Are You Working

in a Start-Up

or Are You In Jail?

Do you need security clearance to enter and exit the facility?

Are you surrounded by windows that don’t open?

Are you dressed the same as everyone else? Using the same stuff as everyone else? At about the same time?

Regardless of compliance, are you immediately made part of a specific tribe full of others like you? Say, Team BackEnd or Team Marketing, Team West Coast or Team Least Coast. Is it awkward or even dangerous if you have to interact with people from other tribes?

Do you keep quiet all day, only to socialize for a few minutes around 9 am, noon, and 6 pm, coincidentally when the food magically appears?

Are you surrounded by people who cultivate odd hobbies like unicycling?

At 3 pm every day, is there a brief respite from the routine, a complete exodus for a few moments of outside time?

Is there a dedicated space for a gym that doubles as a dedicated space for crafts that triples as a dedicated space for weekly book club that quadruples as a dedicated space for formulaic birthday celebrations?

Do you never leave? Of your own volition?