We knew there was discontent about the new New York Times building—so much so that the internal newspaper, Ahead of the Times, published an article reassuring everyone that things weren't so bad. But were things really that dreadful? We got hold of the Times internal wiki for the new building, where complaints about the building from the staff were being consolidated. And we learned that for every feature of the new building, there's a Times staffer with beef about it being broken. A selection follows. (We sure hope they got the urinals on the 9th floor working!)

  • Lights seem to shut off around 8 pm on 8th floor (NE corner). Filed a ticket w/2020 who directed me to call the "Security Shack" at ext.4137. That's Frank Rich's extension. I'm told they left him a message. Maybe Frank can get the lights to stop turning off?
  • 5/9 - I have just "overridden" the shade control 4 times in the last 5 minutes!! I've put them down and after one minute of being down, they go back up!!!!!!!! can we PLEASE fix the "OVERRIDE" so that it stays overriden!!??
  • I also have tried to "override" the shade settings but they keep going back up by themselves a mere minute later.
  • Can these shades PLEASE be fixed so they can be controlled by humans?
    == It's VERY HARD to read my screen when it's directly facing the sun. ==
  • Shades on the western side of the building - News Service side - are not responding to override commands. Shades go up in the middle of the day making computer use difficult due to glare. Punching in the commands works intermittently. Some of the shades are also broken. Is there an alt-ctrl-del for the shade computer?
  • Tonight (Sunday) the security guard would not allow someone's husband past the gates even though he was accompanied by her and offered to leave his drivers license with the guard for security purposes. The guard refused and said, "Until the building is up and running, no visitors are allowed in the building. It is not equipped for visitors." What? When did that start? - How is this building not safe for them but safe for us?
  • Elevator doors not sensitive enough. Someone already got hurt trying to hold the doors open, and they kept closing on his hand. This has been brought to the attention of facilities/building operations. NOTE - NEVER put your arm in an elevator to stop it...you could be injured.
  • If the elevators would show the progression of floors as it goes up (like in the 500 7th ave elevators), that would be great. And it also would be good to indicate what floor it's about to stop on. Right now if everyone in the elevator is going to 9, it only says 9. It doesn't say that it's going to stop on 5 or 8 on the way up. And since all the floors look the same at this moment, it's very confusing.
  • Why don't the desk chairs have their lumbar support as promised?
  • Why is a newsroom using the workstation-desk layout configuration appropriate for an insurance office?
  • Need a garbage can outside of the bathrooms to throw away paper people use to open doors.
  • The MOST cumbersome voice mail system ever devised!
  • There are NO Power outlets in the smaller conference rooms. I need some juice for my dying laptop!
  • Sensor Tips: on the toilets there is a button next to the sensor you can use to manually flush, and on the faucets, the black object which I'm not sure is the sensor is also a button that can activate the water flow.
  • Urinal sensor is irregular, 9th floor Men's bathroom. May take a minute, may not flush at all. Gross, but had to say it. Toilet sensor in women's room is also irregular (too sensitive) unnecessarily flushes multiple times by itself (wastes water for a "green" building)
  • Cleaning crew cleaned ladies room from 5-6PM and would not leave when people needed to use it.
  • The sensors for the faucets in the women's room, 9th floor, do not work well at all. Sometimes they go on, sometimes they don't. And if you do manage to wave your hand in the precise spot where the sensor happens to be, they stay on for about 2 seconds before shutting off again. (the sensor's pickup range is short/high, if you bring your hand closer to the sensor, faucet will stay on; I wash one hand at a time)
  • This is in the men's room too. You have to hold your hands right up against the nozzle, wasting the space of the entire basin. I don't know if this can be fixed - it's just an awful faucet design. New faucets please?
  • The main door into the 9th floor women's bathroom is mighty heavy. It's like we have to be amazon women to open it.
  • Why aren't there dedicated break areas with table & chairs: the pantry isn't suitable or equipped for sitting, and eating over my kyboard is a 'Pepsi Syndrome' waiting to happen!
  • Will there be milk for tea or cereal we bring from home? - There are real milk in the fridge (at least on the 8th flr right now)
  • Fridge in the pantry is far too small to serve a whole floor, if lesson can be learned from the crammed fridge on 9th floor at 500 7th. The Pantry refrigerators will be cleaned out every Friday.
  • Vending machines? Will be in the 14th floor cafeteria (when that's open in June); also on the podium floors, 2, 3, 4
  • That seems pretty ridiculous. Nightside editorial needs easily accessible food in the wee hours of the morning. We might be willing to go to another floor for free food, but really, how 'bout a vending machine on the 9th? I second this. People working late at night need easy access to vending machines.
  • Can we get a sponge and a brush like we had a 500 7th to wash our cups? - The brush was from Ikea. I bought a couple for $.99 each and put one in the 9th Floor pantry. Will put one on 8th too.
  • Handle on 9th floor fridge is BROKEN and hangs off on one end.
  • Any plans for a freezer? The tiny fridge is one issue, but so is not having a freezer at all for those of us who like to bring in frozen goodness.
  • Any chance we can get a toaster? Cafeteria offers muffins and bagels but no toaster. Microwaved bagel are just not cute.
  • Buy new white boards (Can we get the floor-to-ceiling white board panels like in the conference rooms? I'm sure Renzo would be much happier with that...)
  • There is a major crack in the outer window in the North East corner of the 8th floor.
  • It's a bit silly that there are so many "rules" about how we can decorate our cubicle spaces. We are working professionals. Our judgment should be trusted in terms of decorating our personal space. For example, if we want to put plants on top of our cubicles, we should be allowed to. If there is worry that water will leak, then we should be able to put a protective cover underneath it or allow only pots that don't have holes in the bottom.
  • Where can we get free copies of the newspaper?
  • Earlier: The 'Times' Tries To Quash New Building Complaints