Just Jennifer

Call it Life in a Fish Bowl… Half Box… Cubicle Cubbies or Jenny in a Box, we’re all making some changes to our office environment here at Videomaker, and it’s been pretty interesting to observe.

Videomaker has been at it’s 3rd and present location for a good number of years, and it seemed time to freshen up and rearrange the office.

Several departments work closely together, like our Editorial Dept. and the Production Dept, but the layout wasn’t efficient for one-on-one interaction, and some staff members were pretty isolated from others even within their own departments.

The Production  Dept. was on the opposite side of the building from the Editorial Dept, for instance, so we agreed to merge office space.  Production and Editorial merged with IT, creating a Super Cubicle Center we’re dubbing ProdITorial.  Sales and Marketing have also moved into a Super Center, …”Sarketing?” “Mar-sals?”… and we’re all trying to get used to each other’s differences.

Some who were in full 3-sided cubicles are now in open-air space, (like me) while others are more enclosed, (like Tech Editor Mark).

What was interesting to watch was how our daily habits have changed… “Where’s the printer” became a game similar to watching mice in a maze who have traveled around their familiar surroundings for months suddenly having to find their way around it again when someone moves a couple of the dividers.

Some of us like it more open, others prefer the enclosed space. Poor Susan and Melissa no longer have windows, and are now trying to Feng Shui their space with personal touches like fish bowls, plants, and mirrors.

The office previously had six long divided sections, each with 3 or 4 cubicles on each side of the divide. Now we have three “Super Cubicles” as I like to call them, with larger open areas in the center.

John joked that we need to make a true lounge in the center “quad” of our Super Cube to look what people assume our “Videomaker Lounge” community site must be based on, as everyone knows we have a fun office full of games like basketball tournaments, old-fashioned popcorn machines, and we used to ride around the nearby park in a old-time Surry on lunch breaks.

I have the garden table, bar stools, twinkle lights and umbrella ready, we just need the Tiki torches and luau skirts!

Here’s a photo of Life in an office environment that would be fun to work in. I sent our I.T. guys the photo with a request, but they have yet to build me a super fish tank!