 9:06 AM on February 4

Here is my very dull desk. Metafilter added for extra life-life effect. You can't see the space heater behind me, or hear the Dinosaur Jr that is playing.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 10:44 AM on February 4

This is a great thread. I'm learning so much about how it's important that one's desk is actually a place that is accessible and that allows one to do stuff, and not simply an area to throw one's laundry on top of as one desperately tries to get the fuck out the door, to pick up one's four year old tyke from pre-school, who although is stupifyingly cute (really, that's not just me talking...), is decidedly NOT a desk.

So yeah, Metafilter, what would I do without you?? I really really need to try and get my desk up and going again and this is some good inspiration...



{Griphus, I would kill for your desk set up, you bastard...I so hate you...kinda...}
posted by Skygazer at 1:08 PM on February 4 [1 favorite]

Maybe if I spouse madamjujujive now, it won't seem so odd when I start moving my stuff into her loft.
posted by Devils Rancher at 1:14 PM on February 4 [7 favorites]

I can just stare out at madamjujujive's space and feel the tension dissolving...and my mind re-ordering itself....


OOOMMMmmmRiko..etc...
posted by Skygazer at 1:25 PM on February 4 [1 favorite]

Obviously not exactly my everyday desk, since I had to wait a week to get the picture, but I still put in a lot of hours here. I'd have taken one from the air but it was dark by the time I got up there.
posted by villanelles at dawn at 8:18 PM on February 6 [7 favorites]

That's pretty funny, Villanelles, as I frequently imagine being able to throw my desk out an airplane flying over the sea somewhere, without parachute though.
posted by Skygazer at 10:59 AM on February 7

These pictures aren't really of my desk-- just imagine a generic office desk with a nice iMac sitting on it, and shelves on the wall behind-- but these are the windows I sit beside.
posted by jokeefe at 8:34 PM on February 7 [1 favorite]

That's a fantastic pictures, villanelles.
posted by maryr at 1:19 PM on February 8

I moved into a new office today! It has a professional white background.
posted by carsonb at 5:44 PM on February 8

Thanks, maryr! I always forget to take pictures of stuff, but I was determined to get one this time.
posted by villanelles at dawn at 11:47 AM on February 9