What do Brazilians Talk About When They Work in Cubes?

My office is comprised predominantly of female employees. On many days the only man I see between the hours of 8 am and 5 pm is the security guard who holds open the automatic door in the morning. I always take the security guard's gesture as a true sign of chivalry, as we really does not need to hold open the automatic door. Since there are many employees in my office, the HR department is actively on the promoting events that will hopefully inspire life-long friendships within the company. The HR representative in my office recently went to a conference that taught her that the best way to staff retention is to facilitate friendship and bonding moments for employees. The theory is that if employees share memories together they will be less likely to move onto another employment opportunity.

The HR representative tried to encourage camaraderie inviting everyone via email to "grab drinks" after work and possibly engage in a trivia contest or two. I appreciated the HR representative's enthusiasm and eagerness to put into practice what she learned at her conference (she wrote in the email that she was suggesting the outing because of what she learned at the conference...another secret to a corporate trick revealed). Little did the HR representative know, however, that one floor above her office the women were planning a team-building exercise of their own.

Sometimes working with all women leaves nothing to the imagination. I can learn more than I would ever care to know by sitting in a group of women for a few minutes. I believe that speaking from cubes has the ability to make women more vulnerable. The six foot barrier does wonders to get women to talk about anything. For some reason the cube seems to make women feel like they have privacy to speak about extremely intimate things. I'm not sure men act the same when confined to a cube.

The same day the HR email arrive in my inbox a woman began talking about waxing. Since she was sitting in her cube it was uncertain who she was directly speaking to. I think she was just throwing out her comments as bait to see who would continue the conversation with her. That's usually how it goes - one person tosses a comment out to the community, and then voices across the room start to chime in. The waxing comment interested a good portion of the cube community. I listened as women told some of their most embarrassing waxing stories. One woman recalled a horror story. Another woman raved about her experiences.

Without ever seeing each other face-to-face one woman convinced a group of women to get Brazilian waxed together. I wonder what HR would think of the unorthodox organization of such a team-building exercise. Memories are sure to be formed at the waxing salon. I think this could be a good case study for the next HR conference.