CUBE LIFE! Office Etiquette

[Giff]

I guess I'm lucky that e-mails from pissed off clients have been few and far between lately, but nothing like waiting on a response to an e-mail you just sent where you know that person is going to be extremely fucking livid, and rightfully so.

I told you...I TALK TO THE ENGINEERS!

I'M A PEOPLE PERSON DAMMIT!!

[degenerasian]

My IT department is pissed today, they moved into an open office. They've gone from high cubicles to tables. It looks like a call center in there.

This absolutely won't work as they have more and more zoom meetings with the hybrid schedule that we have (3 days on, 2 WFH). I called one of them on the phone this morning and could hear 5 other people talking. I have a meeting with IT this afternoon, was supposed to be on Zoom but since we're all here today I'm moving it to a meeting room.

Another CIO with a bright idea.

[sancarlos]

I think we all know… AB IS A PEOPLE PERSON!!

[MaxWebster]

ha - that's absolute lunacy. my previous job had "short walls" which were pointless - entire giant room was an open office with ppl on the phones loudly all day in the same room as developers. real great for concentration. (worst company i've worked for out of a long list...)

My IT department is pissed today, they moved into an open office. They've gone from high cubicles to tables. It looks like a call center in there.

This absolutely won't work as they have more and more zoom meetings with the hybrid schedule that we have (3 days on, 2 WFH). I called one of them on the phone this morning and could hear 5 other people talking. I have a meeting with IT this afternoon, was supposed to be on Zoom but since we're all here today I'm moving it to a meeting room.

Another CIO with a bright idea.

[degenerasian]

What is the reasoning for this? So the manager can watch everyone? I've never met a person who liked this concept. This CIO was hired a few years ago and it's all buzzwords and bureaucracy with him.

ha - that's absolute lunacy. my previous job had "short walls" which were pointless - entire giant room was an open office with ppl on the phones loudly all day in the same room as developers. real great for concentration. (worst company i've worked for out of a long list...)

My IT department is pissed today, they moved into an open office. They've gone from high cubicles to tables. It looks like a call center in there.

This absolutely won't work as they have more and more zoom meetings with the hybrid schedule that we have (3 days on, 2 WFH). I called one of them on the phone this morning and could hear 5 other people talking. I have a meeting with IT this afternoon, was supposed to be on Zoom but since we're all here today I'm moving it to a meeting room.

Another CIO with a bright idea.

[MaxWebster]

these are not smart people.

ladder-climbers to be sure and if you want to count that as a skill go ahead but ppl/managers like that serve little-to-no purpose. i feel like i've worked long enough and at enough places to realize who the frauds are and 10/10 times its the ones using the acronyms/agile-concepts-with-no-realistic-work-basis/buzzwords.

What is the reasoning for this? So the manager can watch everyone? I've never met a person who liked this concept. This CIO was hired a few years ago and it's all buzzwords and bureaucracy with him.

[GoodKarma]

What is the reasoning for this? So the manager can watch everyone? I've never met a person who liked this concept. This CIO was hired a few years ago and it's all buzzwords and bureaucracy with him.

ha - that's absolute lunacy. my previous job had "short walls" which were pointless - entire giant room was an open office with ppl on the phones loudly all day in the same room as developers. real great for concentration. (worst company i've worked for out of a long list...)

My IT department is pissed today, they moved into an open office. They've gone from high cubicles to tables. It looks like a call center in there.

This absolutely won't work as they have more and more zoom meetings with the hybrid schedule that we have (3 days on, 2 WFH). I called one of them on the phone this morning and could hear 5 other people talking. I have a meeting with IT this afternoon, was supposed to be on Zoom but since we're all here today I'm moving it to a meeting room.

Another CIO with a bright idea.

The real reason is cost. It allows you to reduce the space required per employee. Happy side effect it allows for supervisors/managers to "keep an eye" people and make sure they're working and not surfing the internet or whatever. The excuse given is that it allows for better collaboration, etc. but that's a bullshit excuse.

I read a story 5-6 years ago that the amount office space per employee is half what it was in the 1970's (it was pre-COVID but I don't know if the study took into account manufacturing, people working from home, etc. so I don't know how true it was)

[Shirley]

What is the reasoning for this? So the manager can watch everyone? I've never met a person who liked this concept. This CIO was hired a few years ago and it's all buzzwords and bureaucracy with him.

ha - that's absolute lunacy. my previous job had "short walls" which were pointless - entire giant room was an open office with ppl on the phones loudly all day in the same room as developers. real great for concentration. (worst company i've worked for out of a long list...)

My IT department is pissed today, they moved into an open office. They've gone from high cubicles to tables. It looks like a call center in there.

This absolutely won't work as they have more and more zoom meetings with the hybrid schedule that we have (3 days on, 2 WFH). I called one of them on the phone this morning and could hear 5 other people talking. I have a meeting with IT this afternoon, was supposed to be on Zoom but since we're all here today I'm moving it to a meeting room.

Another CIO with a bright idea.

The real reason is cost. It allows you to reduce the space required per employee. Happy side effect it allows for supervisors/managers to "keep an eye" people and make sure they're working and not surfing the internet or whatever. The excuse given is that it allows for better collaboration, etc. but that's a bullshit excuse.

Bingo. It's just cheaper. This is kind of ironic with the push to return to the office, but whatever.

BTW, decent headsets can help with the issue of people in close proximity on calls. It can make a huge difference. They should ask the company to buy them too.

[Nonlinear FC]

Yep. I have a very loud, news room type office environment. Headphones are your friends.

[mister d]

Anyone else read "CUBE LIFE!" in the title in the Cornell "SPOON MAN" voice?

[Giff]

Well I fucking will now.

[degenerasian]

What is the reasoning for this? So the manager can watch everyone? I've never met a person who liked this concept. This CIO was hired a few years ago and it's all buzzwords and bureaucracy with him.

ha - that's absolute lunacy. my previous job had "short walls" which were pointless - entire giant room was an open office with ppl on the phones loudly all day in the same room as developers. real great for concentration. (worst company i've worked for out of a long list...)

My IT department is pissed today, they moved into an open office. They've gone from high cubicles to tables. It looks like a call center in there.

This absolutely won't work as they have more and more zoom meetings with the hybrid schedule that we have (3 days on, 2 WFH). I called one of them on the phone this morning and could hear 5 other people talking. I have a meeting with IT this afternoon, was supposed to be on Zoom but since we're all here today I'm moving it to a meeting room.

Another CIO with a bright idea.

The real reason is cost. It allows you to reduce the space required per employee. Happy side effect it allows for supervisors/managers to "keep an eye" people and make sure they're working and not surfing the internet or whatever. The excuse given is that it allows for better collaboration, etc. but that's a bullshit excuse.

Bingo. It's just cheaper. This is kind of ironic with the push to return to the office, but whatever.

BTW, decent headsets can help with the issue of people in close proximity on calls. It can make a huge difference. They should ask the company to buy them too.

This is interesting and I agree it's cheaper but it's not company-wide. Only IT decided to do this. Communications and Marketing (who you'd think would benefit from openness and collaboration) they just moved to another floor and it's ALL offices. Not even high cubicles like mine, full offices.

[Shirley]

This is interesting and I agree it's cheaper but it's not company-wide. Only IT decided to do this. Communications and Marketing (who you'd think would benefit from openness and collaboration) they just moved to another floor and it's ALL offices. Not even high cubicles like mine, full offices.

Marketing makes money. IT is a cost center. Marketing is also way more likely to have an influential exec making decisions than IT.

[sancarlos]

This is interesting and I agree it's cheaper but it's not company-wide. Only IT decided to do this. Communications and Marketing (who you'd think would benefit from openness and collaboration) they just moved to another floor and it's ALL offices. Not even high cubicles like mine, full offices.

Marketing makes money. IT is a cost center. Marketing is also way more likely to have an influential exec making decisions than IT.

Absolutely true!

[DaveInSeattle]

Yep. I have a very loud, news room type office environment. Headphones are your friends.

Before the pandemic, I sat in a "Bull Pen" type area, with the low cubes and about 43 people. It was way too crowded, and loud.

Now, post-pandemic and post layoffs, when I go in and sit in the same area, there may be 2 or 3 other people there.

[Johnnie]

So there i was sitting in the waiting room letting my allergy shots take effect when I get an email that I've been tentatively selected for a GS position I applied to. I didn't think I'd get this job because the interview was quite haphazard and quick -- like a 12 minute phone call start to finish. It wasn't even over Zoom.

Then an hour later the county called about the position I applied to with them and I have an in-person Friday interview with a follow up assessment afterward. Each are 40 minutes.

In the meantime, I reached out to get set up with a mentor through American Corporate Partners and apply to a program through FourBlock that offers a once a week Zoom call that let's corporate America come to your for job prospects.

So, finally something is going right for me. I guess since it's a new fiscal year there's money in the budget to hire people. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself.

[Steve of phpBB]

So there i was sitting in the waiting room letting my allergy shots take effect when I get an email that I've been tentatively selected for a GS position I applied to. I didn't think I'd get this job because the interview was quite haphazard and quick -- like a 12 minute phone call start to finish. It wasn't even over Zoom.

Then an hour later the county called about the position I applied to with them and I have an in-person Friday interview with a follow up assessment afterward. Each are 40 minutes.

In the meantime, I reached out to get set up with a mentor through American Corporate Partners and apply to a program through FourBlock that offers a once a week Zoom call that let's corporate America come to your for job prospects.

So, finally something is going right for me. I guess since it's a new fiscal year there's money in the budget to hire people. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself.

Sounds promising. You will probably end up with three offers all at the same time.

[Shirley]

Fiscal years start on many different dates at different companies. That's not why you're getting looks. It's because you're qualified. Good luck, man.

[sancarlos]

Glad to hear it, Johnnie. Go, get ‘em!

[rass]

Congrats buddy

[Johnnie]

The interview for the county job went well it seems because I got a call this morning from them wanting to hire me.

But I turned it down because of the GS job on base that I'll be accepting.

I had never interviewed in person before, so that was a bit different than Zoom calls. I wasn't nervous or anxious at all during it. If anything the sampling of questions I asked them at the end put them on the spot and they seemed pleasantly surprised I was so inquisitive.

[Shirley]

The interview for the county job went well it seems because I got a call this morning from them wanting to hire me.

But I turned it down because of the GS job on base that I'll be accepting.

I had never interviewed in person before, so that was a bit different than Zoom calls. I wasn't nervous or anxious at all during it. If anything the sampling of questions I asked them at the end put them on the spot and they seemed pleasantly surprised I was so inquisitive.

Congratulations, Johnnie!

[Giff]

Congrats man!

[Steve of phpBB]

That's awesome, Johnnie. Congratulations!

[sancarlos]

Congrats, bud! Funny that it took awhile, and then you had TWO options.

[Nonlinear FC]

NICE!!!!

[The Sybian]

Mazel Tov! What does the job entail?

[DaveInSeattle]

Congrats Johnnie!

[Johnny Carwash]

Congrats Johnnie!

[govmentchedda]

Nice work, Johnnie!

[mister d]

Congrats on getting to spend more structured time on here, Johnnie!

[rass]

Great news

[Johnnie]

Thanks, everyone! I'm very much excited to get back into the workforce again.

Mazel Tov! What does the job entail?

It's a job that's in the same realm of what I did while I was in, Unit Deployment Manager. I ensure that personnel and cargo are clear to move to get to deployed locations when the time comes. My active duty job (Logistics Plans) was to train UDMs and maintain the program base-wide. With this job I'll just manage one squadron.

Oddly enough when I first crossed trained into that job I was given the UDM responsibility as an additional duty. So now it'll be my only duty.

(And yes, I've said numerous times I'd never do a job like that again, but I needed a job and the GS system is pretty awesome. So I have to swallow my pride a bit here.)

Hopefully this link still works. It has more formal wording: https://www.usajobs.gov/Job/748161200

[mister d]

… Unit Deployment Manager …

“Tonight you’re goin’ in a mouth, Private.”

[MaxWebster]

internet high-five to my federal co-worker!

(sincerely - congrats johnnie)

Thanks, everyone! I'm very much excited to get back into the workforce again.

Mazel Tov! What does the job entail?

It's a job that's in the same realm of what I did while I was in, Unit Deployment Manager. I ensure that personnel and cargo are clear to move to get to deployed locations when the time comes. My active duty job (Logistics Plans) was to train UDMs and maintain the program base-wide. With this job I'll just manage one squadron.

Oddly enough when I first crossed trained into that job I was given the UDM responsibility as an additional duty. So now it'll be my only duty.

(And yes, I've said numerous times I'd never do a job like that again, but I needed a job and the GS system is pretty awesome. So I have to swallow my pride a bit here.)

Hopefully this link still works. It has more formal wording: https://www.usajobs.gov/Job/748161200

[phxgators]

Congrats Johnnie!

[cerranoredux]

Good to know affirmative action is alive and well, Johnnie!

[DSafetyGuy]

I will never understand how people who fly so often for work have zero idea how airlines operate.

[brian]

I will never understand how people who fly so often for work have zero idea how airlines operate.

Given your job aren’t these also people who are used to having things taken care of for them?

ETA: Though you’re right of course.

[brian]

Though my job is (by design) about the farthest thing from cube life I’ll try to stick job updates here but heading to Phoenix tomorrow for Knight’s “Top Gun” training program. They only have 8 spots a week so it’s not a thing that all new hires get to do. It’s an intensive program covering a lot of things new drivers need to deal with. It’s pretty cool because they have state-of-the-art simulators and you even get to sleep in the trucks to experience what that’s like before you actually get out on the road.