Cubicle, Homesweet Cubicle--Time for a Cubicle Makeover

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Feeling Walled In? Are You Being Told to "Think Outside The Box"--But You Are Stuck In a Cube?

If you are going to be stuck in a "cubicle" for 8 hours a day (one third of each day!)--you might as well fix it up a bit and decorate it. Make it a comfortable place to work (of course, there are limits to how far you can go before the boss has a fit and your co-workers revolt--but then again, perhaps they are revolting already ...).

Scott Adams, a former High-Tech engineering department employee, has become the philosopher of modern-day worklife with his amazingly accurate Dilbert cartoons and books. He captures the craziness that pervades modern workplaces.

I've worked in a bunch of high-tech organizations in and around Silicon Valley--from being a contractor with a government agency or other organization to working as a staff member of a few prominent Silicon Valley high-tech data and telecommunications networking companies. At every place I've worked, my co-workers and I were certain that Scott Adams and his models for his columns and cartoons were working in our building.

This Squidoo lens is a tribute to my colleagues and coworkers who put up with the cubicle walls and halls. And... I'm adding some ways to help make the "daily grind" more bearable. Stick around and visit a bit, drop a note, give suggestions for fixing up a cubicle, and perhaps even offer up some links to pictures of your own.

Contents at a Glance

If You Are Going to Be Stuck Here for 8 Hours, Make It Comfy!
Why Are There Things Such As Cubicles? A Brief History... Who Came Up With This Idea Anyway? Aaargh!
Great Stuff on CafePress

Decorate with a Little, Decorate with a Lot... Will Your Boss Approve? How About Your Co-Workers?
Get Your Own Cubicles On The Bay.... eBay, that is...
How Do You Keep From Losing Your Mind?

more...

If You Are Going to Be Stuck Here for 8 Hours, Make It Comfy!

Why Are There Things Such As Cubicles? A Brief History... Who Came Up With This Idea Anyway? Aaargh!

The desolation of an empty cubicle.... A Blank Canvas Waiting for Enhancement!

A Mess Waiting for Remediation!

Until the 1950's, most clerical and office workers worked in something called the "bull-pen"... which was a huge room filled with rows of desks with their accompanying chairs. There would be a phone on each desk and perhaps a manual or "IBM Selectric" typewriter or "10-key adding machine" also on each desk.

Around the perimeter of the "bull-pen" were the offices with doors--reserved for the higher-level excecutives and bosses (maybe--sometimes the bosses' desks were only at the front of the room facing all the lines of desks).

Then, in the mid-1960s, the Herman-Miller Office Equipment and Furniture company came up with modular furniture--furniture that was more "ergonomic" and supposedly more pleasant to be around and work in than the routine battle-ship grey metal desks folks were used to. These were researched, developed, and designed by a fellow named Bob Probst--the Director of Research for Herman Miller. The original "modular furniture office" was called the "Action Office"... because originally, it had flowing curves, delightful work-flow areas, large counter spaces, and ample shelving areas. It was designed and built on the premise that you can get more work done if you can spread it out to look at it rather than keeping it stacked in your "in-box". The cubicle wall heights and desk heights were adjustable--thus enabling folks to work standing up occasionally--to improve health.

The Action Office wasn't intended to cram folks into little spaces. But rising fuel costs, rising building costs, and the efficiency of putting folks in cookie-cutter-style cubes soon turned the magnificent idea into a way of cubby-holing workers.

Great Stuff on CafePress

Cubicle Cell Mug

From: Cheeky Geek

A cubicle is just a padded cell without a door

Danger! Danger! Someone's escaped from their cubicle.

I'm Never Wrong Mug

From: Cube Comedian

See more designs like these on CafePress

Decorate with a Little, Decorate with a Lot... Will Your Boss Approve? How About Your Co-Workers?

We've all heard about the amazing cubicles (really more like "work-spaces/play-spaces") that abound at companies such as Apple, Pixar, Disney, Industrial Lights and Magic, eBay, and Google. However, most of us don't have that nice situation--most of us work in rows of uniform cubicles where they are all the same color as the building walls and the carpet--putty brown.

Some of these drone-like companies even have rules that say, "No items can extend above your cubicle walls" or "No personal decorations can be added to the cubicle workspace without permission (signed form) from the HR and Engineering departments"... yeah, right.

Well, for a bare minimum, as in the pictured example, you might get away with a matching set of a personal mug, mousepad, calendar, and matching tile-box.

You could deck the cubicle out even further, if you want to live a bit on the dangerous side. I've seen cubicles with a tropical theme, some with a Star-Trek theme, some with a submarine theme (even with a Periscope--to look over the top of the cubicle walls!). There are cubicles with a Tiki theme. A friend at one of my companies was taking flying lessons--and he had a large poster of the control panel and a view out of the windows of a Cessna on his cubicle walls. It was like he was at work while flying. Cool!
Other cubicles I've seen:

Oriental theme--mats on the floor, rock garden on the desk, and "shoji-screen" backing to the cubicle walls.
Jurassic Park--a collection of dinosaur models on the desk with pictures of tropical jungles and reptiles on the cubicle walls.
Native American--Navajo-design rug on the floor, sand-painting designs on the cubicle walls, with a Kokopelli tile, lamp, or other design on the desk

Get Your Own Cubicles On The Bay.... eBay, that is...

If you really, really, really miss that box you are stuck in at work, you can get one of these babies and put it in your garage or den... so you can feel right at home!

And, for more fun... once you get your cubicle home, you can decorate it to your heart's content--and no coworkers (other than your spouse or significant other) will fuss with your boundless creativity!

Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by

How Do You Keep From Losing Your Mind?

This is a tough one. If you are stuck in a cubicle all day, it's easy to start losing your mind. So, be sure you get up and stretch every once in a while--at least once an hour. Take a walk to the restroom, the breakroom, or to the parking lot to help clear your head and get your blood flowing again. Use an exercise ball for your "chair".

What used to be "ergonomic" furniture has now become "bargain-basement" furniture for the company--a place to stick workers. It's no longer there to keep you "comfortable" while you work. Sure, some companies will give a song-and-dance about how they value your health and your productivity, but they stick you in a cube that's smaller than the cells at San Quentin or Alcatraz. Hey, at San Quentin or Alcatraz, you could watch TV and get "conjugal visits" once in a while--and even scheduled exercise times. Even their "solitary confinement" was better than some of the situations our "cubicles" put us in.

The Tropical Beachside Cubicle

(You can tell I'm an "Island Boy" and am feeling sort of "homesick"!

Okay, for those of you wanting to escape to the tropics and can't afford the flight to Hawaii, Guam, or even better, Palau, you can bring the scenery of those places to your cubicle! (You can also find more Tropical Style Goodies Here!)

Buy at AllPosters.com

Give Your Cubicle-Hutch a View of a Tropical Hut -- A Hutch-Hideaway!

Buy at AllPosters.com

You Want More Beaches? We Got 'Em!

Buy at AllPosters.com

Cubicle, Homesweet Cubicle--Time for a Cubicle Makeover

Feeling Walled In? Are You Being Told to "Think Outside The Box"--But You Are Stuck In a Cube?

Contents at a Glance

Contents at a Glance

Why Are There Things Such As Cubicles? A Brief History... Who Came Up With This Idea Anyway? Aaargh!

Great Stuff on CafePress

Decorate with a Little, Decorate with a Lot... Will Your Boss Approve? How About Your Co-Workers?

Get Your Own Cubicles On The Bay.... eBay, that is...

If you really, really, really miss that box you are stuck in at work, you can get one of these babies and put it in your garage or den... so you can feel right at home!

How Do You Keep From Losing Your Mind?

The Tropical Beachside Cubicle

(You can tell I'm an "Island Boy" and am feeling sort of "homesick"!

Books for Helping You to Handle the Cubicle World!

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Those Stupid "Business-Speak" (B.S.) Cliches! Aaargh!

Do You Want to Space Out In Your Cubicle? Make Your Space Better than MySpace!

Your Cubicle can be the "Last Frontier"...

Starter Stuff to Fix Up Your Cubicle

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You Want Controls? You Want to Fly Away? Here's Your Control Panel!

Links for Putting the Individual Touch to Your Cubicle.... All the Goodies!

The Star Wars, Star Trek, and Stargate Effect!

If These Images Aren't Enough to Satisfy Your Needs, You Can Also Get Other Ones by Clicking On the Images Below. Since This Site and Most Cubicles Are Supposed to Be Family Friendly (and the Workplace also Usually Must be "Politically Correct") I haven't

Photos of How Other Folks Fix Up Their Cubicles!

You Want to See How Others Coped with Corporate Life? Take a Look at These!

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You Want to Wrangle a Maverick Spreadsheet? Rope a New Database?

You Can Corral Your Work in Your Cubicle by Adding these Accents to Your Stable!

If You Get Too Rambunctious With Your Cubicle, You May Need These!

Supporting Material... These Links Are Fuel for the Cubicle Revolution!

Oriental Intrigue - The Calm of Zen, the Reflection of a Koi Pond, the Illumination of a Stone Lantern

You might not be able to get away with a "temple bell" in your cubicle, but the following images are a good start!

So Many Ways (and Places) to Get Work Done In Your Own Style!

Warning: Your Milage May Vary With These Techniques...

Thinking Outside the Box! For those Boxed Up in a Cubicle!

More Cubicle Goodies... for Thinking Outside the Box?

Cubicles in Action! Yup.... Video Clips You Can Learn From ... How to Pimp Your Cubicle!

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Voila: Just copy and paste this code into your own site. Have fun!