Dear LPG, 

While watching television recently, I saw a drama set in an office with all the walls made of glass, and I have to admit that it all looked very cool. I was surprised, though, that the writers did not use this fact to enhance the storyline in some way, even though they had 6 hours of the programme where they could have. 

It was an excellent story, but the glass walls haunted me just a little.  The concept reminded me of a few years in the nineties when I worked in an office like that. Every wall on the floor I worked on was see-through (apart from the toilets).  

As companies go, it was a minor concern, but it all looked spectacular and was the tidiest office I have ever worked in.  There were always visitors who could see everything without having to be shown around.

I was always aware that there was nowhere to hide. I was a telephone advisor/ data processor, and we were kept very busy in the glass-walled switch room where we spent our working days. Talking and typing held all my focus while I was working. Still, in the odd spare moment, when there was time to break concentration, we just had to look up to see a new applicant being interviewed in the see-through personnel office or the managing director in a high-brow meeting.

We had a lunchroom just opposite the manager’s office, where I felt it wasn't easy to relax or laugh with colleagues. I also thought that even your bad table manners might be seen, which coloured how you ate.    I was aware of that feeling that there was nowhere to hide if you needed to make a private and potentially heated lunchtime phone call, have a bit of a talk-to-yourself moan about something or a private cry if the need arose.   Most of us got used to it, and some more than others, but I must say that it was why I left in the end.  

I think that I was more spooked by the glass walls than most because I have a deaf friend. We have known each other for a long time, and although I have learned a few signs, I don’t use them when I am with her because, after years of practical application, she has lip reading down to a fine art. I have learned to make sure I am looking at her when I talk, and I don’t give it a second thought. 

I always had the subconscious thought of someone in that office with similar abilities. Was there someone with my friend’s skills who might read something I muttered?   

Now I think about it; all this is a sad reflection of how the world has changed. The internet can be compared to a glass-walled office, and while most of us have nothing to hide, it appears that more and more of our privacy is being taken from us.  We now live in a world where it is getting harder and harder to pay for anything ourselves with money.  The electronic version is brought by sellers rather than given by us consumers, and we often have to be prepared to provide much more than we owe.  There is always a form where you need to register, and it asks for our bank details, date of birth, telephone number, and so much more.   Am I the only one who thinks it is wrong to have to give so many of your details away to park a car, get a reduction on a train ticket, shop online or even make contact with many organisations for general information they want, in my opinion, far more than a financial payment? 

HE, Croydon.