Eliza appreciated Maggie’s determination, in contrast to the other fellow college business majors, to try to find meaning in her work. Maggie wrote her motto, “Venture Beyond Lonely Cubicles,” on every piece of paper she turned in. Maggie wanted to change how people worked.
A few years into their respective working careers, Eliza was surprised to see Maggie post a picture of just such a cubicle as her new workspace. Wanting to understand, Eliza asked Maggie to get coffee.
After Maggie and Eliza caught up on everyone they hated in college, Eliza broached the subject: “You always said ‘venture beyond lonely cubicles,’ and then I saw the picture of your cubicle. What happened?”
Maggie laughed. “So I work at a company with 20 people. We do interesting work and help people. I started by only working in the field. The world was my office, and I looked for leads from Buenos Aires to Des Moines. I felt really lonely. I saw a new city and had new experiences every few weeks, but also had no real friends.”
“That sounds heavy,” Eiza said.
“I ventured everywhere but felt isolated. That was the thing I always wanted to avoid,” Maggie said. “Work from home was a little better, but I never got a break. I worked all of the time because I was always in the office.”
“You couldn’t escape the work,” Eiza agreed.
“Then we moved into a coworking space with an open floor plan. I talked to people all day, but that’s all we did. I couldn’t focus. I went home to work after being around work people all day.”
“The loneliness left, but the job grew bigger,” Eliza translated.
“After I explained my struggles, my boss offered me an office with a closing door, but it seemed too close to the other problems of working in a space where I could be interrupted. So, we hatched a new plan. I am renting a cubicle from a company a couple of floors up. It’s like my Batcave. I can go up there and get work done where no one will bother me and then come down when I need to talk to people.” It clicked for Eliza. “So the solution was a lonely cubicle!”