Cubicle games
Mood:
guessing
Read/Post Comments (0)
The area in which I work is about 20 desks or so in a wide open space, and only until recently had no dividers between any of the desks.
When they did put in some makeshift walls, smelly things made from some sort of compressed carcinogen with translucent panels for the upper portions, it didn't have the intended effect of making the area quiet. It instead gave people enough of the illusion they were by themselves that they'd be louder than ever, thinking the sound somehow would be muffled by a half inch of asbestos or whatever these things were made out of.
What the translucent part did have the effect of, was that I can now play "guess who's walking by" with the assortment of co-workers who travel by my desk. Using the most general hair and skin colors, what color pallette their clothes are, I attempt to identify who's passing by and coming around the corner.
One of the most identifiable traits is their walk. How fast, if they drag their feet, how much sound their clothes make is suprisingly consistant and recognizable.
It's not like I put a lot of time into this, but I spend a lot of time at my desk, and I've been here for many a moon, so it just sort of started on it own and is now an amusement to pass the time between network problems and computer slowdowns.
It usually works pretty well as a light diversion, until they actually talk because they think they're somewhere more isolated. That ruins the game.
Playing this game gives you a good sense of what non-verbal communications people make everyday with things as simple as posture and head positions. There are all kinds of messages sent about who you are and who you seem to be, based on things you may not even be aware of.
I haven't moved to guessing what they're thinking, or what kind of a person they really are based on my observations through obscuring plastic, but I'm getting good at guessing if that pretty girl from across the office is coming by, a former co-worker is visiting to spread gossip, or my boss is dropping in for a visit.
I'm sure I'll get pretty good at it, until the brain-damage induced by the noxious panels the plastic sits of top of finally does me in.
When they did put in some makeshift walls, smelly things made from some sort of compressed carcinogen with translucent panels for the upper portions, it didn't have the intended effect of making the area quiet. It instead gave people enough of the illusion they were by themselves that they'd be louder than ever, thinking the sound somehow would be muffled by a half inch of asbestos or whatever these things were made out of.
What the translucent part did have the effect of, was that I can now play "guess who's walking by" with the assortment of co-workers who travel by my desk. Using the most general hair and skin colors, what color pallette their clothes are, I attempt to identify who's passing by and coming around the corner.
One of the most identifiable traits is their walk. How fast, if they drag their feet, how much sound their clothes make is suprisingly consistant and recognizable.
It's not like I put a lot of time into this, but I spend a lot of time at my desk, and I've been here for many a moon, so it just sort of started on it own and is now an amusement to pass the time between network problems and computer slowdowns.
It usually works pretty well as a light diversion, until they actually talk because they think they're somewhere more isolated. That ruins the game.
Playing this game gives you a good sense of what non-verbal communications people make everyday with things as simple as posture and head positions. There are all kinds of messages sent about who you are and who you seem to be, based on things you may not even be aware of.
I haven't moved to guessing what they're thinking, or what kind of a person they really are based on my observations through obscuring plastic, but I'm getting good at guessing if that pretty girl from across the office is coming by, a former co-worker is visiting to spread gossip, or my boss is dropping in for a visit.
I'm sure I'll get pretty good at it, until the brain-damage induced by the noxious panels the plastic sits of top of finally does me in.
Read/Post Comments (0)
Previous Entry :: Next Entry
Back to Top
