Dilbert and the cubicle sight lines

[cjsmith]

I know the (a?) story behind this one.

Is this some measure of "making it" in Silicon Valley, or something? :-)

edit: The story I know is in this comment. My coworker sent it in around the time it happened, years ago.

Comments

[eichin.livejournal.com]

Well, he has claimed before that while he does use ideas sent in from people, he only uses them when he hears them from at least two different companies - at least partly to keep people out of trouble.

("So does that mean that if it shows up in dilbert, it's an industry Standard Practice?" :-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Good point, I'd forgotten that. :)

[wooddragon.livejournal.com]

So what's the story?? Do tell!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

A while back I worked for a startup that got purchased. One tech writer of ours had some kind of painful condition -- a bad back, perhaps -- that meant she was much more comfortable working standing up. Our small company had gamely arranged a bi-level desk for her and she kept her monitors up on the top "shelf" of it.

The big (purchaser) company said that because these monitors extended up above the line of the cubicle wall, they had to be moved down. She attempted to fight it with common sense about productivity versus pain, then she attempted to fight it with counterexamples elsewhere in the company (somehow our facility was the only one where they cared about this cubicle sight line thing), but she lost.

That's just one of the many reasons I have zero respect for the purchasing company. I'm sure you've heard some of the others over the years. ;-)

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

She needed to get a doctor to write her a note and make noises about the ADA and reasonable accomodations. Big companies don't respond to logic, but may to potential litigation.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's about when they laid off a chunk of us (her among them), so the story ends a little prematurely. :-)

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

Why am I not surprised at knowing which big company this must refer to? As you say, yet another reason to hate them... There are so many....

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Heh - I figured a couple of my LJ friends might recognize it. :)

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

Yeah, what they said! Tell!!!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I put the story in this comment. :-)