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Anyone else hate open plan offices?

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MissDorkness
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13 Sep 2014, 10:32 pm

redcatbluecat wrote:
Thanks for this thread - I know it started in 2007 but thanks anyway to everyone who's contributed - although sorry you have to work in open plan offices too. I'm good at my job and even sometimes like it, but I dread going in every day because the office makes it feel like I'm working in the middle of a warzone, it's loud, there are conversations and phone calls and conference calls and meetings going on all around the office.

I find that my social skills are much worse working in this office than in a previous job where I shared an office with only two people. Does anyone else find this? In this office, I'm so overloaded because of all the noise and people talking at once that I find it hard to think of thing to say. As a result I'm a lot quieter and much more socially awkward than I have been in other jobs.

For example, there's a lot of joking and banter that goes on in my office. I find it hard to follow a lot of the jokes, so I don't laugh and probably seem totally humourless. I may be able to get some of the same jokes in a different environment. If I do try to join in the joking, it usually falls flat and I make an idiot of myself, or I laugh at something that wasn't a joke. So I just stay quiet and don't try.

As a result I tend to get left out and ignored a lot, which I don't mind some of the time because it allows me to concentrate on my work, but which can be quite hurtful. I also think some people don't respect my work because I'm so quiet (although my boss is pleased with the job I do).

I also find that socialising out of work is harder/impossible because I'm so tired and fed up of people after being in the office all day. Even if I try, the tiredness and overload makes my social skills worse and I fail there too. I know that this is part of being Aspie and it wasn't a bed of roses before I worked in this office but work makes it worse.


I feel you on all that.

I really enjoyed my week of working in the quiet and dim privacy I had during this migration.
Friday afternoon I was back to the cube farm...

OMG SO LOUD. everyone talking over me. Some high pitched giggling. Lots of folks moving around. No sunglasses. Ugh.
I had to give up on concentrating and finally joined in. I never know how my inane babbling is received. Blerg. Everyone's too nice and inclusive to tell me what an idiot I am, so it makes me paranoid. ~shrugs~



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15 Sep 2014, 10:51 am

Yes.

I once applied for a sew-machinists job and actually asked the employer if my machine could be moved into the back of the factory. I actually wanted my own room but knew it wouldn't have happened lol. I felt so nervous working on the factory floor with lots of people I didn't accept the job.

Another time I did work in factory and was so shy I only spoke to one woman who was the motherly type and made the effort to talk to me. I wouldn't take breaks as I'd be shy to sit in the canteen and make small talk with people. I worked hard keeping the deadlines in mind. Still, I soon got the sack- for; not fitting in as a team. When I was summoned to the office, I got the shock of my life to be told my employment is being terminated. I asked why and was told that the supervisor (a woman) said I didn't work as a team. I've no idea what that meant as I was stationed on a machine by myself. So I asked the manager if he's seen that with his own eyes. He said he has to take the supervisor's word. So peeved off I said, 'So if she told you to jump off a cliff, you'd do it?' Haha, it sounds so childish now, but it's all I could think of at the time. He went red in the face and stayed quiet. Then I said, Well I dont want to work for people like this anyway, so when can I come and collect my wages!?' And as soon as he gave me a date, I walked out.

I'm unable to work due to my condition now. But nothing's changed. I still have the same problems as I did back then.


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redcatbluecat
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15 Sep 2014, 4:07 pm

MissDorkness wrote:
I feel you on all that.

I really enjoyed my week of working in the quiet and dim privacy I had during this migration.
Friday afternoon I was back to the cube farm...

OMG SO LOUD. everyone talking over me. Some high pitched giggling. Lots of folks moving around. No sunglasses. Ugh.
I had to give up on concentrating and finally joined in. I never know how my inane babbling is received. Blerg. Everyone's too nice and inclusive to tell me what an idiot I am, so it makes me paranoid. ~shrugs~


That must be hard after a week of blissful silence. I have wondered if cubicles would be better than nothing - we just have open desks. I tried to hide behind a strategically placed cabinet after my last office move, but it was moved so they could squeeze another person in instead. From what you're saying cubicles don't really make a difference though as people talk over them.



MissDorkness
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15 Sep 2014, 5:50 pm

redcatbluecat wrote:
MissDorkness wrote:
I feel you on all that.

I really enjoyed my week of working in the quiet and dim privacy I had during this migration.
Friday afternoon I was back to the cube farm...

OMG SO LOUD. everyone talking over me. Some high pitched giggling. Lots of folks moving around. No sunglasses. Ugh.
I had to give up on concentrating and finally joined in. I never know how my inane babbling is received. Blerg. Everyone's too nice and inclusive to tell me what an idiot I am, so it makes me paranoid. ~shrugs~


That must be hard after a week of blissful silence. I have wondered if cubicles would be better than nothing - we just have open desks. I tried to hide behind a strategically placed cabinet after my last office move, but it was moved so they could squeeze another person in instead. From what you're saying cubicles don't really make a difference though as people talk over them.


It was. Today was still hard, too.

Yeah, at least our cubes don't help.
My favorite is when someone in an office on one side of us calls a person in an office on the other side of is and using speaker phone. ZOMG. horrible.



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16 Sep 2014, 1:26 pm

I wouldn't personally mind but then again i haven't worked in an office before, but it seems like the future with all its technology would mean cubicle offices would be evolved into open plan or transparent glass separating the desks to keep with the demands of eco-friendly environments i.e. enhanced natural light as opposed to wasting electricity on desk lamps even though computer power consumption is greater.



MissDorkness
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25 Nov 2014, 11:31 am

MissDorkness wrote:
I feel you on all that.

I really enjoyed my week of working in the quiet and dim privacy I had during this migration.
Friday afternoon I was back to the cube farm...

OMG SO LOUD. everyone talking over me. Some high pitched giggling. Lots of folks moving around. No sunglasses. Ugh.
I had to give up on concentrating and finally joined in. I never know how my inane babbling is received. Blerg. Everyone's too nice and inclusive to tell me what an idiot I am, so it makes me paranoid. ~shrugs~


Well, more people are being crammed into my area, with six new cubes being built. Again, all young and female, and more of a marketing geared team, so they have to collaborate far more than we do. It was loud enough already, I am so dreading this.

Chances are that I'll be moved away from the window and be in the center of a high-traffic area, with people able to move behind me. UGH! So dreading. Yes, I have spoken to my boss about it. No, I haven't told him specifically about my sensory issues, but, I've heavily hinted at them, and, while he understands, he doesn't control where the other managers stake out their employee cubes.

BUT, even if I do get stuck in the middle, one thing I did learn for certain this morning... I will NOT be sitting next to the same chatty young woman anymore.
She's super nice, but, never stops talking and giggling and it grates on my nerves so badly.
It's a relief to know there will be some space put between us.



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25 Nov 2014, 11:49 am

I don't plan on shooting myself anytime soon, so an office environment is out of the question. My skills landed me an office job once. I made it a whole day without commiting suicide. I was pritty proud of myself.



MissDorkness
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25 Nov 2014, 12:00 pm

yournamehere wrote:
I don't plan on shooting myself anytime soon, so an office environment is out of the question. My skills landed me an office job once. I made it a whole day without commiting suicide. I was pritty proud of myself.

:lol: You're a smarter person than me.

I gained too much confidence in my last job, I thought I could cope in an office environment. I knew I'd be in a cube here instead of an office like I had before, but, didn't realize how much of a difference it would be environmentally. My mind could wrap around it no problem. Now, getting the rest of my senses in line with that mental acceptance? That's a whole different story.
~sighs~ I'm sort of disappointed in myself. I've been here a year and I thought for sure I'd eventually just get used to it. I can be fine for long stretches, but, then everyone will start talking at once or it will get a little hot, and I just want to scream. I just don't see how anyone can concentrate and get anything done.



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25 Nov 2014, 12:15 pm

Sometimes, we can adapt.


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MissDorkness
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25 Nov 2014, 1:46 pm

yournamehere wrote:
Sometimes, we can adapt.

If, by adapt, you mean 'hide in the bathroom until they shut up'... totes.



yournamehere
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25 Nov 2014, 3:24 pm

MissDorkness wrote:
yournamehere wrote:
Sometimes, we can adapt.

If, by adapt, you mean 'hide in the bathroom until they shut up'... totes.


It would be nice to have hearing aids with a dial in an inconspicuous place, like a ring, you could just turn up, or down.

Did I just come up with another good invention?

I want my royalties!! !!



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28 Nov 2014, 6:34 pm

A better question would be: does anyone not hate open plan offices?


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30 Nov 2014, 4:03 pm

I just got a job in an open office environment. It's relatively quiet and I have headphones that cancels out a lot of noise so it's acceptable most of the time. But I still hope I can talk them into giving everyone their own office. For the time being, though, I'm happy just to have a job and actually be doing something.


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MissDorkness
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09 Dec 2014, 12:48 pm

Haha... I just went into system shock again.

I was out of the office for over a week for a conference... mostly-male attendees.
I'm back in my cube farm for less than 90 minutes before I'm inundated with perfumes and high-pitched giggling and want to nip off and put myself out of my misery.



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10 Dec 2014, 8:16 am

Another THANK YOU for this thread. I am glad that I have found a place where people can understand and not look at me like I just sprouted horns, fangs and a tail.

The noise level is always hard to deal with - and almost impossible to get others to understand. I want to choke people who say, "just tune it out."



MissDorkness
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10 Dec 2014, 10:11 am

Graywalker wrote:
Another THANK YOU for this thread. I am glad that I have found a place where people can understand and not look at me like I just sprouted horns, fangs and a tail.

The noise level is always hard to deal with - and almost impossible to get others to understand. I want to choke people who say, "just tune it out."

I know, right?!?!

I was away from the forums for a couple of years, but, came back last year because I needed people who would understand what a horrible shock to my system this working in a cube farm is.