• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, April 11, 2016

If you've read any of the studies, you've come to realize the open office concept is not entirely the blissful piece of productivity nirvana it was believed to be. But that certainly hasn't stopped agency after agency from doing the open office thing. Of course, the real reason they do it is because it looks cool, it's hip and management can cram more bodies into the same office footprint, saving overhead at the expense of employee sanity. 

So there's this article in the Austin Statesman about open office space and how it can be challenging to employees. Challenging would seem to be missing the point. In the article, Austin-based speaker and founder of ReGainYourTime.com gave some suggestions for those difficult open office moments: 

- “Perhaps you could take those calls outside? The rest of us are trying to concentrate.”

- “I love animals, but do you think we could cooperate on the spot where your dog sleeps?”

- “Wow, I’m sorry you’re having a hard time. Would you like to step outside and talk?”

- “E-cigarette — cool! Are you using those to quit tobacco? I don’t blame you, (but) any kind of smoke or vapor really bothers my allergies.” 

But let's think about that advice for a moment. If people were less selfish, less self-centered and not so oblivious to the effect their behavior has on others, we wouldn't need this advice in the first place. It's like every worker has turned into a petulant schoolchild who must be disciplined over and over again to wean them from all that trophy-for-breathing, self-esteem crap they were brought up on.  

If you're stuck in an open office scenario, the solution is simple: don't be a dick. Be aware of the fact you are not the only person in the room. No one wants to hear you argue with your significant other or pretentiously pontificate self-important nonsense to your client on the phone when you are really just faking it because you have no idea what you are doing.  

Really. It's not that hard.