Cult of the Cubicle

The lockdowns associated with the 2020 pandemic widely revealed something that some people had already discovered:

Thanks to technology, many office jobs can now be done entirely or almost entirely from home, or some other "remote" location.

Some employers embraced this for the long term, significantly reducing the office space their company leased or owns.

Others, steeped in what I'll call the Cult of the Cubicle, have been trying to get everyone back into their cubicles, or even worse, their "open" workstations.

If responsibilities can be handled through telephones and computing devices (smart phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, etc.), they can be done through "telework" or remotely. Presentations done on screens can be presented and experiences remotely. Meetings can be done remotely. Trainings can be done remotely.

There are tasks, there are personalities, there are home situations which make it preferable for some people to work in the common office. Some collaborations are going to be better that way.

But for others, why not let them work from home/remotely full-time, permanently, if that is what they want? Either they can do quality work at the quantity needed or they can't. If they can, what is the problem? I can't think of any except for a desire to have a feeling of control over people.

Commuting has costs and risks. For many people, their residence and their employer aren't going to be close, or the commute is going to be slow and stressful even if the physical distance isn't all that far. In the greater Los Angeles area, it isn't unusual for people to have commutes that are over an hour one way, and that's without an accident that stops a commuter train, or closes lanes on a freeway or tollway. The saving grace for people in those commutes is usually radio, podcasts, or audiobooks, or they might do phone calls as they move slowly along the roadways.

But that's about the employee's quality of life. How does allowing more people to work work "from home" more of the time benefit employers? There are many ways. In no particular order:

A Terrestrial Radio Format I Want For Los Angeles

Terrestrial radio ain't what it used to be. Anyone can you that. Tom Leykis gives much insight into how sausage is made when it comes to terrestrial radio, and he frequently points out that the two largest companies are, together, mired in staggering debt. With satellite radio, various apps providing customized listening, and MP3s, etc., and, on the flip side, advertisers having more delivery methods than ever, terrestrial radio has some major troubles. I really like Leykis' model, and his show is so much better since it came back as an Internet show.

In Los Angeles, CBS ended up with both major "all news" stations, AM 1070 KNX and AM 980 KFWB. I remember when I used to listen to KFWB. They had a 20-minute news cycle, with sports twice and hour, and traffic reports every ten minutes. This was 24/7/365. Then things started to change, and I stopped listening, except for when they picked up Dr. Laura after her long run on KFI (and before she went to satellite, where her show is even better.) KFI has gone downhill since she left, except for, perhaps, giving Gary Hoffman the 5-6am weekday hour.

Since CBS owned "too many" radio and television states in the Los Angeles market, KFWB had to be treated as the stepchild. Now it is taking on a sports format, so it can play catchup with Clear Channel's AM 570 and ESPN and whatever other sports stations there are. (Can you tell I don't listen to that stuff?)

Here's what we need in the Greater Los Angeles radio market: An all-traffic station. I'm serious. Now, maybe eventually Internet delivery to moving vehicles will get to the point and penetration where people will be able to do this via automation using their smart phones or part of their vehicle dashboard, but for the time being, Los Angeles needs an all-traffic station. Most traffic reports currently heard on terrestrial radio in Los Angeles are woefully inadequate. They are not timely, or too short, or whatever else - but since they're really there so you can hear a billboard, the companies don't really care.

But if there is an entire station, one with a far-reaching signal, that focuses primarily on traffic reports and covers the entirely of the Los Angeles-Ventura-San Bernardino-Riverside-Orange County area, it would be worthwhile to listeners and worthwhile to advertisers.

Rush "hour" in the Los Angeles area is MANY hours, twice per day. And when it isn't rush "hour", there's construction and cleaning. Traffic is bad on the weekends, too.

With a format like this, we can get detailed information about where an accident is, how many lanes are closed how far the backup is, what speeds there are, and an estimated time of clearance. We can get detailed suggestions of ways around the traffic problem. We can get more information about problems on surface streets. Presidential visits, parades, and other special events can also be detailed. And yes, the time can be filled in with weather reports and other news, especially news that might have an impact on traffic. We can even get told which freeways and streets are wide-open.

Please, someone make this happen. It's not like the existing frequencies are all filled up with highly successful formats.

Darwin Award Candidate: Raul Garcia Jr. of Lynwood

I could probably muster up some sympathy for someone who steals food to feed their kid and gets hurt in the process. But I just can't muster up any for vandals who are injured or killed as a direct result of the commission of their crime. In fact, I kind of like reading about it. I'm hard pressed to find a more welcome recent headline than “Tagger Struck and Killed on 710 Freeway”. Raja Abdulrahim reported at LATimes.com.

A 20-year-old tagger was hit by two cars and killed early this morning on the northbound 710 Freeway in the Compton area, the California Highway Patrol said.

He's 20 and he's running around vandalizing. Not getting enough coursework at the local university?

Raul Garcia Jr. of Lynwood and two other men had been tagging the center divider and, at 4:17 a.m., they began running east across the freeway, the CHP said.

Garcia was hit by a Nissan Maxima that had just merged into the far left lane, the CHP said. He was thrown into the next lane and struck by another vehicle, which drove away.

Garcia was pronounced dead at the scene. The two others were detained, and all four lanes of traffic were closed for two hours.

What a shame... a shame that a couple of drivers will forever have these memories (the second driver committed the crime of "hit and run" and I wouldn't be surprised if it was an unlicensed driver = illegal alien). And it is a shame that traffic was no doubt slowed.

"LAUSD teacher" at December 11, 2010 at 04:50 PM:

These young men had opportunities in school to achieve and teachers who cared yet they chose to blight the city instead of improve their minds and their communities. It starts at home, with books instead of video games and travel instead of TV. At 20 years old he should have been working toward his future.

"Ome-Coatl" at December 11, 2010 at 05:45 PM:

The sad part is that he died for nothing noble.

No one can even read or understand what he scrawled on the wall.

In two week's time, it will be covered up by another tagger.

Tagging is a mental illness. It is a pathological behavior of defacing the world because they are unable to "make their mark" in an authentic, productive way.

Then comes this by "BOO BOO" December 11, 2010 at 10:59 PM:

REST IN PARADISE KAUE, WE WILL ALWAYS MISS YOU!

Uhm, yeah.

"WC" at December 12, 2010 at 06:43 AM:

I'm trying hard to view Garcia as someone who was more than just a worthless tagger, but then I consider the psychological trauma sustained by the driver of the vehicle that initially struck him and, it's difficult not to think the world is better off without him.

What a waste. If his mother was any kind of decent mother, I feel for her. I wonder if he impressed some girl enough to get her pregnant and thus leaves behind kids?

Her Name Was Signe

Joseph Sern of the Los Angeles Times tells us who the mummified car passenger was. Her name was Signe Margit, age 59.

Family members told detectives that Margit held two master's degrees. In 2001, she was issued a pre-intern teaching certificate for cross-cultural, language and academic development emphasis in California, according to records.

The certificate allowed her in-class teaching experience with children who had emotional problems and mild to moderate learning disabilities. During some of this time, she worked with special education students at Audubon Middle School in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Over the next decade, records show her living in a dozen cities throughout California, Texas and Washington. During this period, she filed for bankruptcy and appeared to have recurring money troubles. At one point, she reported in court records that she owned a 1999 Toyota Corolla, some clothing, $50 worth of jewelry and not much else.

I believe that every human being has inherent worth, and I believe that the bodies we leave behind should be handled in a dignified manner. My prayers are with those who loved Margit. While they had no doubt hoped she was still alive, at least they're starting to get answers now.

As Messy As My Car Gets...

Sometimes I let trash and recyclables accumulate in my car. I'm not talking about the car filling up. I'm talking about on the floor of the passenger side. I rarely have passengers in that car.

I just can't compare to this woman, however.

A woman drove for months with a mummified body in her passenger's seat before the body was discovered by police, authorities said.

The driver of the 1997 Mercury Marquis tried to cover the decomposing corpse with pieces of clothing, but officers on Monday found it after receiving a call of an illegally parked car.

How did this start?

Investigators said the driver of the car had befriended the woman at a local park and allowed her to sleep in the car overnight. When the woman discovered the woman died while inside, she continued to drive the car with the body at her side, said Sgt. Ed Everett.

The driver told police she was afraid to contact police about the body, so she continued to drive the car.

No, you can't use the carpool lane.

An Opportunity For Fire Drills

Looks like China is seeing some traffic jams almost as bad as the Los Angeles area, according to this AFP story.

Thousands of vehicles were bogged down Monday in a more than 100-kilometre (62-mile) traffic jam leading to Beijing that has lasted nine days and highlights China's growing road congestion woes.

I can sympathize.

Traffic slowed to a snail's pace in June and July for nearly a month, according to earlier press reports.

Man, those traffic reports on the radio must have gotten highly monotonous. The article says that food is being sold to the drivers as they wait. The only problem with that is that the drivers are hungry again half an hour later.

Okay, okay – I hope I'm not offending anyone. There's a lot about Chinese culture that I like, including the food. They certainly are having some growing pains, though, and there's a lot I don't like about China, too. Like the lack of human rights.

Santa Ana I-5 Freeway Northbound This AM

I'm sorry, but it should NOT take three hours during the morning commute crawl to remove a car that "went over the side" of the freeway, especially in a location where that means the car was two feet off of the freeway.

Somebody was getting paid by the minute, methinks.