'Oh, god. Here she comes again'

There's always that one co-worker up in everybody's business.

Time says open floor plans encourage office dysfunction.

"And indeed, several decades of research have confirmed that open-plan offices are generally associated with greater employee stress, poorer co-worker relations and reduced satisfaction with the physical environment."

In my work experience, an open-floor-plan newsroom is functional because reporters are solitary and independent. That's the nature of the work and what the "beat" system promotes. You cover the Alcoa City Council and I go to the Blount County Commission and rarely shall the twain meet.

So it's not necessarily about walls. The final five years or so of my career, I had a separate office with a close-able door 30 feet from my nearest co-worker's office. Didn't stop me from muttering some variation of my headline when I heard her footsteps.

Every workplace has some mix of these characters from "The Office." Plus Meredith. Do not forget Meredith.