I once had a teaching job three years ago where I had an office I shared with two other people. When all three of us were in the office we'd just hang out and chat. Very little work was done. When I was in the office by myself I'd watch Netflix on my laptop with headphone in. I'd have my work pulled up with Netflix in a little window in the corner where I could hide it real quick if a higher up came by. Most of my work I did at home. My office was depressing with center block walls. I'd save my work for home where it was quiet and I could type on the comfy couch.

The Best Job Ever

Six years ago, when I was working on my Masters degree, I had a job in the department I was getting my degree in. There were 10 of us graduate instructors or teaching assistants. We all shared an office. It was an awesome job. All 10 of us would hang out in our tiny office and chat about Sociology and have fun. Sometimes we'd do work but more often than not we all distracted one another. We all paid for being lazy in the office because we had work late or at home until 4 am to get our actual work done.

I kid you not, we had a bed in the office.

One semester another graduate instructor dragged this brown couch thing into the office. I never slept on it (many did) but that thing was so comfy. We shared it and would lounge in it while we wrote papers, graded papers, and did research. The PhD level professors never seemed to mind. They'd come by and we'd share coffee with them or they'd bum snack foods off of us because we had the good food. It was a nice little community. As long as we got our work done the higher ups didn't mind our antics. We were all passionate about research and learning and when actually working we were an impressive bunch who got a lot done.

Sometimes not doing your job can change your life for the better.

My husband was one of those 10 people. We'd be in the office working and when everyone else left my husband would come over to my desk on the opposite side of the room and talk to me. He was shy so if someone else came into the office he'd leave me and go back to work. As soon as they left he'd come back and we'd talk. It took a while for him to work up the nerve to ask me out.

My husband and I have been married 7 years. Us not working in the office allowed us to get to know one another. We had a different sort of job than most people. In the world of academia they don't monitor you and give you freedom to work in a way that's best for you. That's why most of my jobs have been in the world of academia. No time cards or hall monitors.

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