Our department was relocated to another part of the building at the middle of last week. As moves go, this was the easiest of the six work-related moves I’ve been through in the last 4 years. Within a few hours of receiving the message, I had purged the unnecessary papers from my files and packed all of my stuff into four moving boxes.
For the following 2 ½ days, I worked out of my boxes while my colleagues struggled to get their stuff packed on time for the move. Many of them, in fact, were still loading up their boxes when I rolled out of the office for a hilly detour-filled bike commute home. This was after moving and unpacking all but one of my boxes into my new cubicle.
As cubicles go, I liken the move to a relocation from the ‘burbs to the heart of the city. Not only do we have new neighbors, our new cubicles have been moved closer to each other so as to fit more of us into our new little plot of real-estate. We needn’t get up from our chairs to communicate and often find ourselves in the middle of a conversation we have no desire to be in. Life as a cubicle dweller is like that, you know.
On the upside, I’ve got a little better lighting and the workday seems to be passing by at a faster rate. Unfortunately, I have yet to figure out how to block out the increased noise level which is audible over my little ear-buds. Moreover, I have yet to figure out how to sing along to my tunes without bothering the others. *sigh*
Nonetheless, I am happy the move is within the same building and not further away from home or, worse yet, out of the company all together.
I recently had to move from my own palatial office into sharing one. It’s a bit cramped, but I tune out the noise and other distractions with headphones. Earbuds don’t work for noise cancellation like real headphones do.
cubicles. I feel like cattle.