An Introvert’s Guide to Surviving the Open Office

Nisha Nandakumar
Nov 6 · 3 min read
Photo by Wonderlane on Unsplash

I’m an introvert. And I’ve always been one. I hate conversation. I literally hyperventilate when I have to talk to people. And as narcissistic as this may sound, I do love my own company quite a lot. So imagine my distress when I got a job in a company that believed in the ‘open office’ culture.

I know they had a million perfectly good reasons to believe in it. And in an ideal world, it would have worked so well. It would have been work utopia with people going on collaboration and brainstorming sprees, left, right and centre — a razing down of the physical walls to break the mental walls, maybe. If only reality was that easy!

So here I was, with a perfectly good job, in a perfectly good company, and I was more miserable than I’ve ever been. I was overwhelmed, nauseous and on the verge of an anxiety attack because I couldn’t bear this sensory overload.

So here’s the story of my rather tedious battle with this monstrosity called the ‘Open Office’ and the hacks I learned along the way. The fight’s not over yet and I’m barely hanging but I’m still here. And isn’t that the only thing that counts?

  1. Go early, like earlier than early

Now, I’ve always been a morning person. And luckily for me, the rest of the world is nocturnal. So I go in at around a half past eight and get most of my work done before the crowd pours in. It’s quiet, and I can that much needed headspace to just work. This is the only part of the day that I’m productive.

2) Plug your headphones, music optional

This is the single best way to avoid conversations. And trust me, it works like a charm when you don’t want to talk to people. And I don’t even have to play some music. People get that I’m too into it and my work and leave me alone. And one more thing, I don’t have to live through those periodic, awkward smiles and small talk.

3) Have your phone on hand

This is my personal favourite. I’m always looking at my phone, if only to not look at people. So anytime I’m walking — to the canteen, to the reception, to the loo — I’m never looking up. Now I can just sail ahead, and nobody says I didn’t smile or stop to talk because well, I didn’t see them. :)

4) Hide in a conference room

Sometimes, it so happens that you are overwhelmed — with the noise, with conversations, and with all the people! Personally, I find crowds more claustrophobic than tiny rooms so anytime it all gets too much for me, I take refuge in one of the conference rooms. Until I’m shooed away, that is.

5) Pray

The rest of the time I pray to the thirty three million and three gods and hope at least one of them would put an end to this nightmare. And I’d wake up and work in an office which has cubicles — stuffy as they are, I’d take them over these open hellholes, any day.


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Nisha Nandakumar

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