Things you shouldn't do at the office, Part 1

On my way to the office breakroom to fill up my water bottle this morning, I came across two rather obese individuals standing on opposite sides of a cubicle aisleway having a conversation. As I approached them, I paused momentarily, assuming one would step aside so that I could get by. Instead, they just looked at me as if I was interrupting their discussion.

Now, these cubicle aisles are probably no more than five feet wide. Because of the way the cubes are laid out in our office, I would have had to backtrack and go completely around the office get around them. This was the only direct route to the breakroom.

They made a half-hearted attempt to flatten themselves up against the cubicle wall so I could get by. Seeing no way to avoid the situation, I turned sideways and squeezed between them, narrowly missing brushing up against one of them in the process.

You would think this absolute invasion of personal space would have been uncomfortable enough to make one of them figure out that they should move to the same side of the aisle as their counterpart. After filling up my water bottle, I turned to walk back to my office and noticed they were still deeply engrossed in each other's company. This time, I opted to take the around-the-cube-maze route to avoid the situation entirely.

Look, its bad enough when you have to walk between two average sized people in an aisle. I'm not a fan of having strangers in my personal space and I don't know why people insist on standing like that to have a conversation. But when there is barely enough room for people to get by you, have the courtesy to stand on the same side!

Either that, or go on a damn diet...

Posted by geekchik at July 28, 2006 09:11 AM