Cubicle Culture

I spend most of my days in a cubicle. There is something inherently demeaning about being placed in a box with an empty space for a door. There is the semblance of privacy, but to me, a cubicle is always a fairly depressing place to work.

The funny thing is that my bosses were actually trying to better my working situation. I previously shared a moderately sized office with two other editors. I didn't have a lot of space, but I could kind of see who was coming, and I never felt as exposed as I do now. The cubicles were designed to give us more space (they are quite large) and we were allowed, even encouraged to order any kind of accessories we needed (bookshelves, etc). So I feel guilty for not liking my workspace at all, after they went to all that trouble. Originally, I was facing with my back to the door in the cubicle. Now I'm kind of facing to the side. When I asked about moving my desk around so I could face the "door," they tried to let me, but it just didn't work out because of the way it was built.

For me, the privacy factor is not because I'm doing anything illicit during work time that I don't want to be seen. I mean, I do visit the Internet occasionally, but I work really hard, and they seem to appreciate me for it. It is a comfort factor. If it were up to me, I would work at home, in my pajamas, navigating the keyboard between a cat on my lap and one dancing on the keyboard. Or, in an office setting, I would have a tiny office (I like feeling confined; I'm like a cat that way, I guess) with me facing the door, so i could see people come in and not be taken by surprise, and so I could close my door when doing an interview or on a conference call, or just if I wanted a little privacy. I don't even like eating at my desk because I feel so exposed.

Funnily enough, the coworker with whom I share a cubicle wall with actually likes cubicles, because, as she says, we get our own space but also share a larger social sphere as well. I can see what she's saying, but it still doesn't do it for me. I guess because I'm not all that social at work, I like to be able to really concentrate when I have to, which for me means, ideally, a closed space.

Well, I just kind of depressed myself about the whole cubicle situation. Luckily, I do really like my job, although they have made some strange time off decisions lately (more on that later, maybe). They allow me to go to school and were very flexible when I had my wedding last year. So, for the want of an office, my job will not be lost.

But I do wish I had a cat on my lap right now...