The office cubicle represents much more than just a three (sometimes 3 ½) walled structure designed for doing work. In his seminal work, Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, Douglas Coupland describes cubicles as “veal-fattening pens”, a term that emphasizes the pop-culture notion of ‘cubicle farms’, where mass numbers of people are herded into insipid and cramped work spaces for the purpose of carrying-out mindless, often computer-related tasks while existing in an atmosphere that only promotes maximum production with minimum distraction. The idea is that office workers are like cows: exploit able life forms that, although perhaps necessary for the success of the business, are also deemed relatively unimportant; they can easily be replaced, and so serve merely as a disposable resource. The satisfaction and rewards that come with being employed in a job that binds you to a cubicle are often nil, and rarely worthy of the expectations demanded by the employer. The clichés stressing the distresses of cubicle life and the monotonous routines experienced therein have been forged and popularized through movies such as Office Space, television shows like The Office, and even comic strips like Dilbert.
I’ve personally experienced being rendered ‘cubically-trapped’ by jobs in the past, and on more than one occasion it has struck me that a cubicle could very well be interpreted as a microcosm of a totalitarian society: The employee represents the average citizen who is forcefully restrained by the societal structure around them (the cubicle), while the company they work for represents the mighty dictator that demands allegiance and hard labour from its subjects in order to support an insatiable need for wealth, prominence and power. While the employer attempts to provide the employee the (false) sense of security, privacy, and trust that comes with having one’s own personal working space, the truth is that the employer is simply using the cubical as a means of extending their control over that employee, basically giving up little only to take back a lot. The employer quickly convinces the employee that there is a mutual understanding, a sort of symbiotic relationship that sees benefits for both of them. In reality though, the typical cubical-employee is completely dependent upon the employer: the cubicle-employee needs the employer’s money to survive, while the employer can replace the cubicle-employee on a whim, and do so with little to no consequence at all to the employer. Furthermore, any ‘personal-space’ the employee is provided is rarely ever personal at all. In a cubicle, one's e-mail, Internet usage, and sometimes even phone calls are monitored regularly under the watchful eye of “Big Brother”. Productivity is always gauged . If the employee falls behind in their work, they may be subject to disciplining; if the employee manages to get ahead, they’re just thrown a heavier workload.
In a cubicle, employees are expected to focus on the company agenda, or ‘vision’ with minimal disturbance (the cubical is a filter for any form of disturbance). Those who allow themselves to be fully absorbed into the company’s vision without much distraction can anticipate being compensated with lateral promotions, added responsibility, or maybe (if one is lucky enough) even a bigger cubicle. This is intended to make the employee feel ‘recognized’ and accepted by their superiors, hopefully earning the employee’s loyalty, industriousness, and trust. Such employees are fine candidates for ‘spies’ within the work place, as they will always and faithfully report any wrongdoing, idleness, or non-work-related-chitchatting exhibited by their peers. On the other hand, employees that seem less enthusiastic about their jobs and disengaged with the corporate vision generally continue being anchored to their desk under close scrutiny and a heavy workload.
Personal items are not always allowed to be displayed in an employee’s cubicle, but when it is permitted, the décor must always conform to the image the company is trying to present. This may vary depending on the place of business, but often the content found on cubical walls will be limited to only what the company can use as a form of office propaganda.
Typical personal objects that might be found in one's cubicle include:
- Happy family photos (the honeymoon last winter in Mexico, or that trip to Disneyland with the kids during summer break) that are completely unrelated to the job, but still somehow demand observers to think that the employee is quite content with their lot in life and therefore must be forever indebted to the employer for everything he or she has (the vacations, which were needed after working those long hours in a cubicle for well-over a year, were really only affordable after re-mortgaging the house).
- A quirky screen saver, perhaps featuring some flowers, your pet goldfish, or even a picture of your favorite cartoon character (it doesn't really matter, as long as the image is work-appropriate). Ultimately, the intention is to keep the employee content by giving them a measure of 'freedom' in own personal space, and to reassure them that offices really can be 'fun'.
- a tasteful calendar, often filled with puppy dogs, far-off places the employee can only dream of visiting, cupcakes, or some collection of inspirational (but not really) quotes. This, like the screen saver, is also often left to the employee’s discretion (a simple concession by the employer to ensure their employees remain punctual).
- inoffensive coffee mugs with phrases like "World's Best Dad" or "#1 Mom" are also permissible (after all, what business wouldn't want to fill all its cubicles with such quality individuals?), though mugs featuring quips like: "Hand Over the Coffee and No One Gets Hurt!", are probably too threatening (if not overly obnoxious) and are generally deemed unacceptable.
It seems even prisoners in their jail cells get better treatment and more allowances than the typical cubicle-worker. Sure the employee may be rewarded with a paycheck at the end of the week, but then what gain is it, really, if one's life is consistently being drained from them for 8 hours a day? In all essence, isn't that exactly what a cubicle is, a jail cell? A corporate jail cell designed to keep the employee controlled, monitored, and subject to strict laws of the employer?
There is no satisfaction to be found in a cubicle job. Not really. And yet millions of people, everyday, march to their cubicle jobs like ants to an anthill, because that is what they've been programmed to do: work, work, work, get paid, pay bills, eat, sleep, work, work, work, get paid, pay bills, eat, sleep, and so the process continues on indefinitely. In the end, it is not families that are the building blocks of a society -- at least not in a capitalistic, corporate driven society, it's cubicles. And while I'm sure we'd all love to see a world without cubicles, it's pretty hard to ever imagine a money-and-power-hungry world without them. It's unavoidable. Cubicles are here to stay: veal-fattening pens designed to exploit the skills and labours of the employee so that the corporate machine can keep moving and spreading its influence across the globe. Ants going to their anthills is perhaps far too kind a discription, it really is more like sheep being led to the slaughter.
The cubicle therefore serves as a restraint, a symbol of our bondage to a corporate world. And isn't life worth more than that? More than being confined to a small, compact 4 x 4 ft. room? I should certainly hope so, and so should you!
- George Orwell, Animal Farm"He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself."
