Offices to Axle Bonks: The Evolution of the Cubicle

When you watch Mad Men, you see a tradition that has sadly gone away, and I don’t mean starting drinking at 10am.

Workers had offices. And desks!

As you can see in the show, offices were often lined along the sides of an office building. Assistants and other workers might work just outside these offices.

Then came cubicles. Support personnel were moved to cubicles, and the office types got…smaller offices.

Then came the open floor plan. Offices disappeared and everyone had a cubicle — the cubicle farm they called it.

They called it a farm because it was flat and expansive. Also because they could drive a tractor down the aisle and shoot feed to the animals.

Some of the animals would gather to stick their snouts is feed trough near their cubicles, also known as “the kitchen.”

Next they double up workers in each cubicle. Have you ever worked so close to someone you knew the name of their dog, kids and venereal disease?

Now they are doing away with cubicle altogether. Each worker will be issued a skateboard with a flat section to place a laptop. Workers are free to move about the building at will, and perform skateboard tricks like “Axle Bonks” and “Early Grabs” in the parking lot at lunch.