Transcript
The Target: Apart from the lighting issue, I have experienced much discomfort also with the defective office chair I’ve been given. It leans paradoxically forward, not allowing me to rest my back.
Mr Benoualid: If you want more comfort why don’t you place a pillow at
your back? The company’s office furniture had been bought many years ago. How employees
could use the chair in the past? Their back differs than yours?
The Target: My back is normal, defective is the chair, unless it was
designed or adapted deliberately that way for keeping the employee restless. It
is indeed to question why this chair has not been thrown away as being defective.
I don’t know if it has been used by others. I believe that this chair has been
kept in the company for a reason. I did not rush to complain about it, but other
employees being aware of its status asked me if it accommodates me well. Indeed,
the issue has been escalated recently, as somebody unscrewed a roller of the
chair and now the chair is not only humped, but also lame.
Mr Benoualid: Did you ask replacement?
The Target: I was told that I could order only a plastic one, but I
would be the only project manager having a cheap chair, while the others, including
even technicians, would have the old luxurious wooden chairs and this could be considered
as less favourable treatment. I understand that the company’s revenue does not allow
to buy new luxurious chairs. But I would prefer a low-cost plastic chair with proper
back than a wooden chair with broken back and roller.
Mr Benoualid: Indeed, we can not afford to buy new office wooden furniture
and if we would order a wooden chair only for you we would get complaints by
the others who would also ask replacement of their old chairs. Then you would
be benefited by more favourable treatment. Did you ask if there is a spare
chair in any other department which you could transfer to your office?
The Target: I sent numerous emails to the responsible security manager of
the research centre notifying my issue and kindly asking a replacement, but she
ignored all my requests. A technician told me that it is probably the
department manager, Natacha Carniol, who does not allow the replacement wishing
to cause me discomfort. Does the security and health team along with the
management aim to cause me hump or back pain? Is their corporate mission to compromise
the physical status of the employees? Finally, a technician came to my office
to replace the lame chair in order to “avoid an accident in the workplace” as
he told me. He replaced it with another wooden chair which is actually a swing with
its back leaning now much backwards! I can not sit in proper position up or
forward in order to be able to work. I have to press the chair’s arms below the
desk in order to stay up, being fixed close to the desk.
Mr Benoualid: So, the issue has been solved, but now you complain because
the replacement chair allows you to relax back while the previous was keeping
you forward?
The Target: Mr Benoualid, I prefer having a plastic standard office
chair which can allow me to work staying up, than a wooden humped and lame or
beach chair. Such practices are great provocation, indeed being supported by a
service called “health and security”! Only autistic kids could find joy by
causing such inconvenience to others. I asked the security department to have
another chair even a plastic one, but they keep ignoring my requests. They do
not process an order. I also asked to have the humped and lame chair back as I prefer
it, but it has been disappeared. It is probably kept somewhere for getting offered
in the future to another victim.
Mr Benoualid: No, no. We refuse that this is an intentional inconvenience
or mistreatment. In work you need to compromise. If you have at home a chair which
accommodates you better, then you are free to bring it to work or you can wait
to use it in the near future at home.
