That is exactly what I am thinking. Except I'm very low on the IT food chain so I have no access to the building's switches. I really believe this is not a VMware issue but a physical switch or its security causing my pain.
Anyone kind enough to please tell me what I should say to the higher ups? Is there something more specific than if I were to ask them straight up "hey man, is port security enabled?" Thanks! In the mean time, I'm just going to create many new vm's and using their MACs. Tedious.