Is there a polite way to ask someone to stop laughing?

It's a good idea to address administrative memos to all employees.

Yeah scary, huh.

I am not even sure my official title although I do have the distinct pleasure of being an AVP (awful vendictive person - at least I think that is what it stands for) - but there are other officer titles as we are part of a "bank" type system - you know how everyone has some sort of officer title so they can feel important. But I do have official manager responsibilities - they even allow me to have people report to me.

but when you work in an organization where there are so many departments/different lines of reporting - you cannot cross the lines into other reporting groups. It is a very odd organization structure we have. I will have to check out her name tag to see what level she is - my guess is non-management, or at least below the level I am.

The smart thing to do is get shed of cubicle hell.

I can't view your picture.

Funny so I am at my new spot and this woman that sits on the other side of me is building a barrier - seriously. She has several pieces of sides of a card board box set up as extra barriers around her cube. She is going to have difficulty when she moves to the sushi bar (love that term). My guess is she is staff level so won't have the same amble seating I will.

I did a google search of work seating sushi bar and got this image.



It is actually a bit nicer than our proposed new space in our new green building. But pretty much the same layout.

And here is something similar to what I get at my amble space.



And to think at one time I had a stuffy old office instead I get this awesome sleek seating where I get to stare at my co-worker all day long!

Reading with interest this I guess newest development in office seating.

Where exactly did this come from? How are people/managers thinking people will be productive sitting at a long table, with no personal boundaries. From the pictures I've seen, it all reminds me of people sitting in the visiting area of a prison. You know, with those little barrier you're not supposed to cross over, people sitting at tables talking over the 8 inch partition to each other.

Have there been studies and/or trails showing this is more productive in various types of industries?

I could see how it might be useful if you worked, for instance in graphic or fashion design, where you may want a lot of interaction. However, how can accountants, lawyers, etc maintain any confidentiality if there is no privacy?

What ehbeth said about her table/desk being the wrong size for her body....employers have to make accomodations for that obviously. These type of table look like they Might only be comfortable for grade schoolers. Even then not so comfortable for them.

Even in a cubicle, you have a bit of privacy. Not to be inappropriate, but you know, sometimes ya just have an itch and need to scratch. Or, your habit while thinking isn't even an obnoxious laugh, but maybe rubbing an eyebrow in a way that may seem funny or weird/annoying to someone else.

I can remember as a kid, and even through high school and college, while I was taking a test, I would need to just stare sort of straight ahead sometimes while thinking, and sometimes I would "come to" with the teacher or proctor looking at me like I was maybe trying to look at someone's paper.

I'm sure a lot of people do that, and in an open plan like this, you could be staring right at the person in front of you, not meaning to be rude, just lost in thought, or even just taking a mental break.

This environment seems abusive to me. Weren't employers asked for any input about it?

Did you even have to ask this? Now why would any ask input on this? Makes way too much sense. I have read a little about it. Some other places of business claim this makes for a more collaborate environment thus increasing productivity.

There are some beginnng studies that have shown that it does the opposite meaning it causes more issues at work - ie being able to concentrate and lowers productivity.

One thing for sure - writing reviews about your reports will be very interesting in this sort of environment. Well at least I will only be staring at one person without some one within arms reach of me.

Oh and that person with the barricade set up - I found out she is a germophobe - I believe that is why the barricade. Imagine the difficulty she will have with people that just have to move their elbow and will be touching her. In any case, knowing this could give me hours of entertainment at work. I will have to discuss my most recent contagious viruses and such.

I've just been looking around, and most of what I've read seems to indicate it's not liked, productivity goes down. etc.

Collaboration?

What ever happened to walking over and talking to someone else for a minute?

I think talking about collaboration is one big excuse. I think in the real world, even cubicle world, most of the work done during the day isn't collaborative, and I don't see why it should be. Unless, as stated before, it's a specific industry.

Would be interesting if you could organize a flash mob of everyone that works there, walk into the big wigs office and everyone say "We don't want this!"

The big wigs have their own private space, that's for damn sure.

You are nasty@! LOL

The big wigs won't even be in that building. Granted there will be some with big titles but even these are peons compared to who thinks this is a good idea

I need to find a way to enjoy work

You need to send this to the big wigs.

Yes, but our space will be much more colorful....other than that and replace the sewing machines with computers and the cloth with paper - and that pretty much sums it up.

The only positive is - in the new modern picture there will be men sitting at these "desks"as well.

Maybe not... but there's a way to get revenge.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/8c52/

That is a neat little gadget. The only problem is in this case it may increase the annoying laugh as it is also one of those nervous laughs at times, the laugh is also used as an agreement, or to acknowlege she heard a comment - almost like a normal person would nod or say yeh or ok. There is a little ahah in that grating way.

So I think after each chirp, I would then hear that nervous conversational laugh come from her. It would only increase the frequency.

But I am going to keep this in my back pocket as it may work well in other sitution and for only $10 a steal.

Thinking about it.

Perhaps these type of work areas are gaining popularity because of the most recent graduates entering the workplace. They have been sitting at wee desks and grouped together like this for the last 16 to 20 years of their lives. This is what they are used to.

Don't know why they would want to continue that though, when I got into the workplace I glorified in the fact I now at least had a "grownup" desk in which I could permanently stash my stuff.
Who wants to carry their **** around in a backpack their whole life?

An aside, as you may know/care/not care, I'm not employed again and as we speak on sitting at an EXTREMELY boring temp assignment (last day today), where I don't even have busywork to do....hence I'm posting here. Anyway, I'm looking at the work station the person I'm relieving (on vacation) is sitting at. I cannot imagine this being the status quo, or in any way acceptable in a "sushi bar" situation. I'm trying to profile the person who usually sits here. She doesn't seem like a ditz as far as tons of personal crap all over, but even typing on her keyboard makes me aware of germs. She must have spilled a coke or something on it way in the past, and never cleaned up. Surrounding all the keys is this fuzzy gunk, and when I pried one of the keys up, I found it was hardened dust and grime. My OCD has kicked in, and I've started prying up random keys and cleaning them with wet paper towels. There no cans of compressed air that I can see. The rest of the desk is just sort of grimy and not really clean. Gag, now I'm getting grossed out thinking about all this.....anyway, when everyone is sitting cheek by jowl, how are you supposed to deal with some people being neat, some grimy, some in between?

The first time I was unemployed, I was working a 3 month assignment, where I was in a corral with 3 other people. We all faced away from each other, but our desk/counter area looped around. The person to the right of me had a habit of letting her stuff spread into "my" area. At first I tried not to let it bother me. Then, one cold day I loaned her my scarf, and when she warmed up and took it off....it strangely stayed over on "her" side. I know on paper it should make sense to be able to let someone know where their boundaries are, but it day to day practice it was more awkward. I used an opportune moment to reclaim one of my favorite scarves, and at the same time nicely pushed all her sh!t back over toward her, and luckily she took the hint. "Wow, I'm cold now. Oh, there's my scarf! Isn't this your stuff? Here you go." I can easily see how this could be a potential problem big time....for some reason I feel this especially if it was mixed genders next to each other.

also in the $10 range...

Those hikers that use the primitive camp sites?

The smartass in me wants to gig you for that.

The married-to-a-psychologist in me wants to teach you about "flooding" to help control those OCD impulses...

Decisions, decisions....