working hard or hardly working?

I’m just sitting in my little cubicle at Providence. I still can’t get over the fact that I have joined the ranks of those who have cubicles, my very own three-walled office space. It’s in an interesting location, too. It sits at the end of a hallway that leads to the head honcho doctor’s offices. And given that I don’t have the precious fourth wall, this means everyone who walks down the hallway basically just looks into my cubicle for roughly the 10-15 seconds it takes to walk by. This is an awkward time for all involved in said situation. They really have nothing else to look at except me, “working away” in my cubicle. I look up and to the side most of the time to greet whomever, which is nice, but should I look over every time?

It’s like running into someone at the grocery store. You say hello and exchange some cordial conversation in produce. All is good and well, and you both continue your grocery-shopping excursion. Two minutes later, you meet again near the wheat thins. You both give a little chuckle, say hello again and motion the “been there, done that” of the conversation. If you see them again, it’s more of an annoyance, well jeez…I KEEP running into you, at some point you might just stop saying hello. So should I continue to say hello EVERY time? Is it rude not to say hello? I can see them walking toward me out of the corner of my eye…it’s DISTRACTING. What if I put up a curtain, a pretty one? Then I wouldn’t be distracted and feel obligated to say hello and they would have some pretty fabric to look at. Hmm….

There is this awesome comic that is on the wall of my cubicle. I guess you could say it’s on my “fourth wall”; I have about an eighth of a fourth wall, in case you were thinking I was lying earlier. It’s just big enough for said comic to fit. It must be a gift from whoever sat here before me. It’s this man sitting at his desk and his boss comes walking up and asks, “Why aren’t you working?” and he responds with a shocked look and says, “I didn’t see you coming!” Is that glorious or what? I think that’s how many people in office jobs function. Keeping their eyes and ears open for when they should resume working hard.

Speaking of...time to "work hard", must greet the masses, it’s high traffic through here today and it IS hard work, the whole averting my gaze from the computer and looking to the left to greet all these people. If anyone sees any pretty curtains…you know who to call.