Herman Miller Aeron chair ... if you've ever listened to NPR chances are that this phrase has been…read moredrilled into your subconscious. For years and years I have heard this mythological unicorn of a chair advertised on the radio, but I've never really seen one in real life, much less been encouraged to sit in one. All of this changed recently, thanks to Workplace Resource which, unbeknownst to me, is a local dealer of said chairs.
The way I ended up at Workplace Resource is a sad story with a happy ending. It goes a little something like this. I have logged many, many years in Dilbert-style office environments, complete with old, beige, misshapen hand-me-down, who-knows-where-it-came-from furniture. The furniture I am referring to is the stuff of non-profits and government office buildings, where old furniture goes to get even older. As I have found out over the past couple of years, an inappropriately-sized chair is not only inconvenient, but also painful ... and I've got the chiropractor and physical therapy bills to prove it.
As a short person in a tall world, my chairs have never EVER fit me ... that is until my current employer treated me to a visit to WorkPlace Resource, where all the office furniture is young and beautiful and ... well, you get the picture. As it turns out, it is also a "Working Showroom" which basically means that all the employees are sitting in modern cubicle structures and office chairs that the rest of us can only begin to imagine in our wildest dreams. Not only do this help the employees look happy and provide good customer service, it also helps make all of this suuuper-fancy furniture seem less intimidating and much more attainable.
All of that being said, I want to be clear that all of this nouveau rich furniture is available at a price that is not inconsequential ... I'm talking $500 to $1,000 as starting price points people ... but if your employer (whether it's a corporate fat cat or Uncle Sam) wants you to stay seated and productive all day long without having to worry about worker's comp, then these price tags are a mere pittance.
During my fun and informative visit to Workplace Resource, I felt a little bit like Goldilocks and the three chairs. The first one was tooooo big, the second was toooo small, and the third one was juuust right. They all came with bells and whistles that I had never been treated to in my previous chair ... things like built in lumbar support and rotating armrests and strange knobs that adjusted the tension (!!?!) on my would-be chair. After we picked one out, we went to a room *full* of fabric swatches where I got to customize my chair. In case you are wondering, we got sensible black and grey, but if I ever gather enough coins to go here on my own dime, you better believe it's gonna be a festival of crazy-colored fabric. Until then, I'm gonna be living large in my new Herman Miller chair.
