Don't Let Your Cubicle Cooties Infect the Office

Editor's note: If you have a pressing business-etiquette question for Miss Conduct, please send her an email.

From 250-square-foot apartments being introduced into the Los Angeles sprawl to the $40 million price tag on some of Manhattan's new Plaza residences, everyone seems to be dealing with real-estate challenges lately. So this week, Miss Conduct contemplates the cubicle.

Good fences make good neighbors, but in a cubicular workplace, it's easy to feel like you have none. Instead, be grateful: At least you're better off than the staff of The New York Times, where they jam desk against desk with no real boundaries at all. (But to all my friends at NYT, at least desk equals paycheck, right?)

Here then, is Miss Conduct's Five Senses Guide to never crossing your cubicon.

1. Taste

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