Welcome to the Bull Pen

Work exposes enough of a person's fears, frustrations and
vulnerabilities. Most of us don't want to be there in the first place,
right? But we also don't want to be homeless, hungry and broke. So, in
order to cope, it helps to create an environment that is conducive to
creating good feelings. Let's face it. A cubicle is not exactly Home Sweet Home. There is only
so much you can do to approach a near sane personal comfort level. Some
people bring in plants, knickknacks or a coffee cup of some special
significance to them. I put up a calendar, a few photos, and sometimes I
change out quotes that serve to inspire or motivate me when I'm having a
bad day.
 
This morning, I found out that somehow our office plans to squeeze in 6
to 7 more employees in the coming weeks. In addition to that, they want
to encourage an increased awareness of office "cross-talk." Our
management announced that they are going to institute lower cubicle
barriers -- replacing the high-walled ones with the type that are more
at desk-level, thus removing even the smallest shreds of privacy that
help some of us to feel more human, and less like gophers.
 
Mmm, nice. As if a cubicle is not bad enough!
 
Someone recently told me that an office set-up with the lower cubicle
barriers is known as the "bull pen" style setting. Sounds about right.

Posted via email from Writing on the Fly

Comments

[Kiki]

Once upon a time I worked for T-Mobile, and they got rid of all of our high-walled cubicles for the shorter ones. (We got all of that "it will help build a team atmosphere" crap too) I hated it- more sneezing and germs invading my personal space and it got SO loud during the day. It made a miserable job even worse. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news! Lots of people did a couple of tall-ish plants on their desk so they felt like they had a little bit of privacy