If you work in a cube - THERE ARE RULES! Let me be clear on that point. Rules, meaning there are things you can continue doing, no matter what, like breathing, and things that you need to find another place to do, like any action that causes a noise to emit from your person that can be heard further than the distance from the epicenter to the computer screen in front of you.

If you're lost as to the basics of Cubicle Etiquette, here some helpful hints:

>  If you have a loud voice, use your library voice.

>  If you don't know if you have a loud voice, assume that you do.

>  HINT: If you are a professionally trained opera singer and can project to the back of a 2,000 seat auditorium, you have a loud voice.

>  Craving Thai food? Indian food? Fish? Eat it at the restaurant. These are foods with definite smell radiuses.

>  LOVE Flowers? Like German Statice? Did you know that German Statice's alternate name is Ragweed?  If you're going to keep a garden near your desk, ask your fellow cube dwellers if they're sensitive to things that grow.

>  Same goes for latex balloons... some folks have allergies to those materials. Ask first.

>  Can't work without music? Get permission from your boss to wear headphones. And while we're on the topic, no one wants to hear you whistle along with the Bangles to Walk Like an Egyptian or hum to Abba's Greatest Hits, unless you actually work in an office that's promoting those two pieces of music.

>  Get a headset for your phone. Never use a speaker phone - even to dial - in a cube.

>  Do not have meetings in your cube.  That's why there are break rooms. If you need to have a conversation that involves more than 2 other people, relocate.

>  Hearing other people's conversations does NOT give you the right to participate in them. Ask first.

>  There is NO YELLING in Cubeville! That's right. I said it. If you think that sitting in your chair and hollering at someone who is 20 feet away from you is appropriate behavior - think again. Unless you are making a birthday or retirement announcement, your voice should never exceed a level that the person on the other end of your phone can hear. And right along with that...

>  Just because someone sits behind you doesn't mean that you can carry on conversations from the comfort of your chair.  If you have something to say, burn some calories and walk over there.  The other 10 people in your vicinity don't need to know your critique of the latest slide in the sales presentation.

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