It Only Takes Three Walls To Confine Your Soul

The office cubicle turns 40 this month, and since so many of our readers work in them, I couldn't let the anniversary pass unheeded. According to Wikipedia, "A cubicle's purpose is to isolate office workers from the sights and noises of an open workspace, the theory being that this allows workers more privacy and helps them to concentrate without distractions." Of course we know the opposite is true.

I worked in a cubicle for a couple of years while at MSNBC in Redmond, Wash., part of the Microsoft campus, which is made entirely of cubicles (and the withered husks that once contained human souls) . All that those five-foot walls provided me was an excuse to goof around. I got a lot more accomplished in an open newsroom, where I was forced to block out distractions internally; the walls you erect in your own head are always more effective than the fabric-covered panel variety.

According to the article in the Kansas City Star, the cubicle debuted in 1968, as part of a concept called The Action Office. The late Robert Propst at Herman Miller, a marketing company in Michigan, came up with the concept.

Joe Schwartz, now 82, was a marketing director at Herman Miller at the time. “The death of the cubicle has been forecasted for the past 40 years, but apparently it provides benefits rather than causes problems,” Schwartz said. But at least one serious rival is out there, the anti-office office. With transportation costs soaring, the cubicle-free option of working from home or working from Starbucks grows more attractive.

The time for mankind to rise up and break free of its 6-foot-by-6-foot prison is coming. So please help celebrate the cubicle's birthday, below, while you still can.

Office Cublicle Celebrates 40th Anniversary [Kansas City Star]