I’ve been wondering lately how many of us are going to suffer the indignity of working in a cubicle our whole lives. It appears to be a trend that won’t stop, forcing otherwise dignified people to work without walls. At my last job, I didn’t even get a cube of my own, I had to share with people on other shifts, and I couldn’t even count on getting the same cubicle from one day to the next. I hope on my next job I at least get my very own cubicle.
I really envy those of you who have your own offices. If you’re one of them, what business are you in, what kind of seniority do you have, do your peers also have private offices? Did you wangle an office of your own while everyone around you shares desks in a big warehouse space?
A cousin of mine has a private office, and he’s just in insurance. It doesn’t seem fair.
State government with a private office. I close my door and have my own inner sanctum. Please knock before entering (I may be asleep).
There was a great series of Dilbert cartoons awhile back about this. Dilbert took his mom to his office, showed her his work space (a cube) and she said “Great, I can tell all my friends my son works in a box.” In the next strip, he’s showing her his desk, stapler, etc. and she says, “You did go to college, didn’t you?”
Cubicle here. I don’t really mind it most of the time - it’s pretty social if you actually like your coworkers. I mean, how are you supposed to have a REAL paperclip and rubberband war in an office?
The other day, I threw a stressball over my cube wall and it somehow managed to delete an entire tab out of my friend Dan’s excel worksheet. Woohooo!
I have a small office (but lots of storage space) with a huge window, from whence I can see the Cascade mountain range on clear days (which we do have in Seattle, contrary to popular belief). Our building was converted from a house, and my office used to be part of the living room – there’s still a bit of the hearth in the corner. I’m just a lowly conference coordinator at a private university. My department, however, believes very strongly that everyone should have their own office. I don’t close the door much – only the director does. I love my office, and I definitely feel lucky. At my last 2 jobs I worked at my own desk in an open area, no walls at all. Right now, 2 people at my level are sharing an office, but one of them works only 3 days a week, and they still have their own desks.
Federal gummint here. My job sucks, but I have my own office, though apparently everyone in the world has a key to it, since I frequently find that someone’s been in there for one reason or another after I’ve gone for the day. Fortunately, all my porn is on my home computer.
I get an office with 4 rooms, a bathroom, television, internet access and I can leave for lunch whenever I want.
I work for my sister and brother in law for their plumbing company and I answer the phone and most of the time I’m the only one at the office so I’m free to do as I want as long as the phone gets answered.
Well there is only one catch. I get work when they get work. I had an 8 hour week last week. I can live off that but I imagine if I were on my own I’d be looking for a new job.
Exhibition St. Office. Small dog box. Sux. Fart and you die!
Collins Street. Huuuuuuuuge cube. It’s probably equal to 4 standard cubes.
St. Kilda Rd. Huuuuuuuuuge office. I swear, it is big enuff for the whole group to meet in and still have ‘ball wars’. It’s an odd shape so most of the space was not useable for cubes, so I comandeered it and had wals built around it (you can get workmen to do anything for a slab of beer). This is the best office in the building. It’s on Level 1, so 1 floor down to smoko time. I have two phone in here, two PC’s, a couple of desks, a huuuuuuuge meeting table, plants, balls (to throw at people as they come bowing and scraping), other assorted crud. Used to have a TV but reception sucked.
My seniority? We have a stupid method of only having 6 levels of people. 0 is CEO, 1 is Group General Manager, etc. I am 4, so while I am one of the more elite, I am not the seniorest boy here either. My boss (level 3) lives 12 floors above me. So I can get away with murder (but have’t tried) and we wouldn’t know anything. I think he’s been down here 3 times in two years.
Offices, in general aren’t good for comms. with your people though. I would much rather work at Collins than Exhibition, simply because I feel part of the group (especially when I get a kush ball in the back of the head). In an office, I feel cut off, not one with the guys and girls, missing out on the gossip. It gets lonely. Kinda like Monty Burns.
My desk is one of four lined up against the back wall of the lab I work in. But then, desks are really only useful for writing up lab books.typing up reports, and we don’t use them much otherwise, so I can’t complain. My supervisor and the other group leaders have private offices, although there are one or two with 2 people in them.
I’m glad to not be in the overgrown cube farm in the next section of the building - they keep subdividing and making them smaller because the company is growing faster than they can build They just opened a whole new wing this year (January), and its pretty much already overfilled. They bought a new location - in Europe, and I can imagine in the next couple of years they might add another in the Toronto area just to keep up with the demand.
I share a cubicle or a workbench with 1 other guy on my shift. There are 2 people that do the same on swings(afternoons) and there are 3 or 4 people on day shift that share 2 computers and 3 confortable chairs between them.
dead0man
I work in my own office area, people walk through all the time which pisses me off more than If I shared with people. Have my own brand-new desk with matching cabinets and accesories while everyone else still has old stuff, so I guess I have seniority over them (I’ve been here the longest though, so I reckon I’ve earned it)
All the other employees are in a big room with lines of desks, no cubicles to hide in either.
I work on the unused platform of a train station, which is great most of the time, except when I’m on the phone and the 4:55pm freight train thunders past
But a nice cube - anchored in a corner, two walls … ceiling-high file cabinets in front of me, old wooden barrister bookcases (rescued from my older gummint office) on the right …
Office. Oil and gas exploration. In the 22 years I’ve been in this business, I’ve seen few cubicles. And I’ve been to literally hundreds of different oil companies’ offices.
I’ve seen some, mostly at the majors’ offices. And usually in their accounting departments. Where I work now we have one woman who occupies a desk in the reception area and everybody else, management, professionals, secretaries and our clerk, has either a two-window or a three-window office. When I was but a pup at my first job right out of school, I had a small office. I think it’s possible that the business or occupation you’re in might influence what environment you work in.
Also, top management in my industry, and definitely at my employer, is populated by pre-cubicle era people.
During the many years I had my own company we never (my partner and I) had our own offices. We had work areas in different offices where you could do different stuff. And always a large workroom where a few people might be working at the same time. When we had employees, we gave 'em offices, but they did most of their in-office work at the appropriate work area and used the offices to stash handbags and make phone calls.
At one office that we occupied for 5½ years we did maintain a pretty fancy executive office, but it was never mine or my partner’s. We just used it when we had to do those executive office kinds of things with other people, or as an additional workspace.
When we moved from that office we decided we could drop that and just use the conference room for “state occasions.” We always had a conference room. Conference tables are a great work environment for what I do, when they’re not being conference tables. In fact, I don’t have a desk in my office; I have a conference table.
Spoiled office woman here. I work in a school that is housed in an office building. Actually it used to be the paramedic training centre for our local college.
I’m on the second floor with a fairly decent office, with nice big windows. It’s nothing fancy, but its comfy and private.
Private office, picture window, in my home, 47 steps from my bedroom to my office. I love my office and commute!
Management consultant. I run a small business owned by someone who is tired of it and wants out but hasn’t found a buyer that will pay what he’s asking for the business.
My previous job was as an executive secretary for a major oil company for six years, private office, but it was an inside office, no window. The previous six years were in a cubicle as a customer service representative taking inside sales calls from established customers.
Office. I’m clerking for a solo practitioner lawyer for the summer, and he cleaned out a whole room for me. Even installed an air conditioner. Bless that man.
Figure I should enjoy it while I can, since if I get into a big firm next year, it’ll probably be cubicle mania…
I’m just a lowly conference coordinator at a private university. My department, however, believes very strongly that everyone should have their own office. I don’t close the door much – only the director does. I love my office, and I definitely feel lucky. At my last 2 jobs I worked at my own desk in an open area, no walls at all. Right now, 2 people at my level are sharing an office, but one of them works only 3 days a week, and they still have their own desks.