it's too early for me to fake innocence

[seperis]

I think my boss and another employee are fighting very subtly in the next cubicle. I am really trying not to listen, because so far, they have gone (politely) through like, five subjects, all of which seem to be incendiary, and I am afraid of them both.

...seriously, I can't figure out what the hostility is about. Something about validating tests? And something about leave? And something about--something.

You know, I wonder if they know I can hear them. For some insane reason, despite the fact these are cubicles, everyone goes around using them like soundproof booths. The really weird part is, I think everyone knows they aren't, but we are all supposed to pretend they are, like some strange voluntary group hallucination.

And now there is emphatic pounding on the desk.

And the ipod comes out now. Something in Korn for a bit. I need the hit of violence, kthx.

Comments

[apetslife.livejournal.com]

It's like the Wall Of Imaginary Silence in NYC restaurants.

Seriously, you can sit practically in your neighbor's LAP because the tables are all crammed so close together, and be talking to the person across from you, and you and your lap-sitting neighbor will both utterly ignore each others' existence and conduct entirely personal conversations. It's the height of rudeness to acknowledge that you've heard your neighbor or his dining partner, and if he's a New Yorker, he won't flick an eyelash if you start rambling on about, I don't know, seal bukkake or whatever. Because he honestly isn't listening!

Maybe your coworkers are all from NY? It took me a while to learn it, but eventually you really do believe that the Wall is there! And then, of course, you are free to chat about all kinds of things that you'd normally never discuss in public.

Mass auditory hallucination. It's more likely than you'd think!

[seperis.livejournal.com]

*falls over* Yes, The Wall. That's it.

he won't flick an eyelash if you start rambling on about, I don't know, seal bukkake or whatever.

I am going to be haunted by that for the rest of my natural life.

[ladyvyola.livejournal.com]

Mental image could be worse, ya know. Could've been walrus.

[fyrdrakken]

Yes, this, or like the thing in public saunas where "nakedness is often seen but never looked at." The only kind of privacy possible in open crowded conditions is the kind where everyone ignores everyone else.

[deadlychameleon.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of something I read in an ethnography of Inuit society. Expressions of emotion, especially anger, were strongly discouraged, starting in early childhood. Too much togetherness in cramped quarters.