My Messy Desk

How can you tell which office desk is mine?  I offer two clues.

First, if I’m in the office, I’m probably sitting behind it.  That seems obvious.

But secondly, unlike any other desk in my three-story office building, mine is always the messiest.

Years ago, I grew tired of searching through the multitudes of paper covering my desktop for the one piece of paper I needed, even though I usually knew exactly where it was.  So I spent an afternoon working with my assistant to clear everything off my desk.  We went through every paper and filed each one in its proper folder. When I left my office that day I was very pleased with myself.

I should have started an office betting pool as to how long my desktop would remain orderly.  Perhaps if I had bet on forever my desk would still be organized today because I don’t like to lose a bet.

But alas, my desktop remained clear for about nine months.  Then, one afternoon as I was leaving for the day, I noticed one piece of paper out of place on the desk.  This sparked an internal argument.

“Deal with that piece of paper right now, or it’s over,” I thought.

“I don’t want to.” I thought back.

I’ve noticed that whenever I argue with myself, I lose.  Of course, I also win.  In this case I was right about what would happen if I didn’t listen to myself. I left the paper on my desk, and the next day there were three pieces of paper out of place, and the next day fifteen, and then… It has remained cluttered ever since.  And “ever since” means about twenty years.

I’m writing this at home where, as you might expect, my desk is also cluttered.  Fortunately, my two large computer screens here hide most of the chaos.  But if I really looked, I bet I would find papers from four or five years ago. Sigh.

I also suspect that a standing joke in my office might be, “If you can’t find something, go look on Alan’s desk.”

Thank goodness for computers which force me to save documents in searchable files where I can easily find them.

That is what I call progress.

Alan