I loved when I worked in an open-plan office! Of course though the people around me hated it as I was a bit of a distraction.

After I moved to 100% HO I now realize that some CEOs main task is to make peoples lifes more and more miserable.

∞ly better

Office panopticon.

Honestly, I'd love a cubicle if I ever had to stop being remote

Yeah I was going to say the same. This is actually decent. My old office before they renovated to open plan looked a lot like this. I think I had that chair! And that ceiling! Hey, wait a minute! This IS my old office!!

I came to say this. And that's one reason why I left my last post.

But it was more a symptom than an actual problem. The new boss really had no idea what he was doing, and it just became clear when he instituted a return to office to a new cramped bright hot loud environment after we'd all done really well working remote for about 2 years at that point.

The Dead Sea effect was felt long before it was my turn.

High-energy is more like, most of us are assholes and/or expect you to maintain a fake positive attitude regardless of the aforementioned circumstances

News flash: the open plan office is actually seen as sexist, according to at least one article in the BBC. Go see!

They're actually trying to solve the calls thing, but in the worst way: super fucking loud "white noise machines". Basically a tiny speaker in every other ceiling tile that makes it sound like the most oppressive AC setup in the world.

The calls yeah. But I worked in an open plan engineering office. The work waa solitary and immersive enough that most days everyone waa heads down in work. But it was awesome for office banter and razzing each other.

It's run by a group of entitled toddlers, guided by running kittens.

why didn't you warn them? pfftt. oh and the owner's cousin has some kind of firewall thing they want the company to test, you don't mind a giant hole in the infosec just do it and stop complaining.

Bruh, thanks for the reminder. Gotta go listen to the OG Phantasmagoria theme

First thing I thought when I saw that picture.. "Not too bad.That's a big cube."

I loved my Harry Potter office when I had it. The door was actually on the back side of the staircase instead of the side, so lots of people didn't even know I was there.

That’s the high-energy, they aren’t energy star compliant

100% more productivity!

They were the 3/4 height walls sans sneeze guard.

I've worked in 9 roles across 3 companies.

Never got my own cubicle

Beats the shit out of being on your feet 8 hours a day in an Amazon warehouse, stuck at a front desk dealing with the public, or having literal passers by tattling to your boss that what they saw on your screen didn't look work related because they don't respect your department as a whole and find you subservient. Point is that there's a hell of a lot worse.

Man, that last one. It's a miracle I never throttled the exec who was the biggest offender. He was one of the people that gave that department so much more work to do than take calls, yet every time he walked by he had some comment about work ethic to make to whoever wasn't on the phone. We have the numbers you chode! Check that work logging system you fucking bought us the last time you weren't convinced we were doing our jobs!

Anyway.

I find the whole idea of how telecommuting allows you to work in different surroundings also cuts the other way.

When I'm working in the office, I'm usually focused on my work enough that my surroundings don't matter. After that, I'm likely conversing with my co-workers and that's also enjoyable regardless of surroundings. If neither of those are the case, I have just enough privacy that I don't get random passers by glancing over my shoulder at me on my phone.

Additionally, I can do whatever the hell I want in my cubical space (within reason) without needing anyone's approval. It's my space.

That all said, if I didn't have an engaging job, if the people with view of my screens were nosy, if I was bound by restrictive rules about how I could use the space... in short, it wouldn't take much to turn cubeville into hell.

But in my opinion, a lot of that stuff would make working in the prettiest office hell too.

I work remote, but the in-office guys in my department have cubicles. They like them pretty well, but they might also not be the best judges, because when they go into the office, they're usually totally alone

EE - I have a cubicle but don't even use it bc I'm at a workbench elsewhere 90% of the time

I work in a cubicle! I don’t mind it at all after over 10 years working retail/customer-facing positions.