Ugh. My office mate chomps on popcorn. With her mouth open. And it’s not like she eats for 5 minutes and then puts it away. No, she keeps the bag on her desk and grazes all day. Plus she’s a lifelong 3-pack-a-day smoker, so I have to listen to her constant smoker’s hack. She’s revolting.
I’m on the phone a lot, so no earbuds or headphones, unfortunately.
@consolation it was called ‘hoteling’
I usually love working at home, but it’s too easy to pull all-nighters, like tonight. 
Don’t be so sure. We were often talking about confidential stuff and had to deal with the open cubes. Lawyers, financial examiners, accountants, with all kinds of confidential records out in the open cubes (we did put them away at night). One of the office buildings had small conference rooms and we were told to take private calls and meetings in those. The other office building had fewer of those, but we could ‘borrow’ a supervisor’s office (which had the added benefit of being able to log in to the computer and actually see the material one was talking about) or book a conference room. Our productivity was much slower than it should have been since we were constantly packing up everything to take a call in another room. Most people said ‘screw it’ and just talked openly about account numbers, ssn, balances, violations. Your government at work.
I interviewed for a job at a Blue Cross office once and I was told by HR that they were open concept and EVERYONE except the CEO had a cube. We were in an interview room which was tiny, interior, and had 2 chairs and a small table. Not nice. She assured me that even the lawyers had cubes. When I went up to legal, they were indeed cubes, with the walls built up and a ‘roof’ on them. Interior, with glass panels above about the 6’ mark, and then a roof on the cube about 2 feet below the ceiling in the room. The stupidest set up I ever saw, but I’m guessing that’s the best the head of legal could talk them into. I asked one of the lawyers and he said they just couldn’t work without walls and an attempt at a private conversation, and they didn’t tell HR that they secretly had offices in legal.
I am grateful that I never worked in a cube. The closest was when I was student work-study and worked at a desk or wherever they wanted me to work.
I guess when we were part time temporary judges and special ed hearing officers, we had “hot courtrooms,” since we just went to whichever courtroom we were assigned and had to bring and take all our stuff for our 1/2 or full day assignment (but could use whatever legal materials were in the courtroom that we could find). We didn’t get much notice before our assignments either. As hearing officers, we had to carry all our stuff in and out of the hearings and had no offices.
So how do folks with PTSD deal with this? I’ve known a few war-zone veterans who don’t deal well with anyone hanging out behind them—it hadn’t occurred to me before, but this would be utterly hellish for someone in that situation.
I have not thought about that! I think you are correct.
I have seen places where everyone up to the CEO had a cubicle, except for HR and legal staff who had to deal with stuff like that.
However, it seems common in designing office buildings to have offices and cubicles arranged to call attention to each employee’s status in the company. I.e. the full offices are along the walls with windows, with the cubicles in the middle with no view of the windows, so that it is gives the impression to most employees that full offices are more desirable in every way. Naturally, in such a situation, getting a full office is typically a status-based perk.
That wouldn’t have been acceptable in the firms I’ve worked for.
While they had cubicles, it was only to stash one’s stuff and so one could have a computer to log on to do tasks which could easily be protected(checking emails) or to stash one’s possessions during the day. Almost all of the client-confidential work took place in conference rooms or even sectioned off parts/entire floors in which only people involved with the project were allowed access. If one’s cubicle neighbor wasn’t involved with the project, he/she wouldn’t have been allowed access to the workarea and we were strictly forbidden to discuss anything related to the project with anyone who wasn’t involved with the project.
Sometimes, this restriction even extended to discussing project related matters with fellow colleagues involved in the same project outside of the work area. Knew of a few colleagues…including senior supervisors/attorneys who were summarily canned for being caught discussing client-confidential/project related matters outside the work area when they were forbidden to do so.
Sometimes, the security measures involved were such we had to check in all personal electronics…including cell phones with firm security right before entering the corporate office or work area and were only allowed access to them during breaks outside the office/work area. This would often mean one would be out of contact with one’s friends/family for several hours at a stretch as firm phones/computers were strictly for professional use only.
When I started at this company 31 years ago, the desks for non-managers were in big, open bays, side-by-side, with about 3 ft between the rows. There were cords hanging from the ceilings. First level managers had first generation cubicles with soft walls. Upper levels had real offices.
By 1990, we were in large (by today’s standards) 4-person cubes. Managers all had offices.
We’ve been in multi-person cubes ever since. At my non-mgt level I’m supposed to have my own, but it has never been convenient to mgmt to give me one.
In my prior position here, we were in a bay with no windows and my back was to the aisle. 9 others sharing my cube area. It was a living hell. Walls were too low and I’m sensitive to noise. It’s no wonder I went nuts.
New program this year and new location. I get to sit right in front of the window. 7 other people, but at least I see daylight.
The guy on the other side of my cubicle wall is a heavy breather, grunts when he eats (which is about every hour), and is starting to get that old man smell. He also takes his shoes off most afternoons. He also snores when he naps. The guy in the corner talks to himself. Sometimes I hate my life.