Comment by linkmotif | Hacker News Reader

Comment by linkmotif | Hacker News Reader

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> Aren't "co-working" and "nice, quiet place to work" sort of mutually exclusive?

I don't think this has to be true. Why can't people co-work together, quietly? This used to be the case in libraries, before libraries became places where governments administer social services.

It's nice to work around other people, just as long as they are not on phone calls or taking meetings. These people belong in call centers or meeting rooms, so that people who aren’t talking can continue thinking and working.

> Certainly there are lots of places that rent private offices.

After giving up on the open office hot desk, I switched to a private office in WeWork. You could hear the music from the hallway. Furthermore, this particular WeWork was situated on top of a beer garden. Every weekend my "private office" most literally started shaking and vibrating as the beer garden turned into a club. I am not exaggerating. It was a joke.

In my experience, most of the spaces in libraries where I work are still pretty quiet. But there's a pretty strong cultural expectation that you don't talk on the phone or have more than short low volume exchanges with others--even aside from any specific rules.

I agree music seems more than a bit much but a workplace is somewhere many people have conversations and have to make and take calls. I don't think I'd be very inclined to spend money on a space where I had to try to find a room every time I was on a phone call or wanted to talk with someone.

I'm willing to restrict talking if I'm hanging out for free in a library. Not so much if I'm paying for a desk. One should of course have consideration for others but, for many, a big part of their job is talking on the phone.

> I don't think I'd be very inclined to spend money on a space where I had to try to find a room every time I was on a phone call or wanted to talk with someone.

But what makes more sense: you stepping out or getting a private office, or making the open office non-viable for everyone else who has to focus? What a conceit that everyone else should adapt to you when you could simply adapt to everyone else.

It's a matter of expectations. For most people, an office isn't a library reading room. It's a place they work which often means talking. Someone's welcome to do a silent co-working space startup but I don't think they'll have much success.

> It's a matter of expectations. For most people, an office isn't a library reading room. It's a place they work which often means talking.

Can't argue that. Only issue is WeWork doesn't sell it that way. They sell the open office space as a quiet place, and then play good cop/bad cop and everything in between.

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