Time for yet another juicy installment of the "journal" papers the lady makes us write for Human Factors class. Not sure why the formatting got weird. Oh well. Here is a rant about chairs. Enjoy.
As I sit down to write
this, I’m thinking, “Oh crud, I’ve been sitting at a computer all day already,
and now here I am doing it again instead of dragging out my yoga mat and doing
some scorpion kicks to deal with my butt, which I have been neglecting.” So,
let’s slink not so smoothly into the topic of chairs. Because I said butt; that’s
the best introduction I can muster at the moment. I’m sitting in a chair right
now, right on my aforementioned body part. It’s from Target, but I like to
think I’ve gained enough knowledge and taste throughout the years to pick and
choose wisely enough so as to discount my way through life while appearing as a
fashion maven. Okay, maybe that’s taking it a bit too far. Still, my chair from
Target is an oversized, armless, wooden legged, cushy thing in an off white
canvas material with a pop-y black botanical pattern on it. I love it, and I
really want to plop it in my new apartment as a side chair to my ever-so-kitsch
living room set that will consist of that, a teak coffee table that Logan
procured from his San Diego days, and whatever couch anyone is giving away come
November. However, at this point in time, my lovely chair, which is very comfortable,
is masquerading as my desk chair, and in doing so, is very uncomfortable. The problem
with the current situation is as follows: the chair is not at the correct
height for comfortable computer use. It really comes down to that, which is
probably why, in the course of this discourse, I have unplugged my laptop and
relocated it from my desk to my lap, and am sitting here comfortably cross
legged. But I’m not actually using my desk. Drat. When I try to, I get that
crick in my shoulder which I’ve affectionately come to call my “CAD knot”,
because my right arm, (my mouse arm) ends up all screwed up over the desk at an
unnatural angle. For that matter, my left arm gets messed up too, and I end the
day looking like Quasimodo.
It’s really mostly
desk chairs that ever give me issues. Why the ever loving heck can’t
there be a
desk, office, or school chair that is comfortable, affordable, and oh, here’s
the kicker: actually bought and used in said office or school. I’ve seen plenty
of great, ergonomic, pretty desk chairs that are actually meant to support a
person working at a computer on a desk. In fact, I just took a grip of photos of
awesome chairs at the Haworth showroom that we just visited. They were
comfortable, (I sat in some and said “ahhh”.) pretty, (they even had my
favorite color!) but alas, probably not to incredibly affordable. Drat again. Here’s
a question: Why is it that I pay bazillions of dollars to go to a school that
makes me sit in crappy chairs all day? Is it because they are more affordable?
Where the bleep is all my money going? (I do realize that was three questions,
but if I may be allowed to continue my rant…) Chairs that spin and roll and go
up and down are expensive. I get that, although I’m sure there is a better way
to manufacture great chairs without requiring a fortune, therefore not needing
as much from poor consumers like us. This aside, if chairs like the good for
nothing rolly, spinny, up-and-downy chairs they bought for our classrooms and
computer labs cost a bunch of money anyway, why not get us some well designed,
comfortable chairs instead? I think I go to the worst designed design school of
probably all time. They are trying, I guess. I mean, the school rents the
building space in the Business Park, and they are trying to do things like
paint and put decoratively informative graphics up on the walls. Can chairs be
next, please? Granted, I’m out of here come September, but if they could find
it in their hearts to replace the chairs that, judging also by the upholstery,
haven’t been new since 1998, my scoliosis would thank them. That’s pretty much
it, except that also I am staring a fund for a green Haworth desk chair.