Am I pretentious?

[LabelKing]

Did you used to work at Lehman Bros.?

 

[JoelF]

Originally Posted by BYucko

Simply put, a cubicle is not as "high up" as an office. You typically move FROM a cubicle TO an office. Cubicle workers are usually not as important as office workers.


That is, if you ever move at all. The typical cubicle dweller spends a 40 year career responding via attached Excel files to emails recieved from office dwellers.

 

[wmmk]

"I'm going into the office today." Just fine.

"I have a nice office." Pretentious.

 

[Fade to Black]

Originally Posted by FidelCashflow

Nope, he's an actual tailor trained in Milan who I go to for alterations and occasionally bespoke clothes. I'm not worried that referring to him as a tailor is pretentious, he absoloutley is by every definition of the world. It's saying "my tailor."

Just last week I went to visit him and ran into some co-workers, they asked me where i was coming from and I said "Oh, I just went to drop something off at my tailors" Which prompted a slight ribbing about "Look at this guy, big baller with his own tailor!"

Would it be less pretentious to say "the tailor"?

this is a funny situation that reminds me of a very similar situation in semantics i once had...it had to do with cultural context. I was just working at the acct. firm for not very long, think it was still training/orientation...and one day at lunch (i forget the details of the conversation), somehow my suit came into the discussion, and I was making a comment how I had to get "my" tailor to fix some things I wasn't too happy with. This was said in Chinese...the table just kinda sat there with their jaws dropped. I was confused as to what was wrong with what I said...then later on when I asked someone about this, they said that in Chinese, if you say something with a possessive, it usually implies that the tailor is yours and exclusively yours (e.g. "my" maid, "my" driver, etc.). People at lunch must have thought I was some kind of royalty...

God knows how many times I have and continue to make such subtle blunders in day to day conversation with my 60% fluent Cantonese...what's worse is in this culture, people will rarely, if never actually point out how they interpret your words or if they are irked by it. Only if you know someone well, they consider you a friend will they step out to correct your mistake or explain what happened. Probably made a few enemies along the way without even knowing about it...

 

[forsbergacct2000]

Pretentious, but harmless. If you do it with a bit of humor, it's okay. If you act like Dwight from the office, you'll be snickered at behind your back.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

Sounds more like you're embarrased to tell people you work in a cubical, i cant blame you for not wantintg to tell people you work in one.

Might be better just to mention desk and not office.

For my small business i have my "office" in my home, but i dont really hide the fact that it consists of a desk, a computer, some pens and chair.....and honestly no one really gives a ****. What they do care about is...can you get the job done, and can you get it done well.

You may get some well deserved laughs for calling your cubical an "office", especially if you are doing it to avoid ridicule.

 

[ama]

Considering that the overwhelming majority of working people are in cubicles, is it really that degrading?

 

[Fade to Black]

it's not degrading, but you gotta admit the word 'cubicle' doesn't sound so hot...my closest word association with the word 'cubicle' is 'toilet.'

 

[kronik]

What I like most about this thread is how it has managed to bring out the truly pretentious with some of these responses.

 

[CTGuy]

yes.

 

[Joffrey]

1. Just to be clear (and give myself away) I do refer to getting my trousers/shirts taken in, as going to the tailor. I didn't figure there was much of a distinction these days b/w a real tailor that would tailor a suit for you and someone who does alterations. I will start to say alterations more often now.

2. I rarely if ever refer to my office with much seriousness. If I say it to someone who doesnt know where i work I usually mention that it's a cubicle. I will stick to saying it is an office because when I had an argument with a former coworker about this we checked the dictionary and the entry for office said nothing about needing to have for walls and a door. So I will stick to my usage of the term for my workplace.

I appreciate the debate this had stirred up. Feel free to mention your own silly things you say that you think (in your darkest moments) may be pretentious.

 

[appolyon]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is what if your working in an open plan space and there are no offices ... or cubicles?

I know the above statement doesn't really add anything, but I had to make mention of it. I work in a building with 2,500 employees and only the CEO has an office. Not a single other person.

 

[Dedalus]

Originally Posted by Fade to Black

it's not degrading, but you gotta admit the word 'cubicle' doesn't sound so hot...my closest word association with the word 'cubicle' is 'toilet.'

I trimmed my pubicles and flushed them down the toilet last night.

 

[merkur]

..

 

[thekunk07]

not pretentious, just hopeful. my first managerial job i was in an open office, essentially a cubicle. was kind of tough telling people that if they worked hard, they'd be right where i am one day-in what was essentially a cube.

Originally Posted by Jodum5

I tend to call my cubicle my office. Is that being pretentious? I think cubicle sounds lame, and I don't see why I can't call my workstation - as my boss calls our cube or desks, my office just because it doesn't have 4 walls and a door.

Help!