"I envy people who work in a cubicle because I've had to do work standing up, and it damn near ruined my knee and my elbows. I also envy people who work in a cubicle because at least you guys have others near you, no matter how annoying. I had to work at a desk, and yah it was nice and spiffy lookin, but it was a solitary place, with no windows and no sun, and NO PEOPLE. Being a human creature, I can't just go 8 hours with no human contact. It makes me a wierdo! I corner people and claw at their jackets and beg them to just stand there and talk to me for five minutes!!!! I now work in a cubicle, but I can see everyone around me and since I'm not starved for human contact, I don't feel like I need to be talking to them nonstop. I guess if you work with remotely nice or interesting people, a cubicle isn't so bad..... "
I have talked before about the cubicle's history and the inventor, Robert Propst, who despised the way the cubicle was developed. Then I started looking into his thinking behind the idea in the first place, and discovered what he was trying to do.
He was trying to make a better workplace than the norm that existed in the pre-cubicle days, the Bullpen. The photo on the left is a movie still taken from the film, "The Apartment."
Hundreds of desks, row upon row, just inches from the desk behind, in front, and to the sides. Yeuch!
Other people had attempted to improve upon the situation as well, and the photo on the right is Frank Lloyd Wright's attempt to deal with the office overcrowding situation in the 1930's. This is the Johnson's wax offices circa 1936.
Either way, I am not sure whether Propst achieved what he was trying to do, which was to make a more private, personal workspace yet maintain efficiency and cut costs at the same time. I have a feeling that cost-cutting has overridden all other considerations.
I will shortly be posting some interesting personal decoration/individualization attempts to make the cubicle a more worker-friendly space.
This weeks competition:
"I would have liked to work in a bullpen, because, XXXXXX"
Once again, my own feeble effort:
"I would have liked to work in a bullpen, because I like nothing better than to stare at the back of somebody's head all day long."
twiz (07/20/2007) I would have liked to work in a bullpen because then I could put the faces together with the 100 voices I hear all day long in my cubicle...
I personally feel both are useless... I get visual and audio distraction all day in a bullpen... but sometimes visual stimulation is good for the mind... but then in my cube I only get audio distractions... but then the lack of visual stimulation puts me to sleep... ;-)
I do however enjoy my home office where I can provide audio if I like... open a window and get visual if I like... stand up and stretch without being watched... go to the bathroom without being monitored... =)
GothicSmurf (07/20/2007) I would have liked to work in a bull pen it would be a lot easier to tell when the boss is coming to check on your work.
HaveADamnNiceDay (07/20/2007) I would have liked to work in a bullpen because nobody can steal your stuff off or out of your desk and not be seen. Plus, if one of your officemates goes postal, it'll be easier to move from desk to desk without having to get up and run for cover, and so you'll be a harder target to shoot at. Just pray your back isn't to the door!
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