Cubicle Etiquette?

zrgn asks: "Our team is moving to an open office type environment in a couple of weeks. The problem is that most of them have never worked in that type of setting before and thus may not know the do's and don'ts associated with a cube farm. I have two questions: what types of cubicle etiquette things have Slashdot readers come across that may help us in the new environment? (ie. don't listen to your voice mail on speaker phone); and What are some creative ways to relay 'cubicle rules' to the rest of the team?"

Comments

l'etiquette d'cube

[Tumbleweed]

1) the aforementioned listening to voicemail (or any call) on speakerphone.
2) Play your music on headphones
3) ditch the amusing new mail sound. Silence is golden.
4) Get your own lighting so everyone can leave the nasty overhead fluorescent lights off and light to their own specifications. better on the eyes, too.
5) To get someone's attention, arc a rubberband over the cubicle wall. Or hand-toss a nerf dart.
6) If you're the nervous twitch type, don't thump your pen on the desk incessantly, or whack your heel against the side of your chair, or whatever irritating thing you do.
7) If you have any brains, get some earplugs or a noise-cancellation headset.
8) Set the temp to a standard 72. Deal with it however you need to. "Space-heaters & deskfans for some, miniature American flags for others!"
9) Talk to the Claw! Don't stand around chatting with someone when it's obvious they're trying to get some work done. Be considerate - cube farms are hard enough to work in without a Chatty Cathy around.
10) PROFIT! :)

End of Line

The rules of food.

[Syncdata]

If I had my druthers, no food would be allowed in the common cubicle area. If this isn't acceptable, please, no seafood, and no smelly foods, particularly early in the morning.
One coworker of mine would bring a bacon cheeseburger into the cubicle area for breakfast. Noone needs to smell beef and bacon that early in the morning.
If only common sense were more common, noone would need rules like this.

Stealth eating

[MarkusQ]

My biggest gripe in a cube farm:

Eating.

If you want to eat in your cube, fine. Just keep it within your cube. I don't want to know about it. I don't want to smell your questionable fish-and-garlic-suprise, I don't want to have to wipe your barbeque sauce off my white board, and whatever it is you are eating I don't want to hear you chewing it (or doing what ever that guy in the fly did to consume his food).

And speaking of flies, take your trash to the lunch room as soon as you are done. The janitors will not dig through your pile of printouts to find your week-old pesto pieces, but there are six legged clean-up crews that will.

Thank you.

-- MarkusQ

DONTS!

[josepha48]

DONT leave your cell phones ON at your desk and leave your desk. You may like your ring tone but it will probably bother others.

DONT use a radio without headphones. Background noise is what it will come off as to others, no matter how low it is it will probably annoy others. Some people don't like it. ASK FIRST!

DONT humm or make lots of weird noises, it may annoy those arround you.

DONT use the hands free on your telephone, cause most people WONT want to hear your conversations. You should use a conference room for meetings even phone meetings.

DONT surf porno sites, other may be offended, also watch what you do surf, as others may be offended. Yes many places have no web surfing rules, but most places are pretty laxed about it.

Re:Engineering loves cubicles

[T-Ranger]

Some people are paying $11 for them:

I know how to google.

Not just any headphones

[superyooser]

2) Play your music on headphones

Not just any headphones. You need the over-the-ear kind that actually seals over the ears. A lot of headphones produce almost as much second-hand noise as regular speakers.

Headphones that cover the ears provide some benefits:

• They keep the sound inside, reducing the noise that others might hear.
• They block out external noises, so you don't have to turn up the volume as much.
• • This also reduces the noise that others might hear.
  • It allows you to hear your music more clearly.
  • It helps to prevent you from incurring hearing loss (not total loss, but partial loss; a serious and common result of using headphones)

If you intend to use them often, I recommend buying a high-quality pair. Don't consider anything under $40.

Re:I am the Asshole

[ptomblin]

I NEED! both hands when trying to address such a phone call.

So get a headset, and stop being such an asshole.

My suggestions

[Experiment 626]

• Try to position your monitor so that it can only be seen from within the cubicle as opposed to from the surrounding walkway. You strike me as the sort who visits Slashdot instead of working. Remember things like Alt-Space,N and Win-D and you will go far.

• Avoid being annoyingly noisy. Music should be with headphones, use of a speakerphone should be minimal, avoid obnoxious cell phone ring tones or WAVs on your PC. I even had to pass up a chance to swap my keyboard for one of those wonderful old IBM's because the clicking would have driven everyone crazy.

• Don't stink. Poor hygene, eating pungent foods at your desk, bad cologne, reeking of cigarettes, etc. are much more noticable than when you're in a different room.

• Learn to tolerate others. I've worked with a couple people who expect absolute silence in their workplace so they can enter some kind of deep contemplative state. Doesn't work well in cubeland. If you can tune out variations in noise level, temperature, etc. you keep your sanity a lot longer.

• Keep it light. Get along well with others. Use your whiteboard for inside jokes that develop camaraderie with your co-workers, but bear in mind what is appropriate. Posting a relevant Dilbert strip is always good.

• Projectiles are great! Rubber bands, nerf darts, etc. Learn who likes to play and who doesn't and avoid hitting innocent bystanders.

• Have a sense of proximity. Phoning the next cubicle over is silly, shouting across the whole floor obnoxious. Never underestimate just walking over to the person's cube.

• Privacy comes in small doses. During the next office shuffle, try for a cube away from the main walkway. A cube wall extention or strategically placed bookshelf or filing cabinet near your cube entrance can act as a doorway.

Re:I am the Asshole

[haplo21112]

Yeah thats what I need another wire running across my desk....NOT!

Re:I am the Asshole

[ptomblin]

Yeah, that's what I need, some asshole distracting me all day because his need to keep his desk clear of wires is more important than my need to get some work done. And because even though he's supposedly in tech, he's never heard of bluetooth.