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points by cube00 4 days ago | 0 comments

> I believe our current work environments will be romanticized one day

While I'd like to think so I can't see myself romanticising the open plan cattle pen we're in now.

I do romanticise when I had my own cube and desk, still loud but nothing compared to the cattle pen we're in now with long floor wide benches, having your opposite neighbour's face in your field of view all day and everyone yelling on zoom calls from all directions.

[–] Gibbon1 4 days ago

I work in a room that's 15X20 mostly by myself. At the rent my company is paying it's about $650/month.

A SW guy in the bay area costs $15,000 a month. And the MBA's won't spring for even 50 square feet of space for them? Which would be what $300/month?

I think you guys should just up and riot.

[–] rconti 3 days ago

What's funny, is my assigned office is open plan with desks packed in, but the floor space is absolutely massive. The walkways are easily 20 feet wide, all the way around the place. There is such an incredible amount of open space that it would be trivial to give employees large workspaces.

[–] foldr 3 days ago

The cubicle used to be the quintessential symbol of the oppressive and dreary nature of office work. Now you're romanticising it, which would have equally seemed absurd to people in the 90s laughing at Dilbert.

[–] cycomachead 3 days ago

To be fair, most of the work environments people are romanticizing are not about the cubicles, but the startups. Smaller teams, kinda scrappy, but mission driven.

In a way, it hasn't changed a ton. Except, the startups now are not so scrappy, and the mission is pretty hotly debated (and for understandable reasons0.

[–] rowanG077 3 days ago

Calling it something extremely negative like a cattle pen makes clear that you aren't even open to consider anything but the negatives.

[–] cosmic_cheese 3 days ago

Well, that or for this person the negatives outweigh the positives.

I have some good memories associated with open floor plan offices, but I totally get why others might not be so lucky. There were several days back then where the commotion surrounding me was too “loud” (e.g. people moving in my peripheral vision catching my attention) to shut out, even with good ANC headphones, and made it near impossible to work. I would’ve loved a cubicle or private office on days like that.

These days I work from home and don’t miss that aspect of modern offices a whole lot, even if they do enable the occasional serendipitous positive moments.

[–] ElevenLathe 3 days ago

It's strictly worse than the alternatives mentioned (cubes and real offices). Why not be negative?