Don't Mess With Taxes

Lots of people say they hate their job. What they usually mean is that they hate the work they do, not the workplace itself.

In fact, sometimes the accommodations are the only thing a job has going for it. I've had a couple where the best thing about being employed was my office.

Well, that's definitely not the case for David Gunnells, an employee at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Gunnells' workspace is shoehorned in a windowless conference room with a row of filing cabinets forming one of his "walls."

Yep, that's it there, in a photo that Gunnells sent to Wired magazine.

Do you smell that? It gets worse. His workspace of nearly two years is near a poorly ventilated bathroom and a microwave, which coworkers have used to reheat such odiferous leftovers like catfish.

Wait. There are more workplace woes.

The overhead light doesn't work (hence the lamp, a gift from Gunnells' mother-in-law) and a parking garage is on the other side of the wall that abuts his desktop.

The only good thing about the awful working conditions is that Gunnells won Wired's Saddest Cubicle Contest. He's now the proud owner of a RoboMan Webcam.

Workplace renovations on the horizon: The Birmingham News reports that Gunnells now spends several hours a week working in other offices and buildings as his job requires.

And within weeks, his dismal workspace is scheduled to be renovated.

You can see larger photos of Gunnells' cube and other working conditions that are only slightly less dismal at this Wired.com page.

Time for a new job: If your workplace is getting unbearable, maybe it's time to start job hunting.

You can find all kinds of tips at Chris Russell's blog, Secrets of the Job Hunt. Brazen Careerist Penelope Trunk has some advice, too, as does Forward Blog.

If you're not quite ready to leave your current employer, but don't feel like working right now, then take a break and check out these tongue-in-cheek job-hunting tips from The Onion.