Wild Bill always tried to keep his back to the wall. Bad results when he didn't.

You should always practice the keystrokes or mouse movements that cause your browser or game to disappear completely. (On the Mac, Ctrl-H is your friend.) Just make sure you've got real work behind it. A debugging session works great, as no one (including yourself sometimes) has any idea what's going on.

If the boss really wants to know what you're doing with your (well, actually, the company's) computer, they don't need to look over your shoulder.

None of the bosses know how to figure it out and if you haven't buddied up enough to an IT guy to have him cook your books you aren't slacking hard enough.

That's what tabs are for on Netscape.

Without cubes you wouldn't have prairie dogging...

I just moved to cube about a month ago for my new project and I like it much better than my office. I'm under a pretty skylight and I overlook a walkway two floors below so I can watch the pretty girls go by. I can also talk to my team members without having to pick up the phone or get out of my chair which is a nice thing as well.

But problematic when they don't want to talk to you...or if they are on the phone.

Cubes have their upsides and downsides, but one thing cannot be disputed: Orrin is the Ted Williams of workplace slacking. I still stand in awe of his ability to do nothing all day (some days not even show up) and yet still appear productive.

Against my company's policy, I used to surf the Net during non-break periods at work until one day it suddenly occurred to me that using someone else's property for purposes they forbid is, essentially, theft. Now I just read magazines.

I just realized that the cube to which some commenters refer is the cubicle. It takes a little longer for information to filter through these days, but what's essentially only a cheap way to get away from the open floor plan with a sea of desks in a vast open area and give workers some privacy, has become oppressive isolation.

What's the answer then?

Matt, you're too young and too smart to spend your days reading magazines or surfing the net, so get out there and get a challenging job that engages your mind, take some chances while you still have lots of options and don't have the responsibility of supporting a family.

Doing piecework from home.

Cube farms with harshly enforced codes of conduct are fine. Cube farms with no rules, where you overhear loud conversations about last week's Lost and giggling and chatting all day, make it difficult to concentrate.
Without rules governing behavior, cube farms do not, libertarian theories notwithstanding, self-assemble into an efficient working environment.

JT -You may not have seen the open floor plan yourself, but many old movies had scenes of the boss in a glass cage overlooking a huge open space dotted with desks. No conversation, no moving away from your post except on scheduled breaks, no eating at your desk, no magazines, no private phone calls, etc.

I went for an actuary job interview at an insurance co., Aetna, IIRC and will never forget the scene. I actually ran out of the place before the interview took place. From that point of view, cubicles sound good.

oj. Piece work from home? Where's the sense of community in that?

The scale goes: family, neighbors, church & social fellowship, only then do you come to co-workers.

JT, for this you have Terry Tate, office linebacker.