I don't often talk about work on this blog but every once in a while I feel I must because I get the impression that some of you think I'm permanently on vacation here in the South Pacific! Unfortunately, having not won the lottery (or
bonus bonds), work is actually a big part of my life and I thought you might be curious to know what it looks like inside a kiwi office.
This building was renovated and refurbished about seven years ago and was the first
green building in NZ to be given a 5-star rating. You can read more about it on
this page at the Ministry for the Environment (MFE). This is the inspiring view up into the main atrium:
Now let me give you a little tour of the less spectacular aspects of office life. I will be pointing out some things that I don't think you would typically find in an American office, but correct me if I'm wrong! I've hardly worked in American offices, as it turns out.
Just near my desk was the kitchen, where you'll notice a large orange cabinet. That's the
Civil Defence cabinet, which houses all sorts of supplies in case of a natural disaster -- namely an earthquake, a tsunami, a flood, a fire, or -- if we're really lucky -- a combination of all those pleasantries. Click
here to see what sorts of things you might find inside your Civil Defence cabinet.
There's plenty of earthquake-related things in the kiwi office. Following the
Christchurch earthquakes, it has become more and more common to see water containers under everyone's desk. These were my water containers:
Also by the nearest exit, you'll find the Floor Wardens' gear. Floor Wardens ensure everyone is cleared from their floors in the case of emergency. While I was at DOC, we had plenty of fire drills, which most people used as an opportunity to go for a coffee with friends (after checking in with their Warden of course).
Now onto other aspects of daily life -- here is the door to the bathroom. I just wanted to show you the use of the Maori language at Conservation House. Pretty cool! "Wahine" is the word for woman.
In a random note, you may have heard of the
Wahine wreck, which sits at the bottom of the mouth of Wellington Harbour. The ferry went down in April 1968 in a terrible storm, killing 53 passengers.
Onto happier topics! Summer feet! It's not unusual to see kiwis in bare feet all over NZ, including in offices in the summer. Kiwis love walking around with no shoes on! It's a very interesting phenomenon.
And now onto some kiwi quirks. I haven't developed a concrete theory on this yet, but over my years here, I've noticed that kiwis like to tell you some really obvious things. I think they're trying to remain polite while trying to tell you something that actually really ticks them off. So you end up getting little notes or signs all over your office that say things like this:
"If you unplug this, please plug in again"
I think this is a fine example of the kiwis' non-confrontational temperament. An American would have just gone up to the person who they saw unplug this plug and said, "Hey man, you just unplugged my computer!".
Finally, we come to some posters on the kitchen notice board. This one made me laugh every time I filled up my water bottle:
Possum fur insoles to keep your feet warm! As you may know, the possum is
public enemy number 1 in NZ. The kiwis run them over for fun on the open roads.
So my friends, that's a little glimpse into office life in Wellington. Sadly, I now work in a much older and shabbier building so don't go thinking all offices in New Zealand are built to a five-star green rating. Far from it! The building I currently work in doesn't appear to have been cleaned since about 1985. Mould and dust abound. Meanwhile just last week a colleague of mine got stuck in the lift for an hour. Fun times.
Posts
