A Quick Post about the perils of not knowing what cord goes where on your desk
Like many of us that work in offices, I have many devices and hardware items on my desk. I’ve got the one functional electric pencil sharpener in the entire building. I have a laptop, two monitors, a mouse, a keyboard, a scanner, and much more. It all has a function in my day – usually. I recently noticed that the outlet cover behind my desk is broken and should be replaced. Replacing broken things is actually part of my job, and I’m not entirely incompetent. I have put on many outlet covers in my day! It should be a piece of cake, right?
Well, not really. All those devices are plugged into that one outlet with the help of two rather large power strips, and none of the cords are labeled or identified. It’s a detective story–follow the clues of the cords to the solution of which device is which. Adding to the general chaos is the fact that the wires and plugs from monitors, mouse, keyboards, etc., are not neatly gathered together with a zip tie or velcro as my husband insists on in my house. They’re all tucked wily nily behind other things on the desk. It’s a bit of a nightmare, to be honest. Looks more like a rat’s nest than anything else.
Let’s begin the process first thing in the morning. That makes sense, right? Not my finest hour (or rather hours.) I had come in early-ish to get this done. I genuinely believed I could accomplish this project in ten minutes or less. I started unplugging cords from the power strips, as working backward made sense.
The first issue was that one of those cords controls the keypad for the door lock. This tidbit is something that NO ONE knew. My coworkers were out in the lobby frantically entering the code repeatedly, and I couldn’t let them in because I was busy banging my head under the desk. Someone finally yelled loudly enough for me to hear the panic, and I just manually opened the door. It did not occur to me that I was indeed the cause of the door malfunction, and I went in search of batteries for the locking mechanism.
By this time, I had to start my workday, so I quickly plugged everything back in, banging my head against the desk the whole time. Side note: I’m now filthy since under or behind the desk is not where the cleaner looks or has ever looked. Fortunately, I had only unplugged from the power strips, not the actual devices. Lesson learned. Do this AFTER work. I also was relieved that the keypad on the door was now working without me having to replace the batteries.
I made a new plan to do this on a Friday evening after closing the office. How long can it take when there’s no pressure?
Let me tell you. I had to move the extremely heavy 1970’s era desk. I had to unplug sixteen cords and find out where they went. I had to vacuum because I’m not leaving those dust bunnies under there any longer. I have to pick up six dozen pens and pencils. Then I had to dust the power strips, which apparently are yellow, and I thought they were gray. The fun part hasn’t even started yet! I still had to put everything back together and ensure everything worked properly.
Long story short here. I banged my head a lot under the desk, hurt my knees kneeling so long trying to clean, and could not quite get the massive desk to budge far enough to get to the broken outlet cover. However, I did discover five cords under there that went precisely to nothing. Five. Where are the devices that went with those cords? No one knows. They are neatly wrapped up with the label “ unknown.”
I’ve made an appointment with the facilities manager to move my desk and replace the broken outlet cover. My knees can’t take another go, and I probably got a concussion too. During that appointment, I will be labeling and organizing the cords.
Northstarr Recommendations
- Label your wires and cords!
- Ask your tech department if you should actually be attempting to move things around.
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