A Different Point of View

Robert Propst invented the modern cubicle in 1968.

More than 30 years after he unleashed it on the world, people are still trying to get out of his pain-in-the-ass box. I personally find it hard to invisage a work space more soul-destroying than the cubicle.

You look out over the top of your divider and see row upon row of identical spaces, populated by workers as unfortunate as you, with no hope of individuality on the horizon.

I would like to believe that it was his intention to provide something positive rather than what he actually achieved. After the event, when the corporate world embraced the box in which so many of us live out our work lives, Probst lamented his unwitting contribution to what he called "monolithic insanity."

Although this sounds a little like Oppenheimer's lament after the nuclear bomb was dropped. I do wonder what his thinking was, because I do find it hard to believe that he lacked the vision to see where this was likely to go.

The winner of last weeks competition is:

"My boss is such a b that I would like to see the broomstick which is sticking up her skanky backside sling her into a ditch full of raw sewage, where her ratty balding head is mistaken for pond weeds by a rabid, incontinent goose."

A lot of emotion went into this one, and I couldn't resist, thank you, LABTECH.

I have to say, I liked cellophane girl's entry as well. Although, what's with the body hair obssesion? See me for some private therapy, LOL

This week, I would like to hear about workspaces that are potentially worse than a cucicle, and would make someone WANT to work in a cubicle:

"I envy people that work in a cubicle because, XXXXXX."

I will, once again, start the ball rolling:

I envy people that work in a cubicle because I work in a cardboard box, loosely held together with bits of string and tape, underneath a twelve lane highway where it rains twenty four hours a day and the box leaks.