universally despised by fictional and real-life office workers everywhere, 50 years later the dreaded cube cal's not so bad necessarily. it's your own space, it's private, but part of the problem is it's not totally private and it's not -- it doesn't really block out noise. >> i can hear the woman right over there. she's on the phone. >> could you turn that down a little bit? >> i was told that i could listen to the radio as a reasonable volume. >> reporter: noisy, claustrophobic, soul sucking, just some of the terms of endearment aside to the old office cube calm but boxed in 9-to-5ers may not realize how good they have it. >> what was wrong with the arrangement precoupe cal? >> it was too open. you had no way of prove tating your space. you had no privacy. >> so a half century ago a designer for herman miller set out to humanize work spaces with an action office. the idea was to give workers their own space. the walls werement to be moveable to suit the needs of individuals. but businesses took one look at the innovative design and realized they could lock it into a moveable and efficient bo