How should I push back against people arguing that they don't need to help me? [closed]

Question

I work in an office. I'm in a new hire set of 4 cubicles that they put near the kitchen. The other 3 cubes are empty, no one sits near me. The IT setup is that we use a desktop computer with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse. When someone uses the microwave in the kitchen, my keyboard and mouse lose connection. This makes it incredibly difficult to work between 11:30am and 1:15pm or so. Here's what I've tried to solve the problem over the past 2 weeks:

• I told my manager about this. He showed me a PDF of his org chart and asked me to identify where the microwave fell on it. I said that it wasn't on there and he said "So it follows that this is not a problem that I need to solve" and left.
• I emailed IT for help. I received an email that my request was improperly submitted so it wouldn't be reviewed.
• I asked my manager for help submitting an IT request. He said that the next training on IT change requests wasn't scheduled until Q3. I asked if he could help me submit this one for now and he said that that doesn't appear as a task under his queue.
• I asked one of my coworkers if I could watch him submit an IT request next time he submitted one. He said that there wasn't compelling evidence to assign me a stakeholder role on an upcoming IT change request.
• I managed to get a hold of the director of facilities engineering while he was in the kitchen - he maintains things like this. He told me that he's only responsible for ensuring functionality of the facilities and that this wasn't his problem. This I actually agree with.
• I did a ton of digging through our shared drives and found an old IT change request form. I copied it and filled it out and submitted a request for a wired keyboard and mouse to be installed at my desk. IT responded that doing this doesn't make sense because it would violate our security policies.
• I submitted another IT change request asking for some kind of shielding to be installed on my cubicle walls. This was denied because I failed to provide sufficient qualification and validation.
• I'm somewhat friendly with one of the IT people and tried to chat with him at lunch about how difficult this has been. He said that there's no way his manager would allow him to work on this since neither of us are assigned the job codes necessary to determine new security policies.
• We have a quarterly skip-level meeting with our managers' managers. I told my grand-manager about all of this and if there's any way he could help me and he said that this is something I need to get used to in the workplace and solving it on my own would be a good opportunity for growth.

I think what I need is for my manager and the IT manager to speak to one another, but they all act really robotic and refuse to perform work units not in their queue, and I'm not able to assign them work units. There's no way to get them to actually talk like normal humans.

What could I try next?

Answer 1

While others have pointed out multiple other ways, I'd like to present a different angle: Look for a new manager (new job, that is).

A manager, who reacts to an employee (more so a new hire) with an org-chart to identify the problem area is passive-aggressive at best, bullish at worst. They have no business managing people if they do not have any empathy. Find a new boss.

Answer 2

As others have said, this reads like a comedy script, not an office problem. So I'll reply in similar vein.

1. Remove the microwave. Put it somewhere that nobody will find it.
2. If your colleagues ask you where the microwave is, tell them that you are not a stakeholder in the missing microwave problem.
3. If they persist, ask them to submit a written form requesting your assistance with locating the microwave.
4. If they do that, reject every written form as improperly formatted. Don't tell them what the correct format is.
5. If your boss asks you where the microwave is, ask him to point out the microwave on your org chart. If he can't tell him this is not a problem you need to solve.
6. If he insists, tell him about all the tasks you won't be doing while you are looking for the microwave, and how much less productive you will be. If he directly orders you to look for the microwave, spend a lot of time looking for the microwave. Do nothing else until he tells you to stop. Give your daily status report as "looking for the microwave". Don't find it.
7. Casually remark that on the upside, since the microwave is no longer there, your keyboard and mouse aren't disconnecting and you are more productive.

Answer 3

Extend your lunchbreaks to 11:30 - 1:15. Use the extra time to search for a new job on your phone.

If anyone asks what you're doing, say "Looking for a way to fix my equipment issues."

Answer 4

[I removed the previous idea of a wired keyboard and a wired mouse because I had missed that paragraph about security]

Those are your remaining options:

1. Place some additional shielding between your devices and the microwave. video part 1 and part 2

2. Change to one of the empty cubicles. Or change the position of your computer. Make sure that the Bluetooth transmitter is in the line of sight of your keyboard Bluetooth transmitter/receiver, but not in the line of sight of the microwave. Or assuming there is room on the kitchen counter, move the microwave to a different location on the counter. Pay attention to the location of the fridge. The fridge can block the microwaves, but it can also reflect them if its panels are made of metal (see earlier video I linked to).

3. Contact IT directly and ask for training on how to fill out a purchase order or an issue ticket.

4. Order a replacement microwave. Most likely, a new microwave will solve this, but it's not an absolute guarantee. Most mesh Faraday cages are not absolutely perfect.

Answer 5

As other commenters have pointed out, the office sounds incredibly dysfunctional. My solution would be to check with IT if you can bring in your own keyboard and mouse and install it yourself; preferably by emailing them directly so there's a paper trail. Then buy a keyboard and mouse and install them yourself. Pick something that looks as similar as possible to what you have now and put the old ones in a drawer.

The way people are acting does seem strange, are you sure it's not some strange hazing ritual? What does everyone else use for mouse and keyboards? Do they have similar problems?