Cubicle Hopping

When my office relocated to new space within the building three and a half years ago, there were both advantages and disadvantages to the physical space and my location in it. I was in an isolated spot at the far end of the office from the other people I worked with most closely, but on the other hand, no one was around to pay any attention to my comings and goings, or to what I did all day.

We've had several staff changes during this past year, probably more so than any other during the time I've worked there. But in fact, most of those changes involved existing employees, including me, shifting to new tasks and responsibilities, so in the end we have one less person overall. This allowed one person to move from a cubicle to an office (sadly, not me).

More recently, the production department decided to open up its work area from separate cubicles to one large, open uber-cube. These two changes left two open cubicles adjacent to the production folks, which is where I was originally supposed to be located in the office. People started asking me if I was moving down to that area, so I figured I should at least consider it.

I went and had a look at the new configuration. The setup of the uber-cube actually took away a small amount of space from each of the two adjacent cubes, but for me it was never about how much space I would have. In this space I would have more opportunities to interact with my coworkers; before, because I was so far away, I could go a whole week without seeing any of them.

I had planned to move my stuff last Friday, but needed to leave early to finish prepping for our bug treatment, so I moved Monday afternoon. One thing I hadn't thought about: I'm now a bit closer to a window, but where I was before the window was deeply recessed, so the sun never made it in anyway. The window near my new spot is not nearly as recessed, plus I'm on a different side of the building, so the sun actually shines in during the afternoon.

And since there are more people around where I sit now, and I am slightly more exposed, it forces me to stay more focused on my work, which, you know, sure I have mixed feelings about it, but I have more to do now on a daily basis anyway, so ultimately I'm better off.

Today the production crew had a little open house to show off their new space. As they were starting to decorate, I offered my strand of colored lights, which I was about to use to decorate my own cubicle. By joining the strands, there were enough lights to drape from the ceiling around the whole area, which turned out to be much more festive. And people stopping by their area had to pass by my new spot, so I got a few visitors as well.