Early readers of this blog may recall that, upon its inception, we offered, among many other features designed for your amusement and pleasure, a small contest for who had the most noteworthy cubicle. Well, millions and millions of submissions and weeks of painstaking adjudication by a team of international experts later, we have selected the one cubicle that rose above the rest. And a bright and shining example it is. A lovely, semi-private place covered from top to bottom, side to side, with tin foil.
The owner of this truly remarkable workspace is Nancy Hwang, associate director of the Job Board at mediabistro.com, an essential online destination for people who either have a great job in the media, want a great job in the media, or want to read about other people who have a great job in the media and feel consumed with bitterness and jealousy. This makes the site a must read for ambitious, upwardly-mobile careerists in virtually every aspect of the global media circus, from old platformers in publishing to the coolest of digital/interactive space cadets.
As for me, I couldn’t have been more pleased to find, in the end, that it was a mediabistro person who rose to the top of the heap, since I have been friendly with quite a few of them in the past and they have been quite kind in promoting and publicizing my books. I only point this out in a spirit of transparency, however, since Ms. Hwang’s achievement has nothing to do with logrolling and everything to do with her creativity, drive and pleasant eccentricity.
I took a few moments to chat with the lucky winner via e-mail this afternoon, and found her — where else? — at the site of her triumph:
Q: Do you like your cubicle?
A: Absolutely.
Q: Why is it covered in tin foil?
A: Because I am a big fan of leftovers.
Q: Have you always had the tin foil? Or is that a new development?
A: My co-workers thought I needed to work on my tan.
Q: What brand of tin foil do you favor?
A: Any cheap house brand variety.
Q: Will you always have tin foil? Or are you thinking of branching out to, say, wax paper or Saran Wrap?
A: Thumb tacks. The clear ones.
Q: Do you all have cubicles there, or do some of the big muckety-mucks have offices with doors?
A: We all have cubicles, even our CEO. But she gets to sit by the window and has an electric pencil sharpener.
Q: Do you like working in a cubicle?
A: Ask me after I lay out the thumb tacks.
Q: What kind of self-promoting statement would you like to make for readers of this site that might help you in your future career?
A: I sell recruitment ad space to media companies. Because we’re a niche site, and because unemployment is at its lowest in many years, niche job boards blow the Monsters out of the water. This is why you should advertise your editorial, marketing, sales, production, and design jobs with me.
Q: Now that you’ve won the Cubicle Contest, what are you going to do?
A: Foil my bedroom.
In recognition of her significant achievement, Nancy will be awarded a very large box of clear thumb tacks, as soon as she tells me what kind she actually likes.
By the way, if any of you out there have a cubicle that’s odd, entertaining, or otherwise worthy of note, please don’t hesitate to send in your pictures, either to me here or to my e-mail, stanleybing@aol.com.
I’ll be looking for them!
