Comments on: Paper

By: Peter Cameron

Peter Cameron — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:55:33 +0000

People used to smoke in their offices. Now that this no longer happens, the argument loses a lot of its force.

By: Peter Cameron

Peter Cameron — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:54:25 +0000

Ironically, they consider papers on the floor to be a trip hazard, whereas in fact my carpet is loose and constitutes a greater trip hazard now that I have uncovered it.

By: Robert Bailey

Robert Bailey — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:24:51 +0000

This may be apocryphal, but a story was told about a mathematics professor employed at an institution a few miles away from one where I used to work, whose office was so full of junk that during an inspection it was declared a fire risk by the local Fire Department.

By: Perdita Stevens

Perdita Stevens — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:15:41 +0000

Is it really because they care about tidiness, or is it because the amount of paper around constitutes a fire hazard? I have a small amount of sympathy with the latter complaint (which we get here too) but none with the former.

By: Peter Cameron

Peter Cameron — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 08:38:03 +0000

Thanks, everyone, for your comments.

Nigel: if you had seen my office, you could probably come to the right conclusion.

In fact, the administrators are too busy with directives of this sort to read what I write here.

By: Nigel White

Nigel White — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:14:02 +0000

I spent many years of my corporate business life trying to wind up the tidy desk police – it became quite a sport in the end. Once I got the official corporate photographer for the annual review publication to take a very artistic picture through my piles of clutter – which I proudly showed whenever the thought police arrived.

Is one of the professors they are targetting you, or can’t you say?

By: Klas Markström

Klas Markström — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:38:21 +0000

Vice-principals at Queen Mary must have a lot of spare time if they have time for Kafkaesque nonsense like this!

By: Laurent

Laurent — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:14:05 +0000

I will not debate the nonsense of this situation, but I have good news: It is in fact possible to preserve a well-functioning cluttered mind in a tidy office.
After all, no Vice-Principal has yet found a way to tidy up minds.

By: Ross Templeman

Ross Templeman — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:06:46 +0000

Indeed. From what I recall of my undergraduate maths studies at Queen Mary, the lecturers were frequently visited at their offices by students. Moreover we may assume that students constitute the overwhelming majority of such visitors. Last time I checked students aren’t exactly…….how can I put this delicately…..diligent in their neatness. So who are the administrators trying to impress?