There have been some changes at work recently. They took two separate offices and put us all under one roof. The other people used to be across the hall so we were separate but together, make sense? Our side handled personal lines insurance claims and the other side did the commercial claims. There was a crazy amount of remodeling of my office that made it so it could accommodate all the other folks.

Several weeks ago the changes were completed and we are all in one space now. I am one of the few who got pulled from my team and put with another supervisor (a total of four was pulled) now my supervisor is one who generally was commercial. So when everyone moved in, every single person was moved out of the desk they were in and moved to a new cubicle. Luckily I still have a window seat, I am much too nosy to have nothing to look at. Unfortunately I sit in the area with my supervisor�s team who are virtually strangers to me. I feel like the odd one out. They have worked together on the other side and I am the �new kid�. My old buddies had �names� for everyone based on something we knew about them from our observations in the building or parking lot. I�ll take a few lines and introduce you to my new neighbors.

�girl who was pregnant� her name is Brit. She earned her fake name because my next cube neighbor would see her drive in and ask �was that the girl who used to be pregnant? And for some reason it was easier to call her that instead of the woman who had the baby recently. Yes, we�re strange like that. We sat next to each other for about 5 days before we said anything more than good morning.

Margaret. That�s her real name because basically I had never set eyes on her before. She is a little excitable, but nice. She likes to hit the mute button and curse at people on the phone outloud to no one in particular. She told me earlier today that she keeps a Bible on her desk to keep her from losing control. I don�t know what to think about that.

�Smelly creepy guy� He is an older man, probably mid to late 40�s, single, kind of quiet. We call him scg because he is the kind of quiet that makes you uncomfortable. He won�t speak often but he is always clearing his throat and making moaning/grunting noises. He smokes at least 3 packs of cigarettes per day in confined spaces because he reeks. The people I sat by before smoked during lunch and breaks, but this guy is infused in his cigarette smoke. He is creepy because once, about 2 years ago I was walking to the bathroom which is in the hall, he was coming around the corner (from the other side) and was about 2 feet from the mens bathroom door. The man already unzipped his pants and was working on the button before getting to the door. Another second and he probably would of whipped it out. Jeesh dude, wait until you get in the door before taking off the clothes. I don�t wanna see that!

There is a woman named Becky, she is probably about my age, cute, she talks like a little girl, she is quiet too, but not at all strange.

�the guy who walks funny� His name is Jason, yes, he walks funny. Actually he walks like I did pre-surgery and for a couple months afterward. He seems to be buddies with Becky and Margaret, chats them up regularly, but had never said a thing to me. One day he was talking with Margaret about something and I heard him say ��. Since my back surgery� I thought we finally had an ice breaker, so I asked him what type of back surgery he had (same as mine but they took part of his disk) asked him when (a year and a half prior) and I asked if he was glad he had the surgery. He said yes, because he basically could not walk or function prior to it. (I never saw him before his surgery so I don�t know if this was a new limp, or if he had improvement) I explained that I was just curious because I had the same thing and I had secondary issues following the surgery (the nerve damage to my foot and toe) and I have recently wished I didn�t do it and proclaimed I would never have back surgery again, ever!

To me it seemed like I was making pleasant conversation but he seemed really uncomfortable speaking to me. I even told others who know of him our conversation to see if I was being nosy or if I was getting too personal. They thought it seemed okay, but I don�t know. That was about a week and a half ago and there has not been another word spoken over the cubicle wall. I don�t know what to think about that, maybe he doesn�t like me. Maybe he did feel I was asking personal questions and was offended, maybe he is shy and doesn�t talk to people he doesn�t know.

I don�t know why I was writing all this except I was bored on my lunch hour plus I have been a little depressed lately. I think the office move has brought me down. Where I work it is very regimented. You take your lunch at a scheduled time, no allowance for variation so if you are not scheduled for the same time as your buddies there is really no time to chat with them. You can�t really wander around the office because the call volume is so high. I don�t have any real life friends so those work buddies are all I have and now I don�t have the people who I know really well and who know me. No longer do I have people to catch up with about our weekends, inquire about plans and such. All my work buddies are so far on the opposite side of the room that even standing up I can�t see them. Picture it, there are about 250 cubicles in this very large office.

I know I�ll eventually be buddies with the new cube neighbors but right now I am feeling lonely and isolated.