BoingBoing notes that forty years ago, the cubicle was first inflicted on the office workers of the world.
But Propst’s forward-thinking motives were misinterpreted by some companies, which simply crammed more workers into smaller spaces and took advantage of the system’s huge potential for savings and tax breaks… *
At first the news made me slightly queasy at the thought of generations of drones being stuffed into tiny boxes for their entire office careers. But what would modern offices be like without walls? Without even that much privacy, we’d still have the sweatshop-like typing pool arrangement, where the supervisor watches all the screens for signs of slacking (or blogging).
So really, I’m glad I have my cubicle walls. I only wish they were a little more stylish. And had a door.