Summary

In this “Post-Its, Push Pins, and Pencils,” Diski reviews a book about the history of the office. She begins this essay by going into detail about how magical office supply closets have always been to her. She explains, however, that she never understood what the actual office workers did in their offices. She describes how office work dates back to ancient Egypt but really comes into full swing in the nineteenth century. Originally people came together to work so they could be in proximity to each other. Before the twentieth century, she says many office workers considered themselves better than other types of workers, but many on the outside saw them as being less.

Eventually offices came to be focused around efficiency, and skyscrapers came into popularity. Within these buildings there were side to side cells...