being told no work is able to be done does seem to indicate that the office would be closed. That would have been my initial assumption.

Mine too. Were people supposed to work at home?

No, but I guess having been through office moves before, I would have assumed that I was expected to show up to help with the move (I knew I was working that day seeing as I'm ccordinating the move, so my judgement might be colored). However, I can see assuming the office would be closed, but I would think that for sure before purchasing travel tickets and booking hotel rooms I would ask my boss.

I would also have assumed that I have to show up and help with the move. I would think that would be true of a receptionist as well, although maybe not for other, non-administrative positions.

I would think that for sure before purchasing travel tickets and booking hotel rooms I would ask my boss.

Absolutely. A consultant outside the bureaucratic chain of command does NOT have the power to give people PTO.

but I would think that for sure before purchasing travel tickets and booking hotel rooms I would ask my boss.

I think that while it would have been very wise to do just that, may I say that I think your management shoud have clarified this issue before it became an issue. There should have been word from on high whether or not people were expected to help in the move and what their roles were. No one should have to guess. But asking still would have been the smart thing to do on her part, since nothing definitive by actual management had been announced.

may I say that I think your management shoud have clarified this issue before it became an issue. There should have been word from on high whether or not people were expected to help in the move and what their roles were. No one should have to guess.

Abso-flipping-lutely. Remember, these are the same people who forgot about my paycut for two months.

Aims ... that's such a mess. With the usual 20/20 hindsight I'd say: the consultant should have informed management first (I'm assuming his message meant that your computers would be out of operation on the day of the move); management should have informed the staff that the computer wouldn't be operational but that people should show up to move; and the receptionist should have asked first.

Everyone's wrong but you. You're pretty AND right.

Aims, I would also be totally annoyed if I knew I had to be there to assist with the move and some other fool in the office assumed s/he would not be. I kind of forgot about smaller company moves. I helped move offices a couple of times over the years, but now work in a gigantic corporation. We moved about a year ago and they hired a company to come in and move everything. All we had to do was box up our personal items and mark the boxes and our equipment (with colored stickers, as you are doing).

That's what we do too, GC. They let us out early on Friday and move everything over the weekend.

when we cleaned out her stuff after she died last year, we found the braid! She'd kept it for nearly forty years!

My braids are in the bottom drawer of my mother's desk and have been for 40 years.