*HHGGGRRRRNNNNGNGGGGGHHHH* *BLLLLEEEAAAAARRRRGGHHHH*!!!!!!!!!

[odeon]

Why companies insist that people sit in open spaces trying to work is beyond me. Yeah, I know, it's cheaper but I'd think the loss in productivity would matter.

[Jack]

Why companies insist that people sit in open spaces trying to work is beyond me. Yeah, I know, it's cheaper but I'd think the loss in productivity would matter.

After the acquisition a couple years ago, my new company transformed the office building into open space. Didn't think I would like it but have adapted to it very. Though they're pretty smart about grouping cross functional teams, quiet workers, and people who need to talk more. Can't pick my nose or fart anymore, but really like my space.

[odeon]

Why companies insist that people sit in open spaces trying to work is beyond me. Yeah, I know, it's cheaper but I'd think the loss in productivity would matter.

After the acquisition a couple years ago, my new company transformed the office building into open space. Didn't think I would like it but have adapted to it very. Though they're pretty smart about grouping cross functional teams, quiet workers, and people who need to talk more. Can't pick my nose or fart anymore, but really like my space.

I've never liked open office spaces. Too noisy. My noise-cancelling headphones are a necessity.

[Jack]

Why companies insist that people sit in open spaces trying to work is beyond me. Yeah, I know, it's cheaper but I'd think the loss in productivity would matter.

After the acquisition a couple years ago, my new company transformed the office building into open space. Didn't think I would like it but have adapted to it very. Though they're pretty smart about grouping cross functional teams, quiet workers, and people who need to talk more. Can't pick my nose or fart anymore, but really like my space.

I've never liked open office spaces. Too noisy. My noise-cancelling headphones are a necessity.

While not being in the office all the time and using headphones when you do, either of those things means you don't have the opportunity to adapt or know for certain if you even could. Never had to do it before, so just assumed it would be bad. Though I also do sit in a grouping of quiet workers. Each of the workspaces have two large monitors, except for a few who instead prefer one extremely large monitor. Thinking the monitor situation helped a lot with the transition. Am somewhat short so sit with my chair low and monitors high; it takes up almost my entire field of vision. Everything else just disappears; sound, movements, it's like I"m alone in the room. Will admit it wasn't so easy at first. Don't think it was the noise, as much as it was new noises. Have noticed it's annoying for a few weeks when someone new is seated nearby, until my brain adjusts to tuning them out along with everyone else. It seems a normal adaptation. People have to snap me out of my thoughts for me to notice they exist and they're speaking to me, and i have to do that to other people too.

[Pyraxis]

I hate having direct line of sight to the people around me, even if we work together- and my company keeps being stupid about the layout and separating me from the people I work most closely with. We have three monitors but I still never get the physical relaxation that would happen if I were in a cube.

For my particular noise issues, loud ambient noise is better than a grouping with quiet people, because it drowns out better the type of sudden sporadic repetitive noises that drive me insane. But walls are better still. That said, I also do better in an open space than a shared office with two or three, if one of those two or three is a source of trigger noise.

[Minister Of Silly Walks]

I was a cubicle dweller back in the 90s.

What I found amazing was that some people seemed to believe that because nobody could see them, then nobody could hear them. So you had people who would slurp their drinks and make a horrendous racket chewing with their mouths open. Sniffing loudly and constantly or grunting like hogs. Throat clearing and hawking. Some people you didn't have to look, you knew if they were in their cubicle or not according to whether the constant stream of gross noise was present or not. Walkmans were a lifesaver, for those not murdered by the walkman users.

Even in 2011 I was working in a kind of hybrid environment, part open plan, like larger cubicles for 3 or 4 people. One team had this really nice young guy who sniffed and cleared his throat constantly. They kicked him out of their cubicle and into a spare one so he could annoy other people, including me.

Open plan offices seem to keep at least some people more civilized. Like they become aware that there are other humans present.

[Pyraxis]

That's a good point actually. I hadn't noticed whether people were inherently less considerate overall when they were in cubicles. I wish I'd witnessed someone getting kicked out for noise though, I would have felt less guilty for being bothered by that kind of thing.

I was in one of those hybrid 4-person mega cubicles for a while too. I found it better than open plan due to limited line of sight issues.

[Jack]

One time I completely lost my shit at work and yelled at a woman in another department who was always chatting and laughing on the other side of the cube walls. Told my boss I didn't even think it was a noise sensitivity, because when I first started I sat across the aisle from a guy who worked on the phone all day and it never bothered me; in fact I probably learned from him by osmosis. Then after that I sat in a cube which was next to a hub spot with the ladies restroom, the coffee pot, and a giant copier that sounded like a boat running, and I was fine there. It was the constant unnecessary chatting along with a nervous habbit of laughing after everything she said. It wasn't even real laughter, but rather a beavis/butthead style hur hur hur. I was embarrassed about my reaction, but she never ever ever shut up. Bla bla hur hur hur. I was the one that was moved. Then after I moved my department became the noisy one, and a few months later my boss moved me back because she was getting complaints and she was also irritated people were goofing off too much. She never spoke to anyone other than me about it, just stuck me back in the middle of them. Told my husband, my boss is using me as psychological warfare.

[Jack]

I hadn't noticed whether people were inherently less considerate overall when they were in cubicles.

Thinking an open office inspires people to at least look busy, and that means they're probably also more quiet. Notice now it's much less common to walk up to someone and find them looking at their phone.

[Minister Of Silly Walks]

You know how there are these "office re-orgs" and they just seem to involve shuffling people around? I worked with one guy back in the 90s, he got made team lead (not my team) and the first thing he did was to shuffle everyone's spots so the people who made gross noises were as far as possible from him. He was telling me how his team were asking him why they had to move around and he couldn't tell them.

It happens more than you'd realize but nobody ever says "listen buddy, we like you, it's not personal so please don't take it that way. But you know how you make that sound like you're trying to eat a bowl of lumpy custard through your nose? Well, we're kicking you out of our cubicle.".

[Jack]

Have never dealt with loud gross noises, so not sure how that would play out. There was once a guy on the other side of my cube wall who frequently sucked his sinuses, and it made a teeny oink sound in the back of his throat. It wasn't very loud though, and it seemed like a tic he probably couldn't help. In my first job after moving to this state, there were two single user restrooms in the front section of offices which were only used by a few people. My office was right next to them and I listened to a co-worker barf her lunch each day for three years. It wasn't very loud though, and it seemed like something she probably couldn't help. Never said anything about either of them.

[Minister Of Silly Walks]

When you are sensitive to certain gross noises, they seem really loud even when not.

[odeon]

Why companies insist that people sit in open spaces trying to work is beyond me. Yeah, I know, it's cheaper but I'd think the loss in productivity would matter.

After the acquisition a couple years ago, my new company transformed the office building into open space. Didn't think I would like it but have adapted to it very. Though they're pretty smart about grouping cross functional teams, quiet workers, and people who need to talk more. Can't pick my nose or fart anymore, but really like my space.

I've never liked open office spaces. Too noisy. My noise-cancelling headphones are a necessity.

While not being in the office all the time and using headphones when you do, either of those things means you don't have the opportunity to adapt or know for certain if you even could. Never had to do it before, so just assumed it would be bad. Though I also do sit in a grouping of quiet workers. Each of the workspaces have two large monitors, except for a few who instead prefer one extremely large monitor. Thinking the monitor situation helped a lot with the transition. Am somewhat short so sit with my chair low and monitors high; it takes up almost my entire field of vision. Everything else just disappears; sound, movements, it's like I"m alone in the room. Will admit it wasn't so easy at first. Don't think it was the noise, as much as it was new noises. Have noticed it's annoying for a few weeks when someone new is seated nearby, until my brain adjusts to tuning them out along with everyone else. It seems a normal adaptation. People have to snap me out of my thoughts for me to notice they exist and they're speaking to me, and i have to do that to other people too.

Having been a contractor for years, I had to live with open spaces long before I had the NC headphones. I never got used to them, never could fully adapt. Although some office layouts are better than others and some people are easier to work with than others.

[odeon]

I hadn't noticed whether people were inherently less considerate overall when they were in cubicles.

Thinking an open office inspires people to at least look busy, and that means they're probably also more quiet. Notice now it's much less common to walk up to someone and find them looking at their phone.

But that's just it. You want the appearance of looking busy which often defeats the purpose. A lot of my work I spend thinking rather than hacking away at the keyboard, but to other people it will look like I'm just staring or drawing faces or browsing distractedly, none of which is what people expect from someone busy working.

I always had a feeling that managers prefer open spaces because they can keep tabs on people.

[odeon]

When you are sensitive to certain gross noises, they seem really loud even when not.

QFT