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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Blue439" data-source="post: 826361" data-attributes="member: 53455">The true story of a pair of Sony headphonesIn 2016, with more than two years of work still ahead of me before my retirement, the biotech company I worked for as head of the Legal Department relocated part of its ever-growing resources and assets to a newly designed and built building, half a kilometer away from our previous premises. The Legal Department was among those resources that were to move into the new building, which was just fine in all respects but one: in keeping with the fashion of the day, the new place was going to be “open space”, meaning we were going to lose our individual offices in favor of those inhuman cubicles that American movies have made so widely known over the years —except, of course, the 4 or 5 top bosses who, France being France, were to retain individual offices, albeit glass-walled for political correctness (but promptly equipped with Venetian blinds for practicality).Now, I may already have been an old dinosaur by then, but I’d been used to having my own office since my very first job(*), and losing the privacy, the quiet, the confidentiality and the ability to concentrate without being disturbed by the outside world, all of that was going to be lost...The open space having proven, after a few weeks, that it was as bad for my ability to focus as I had anticipated, I bought this pair of noise-canceling, cordless headphones that saved my (professional!) life. When activated, they once again isolated me in a bubble of quiet. I could listen to music from my iPhone, or not. I was still alerted when a phone call came in (either via the cell phone or the land line), and I could even converse with the caller if I chose to... They were comfortable and light and a pleasure to wear.So, in May 2020, one year and a half into my retirement, I thought they deserved to be immortalized in a photograph... and there they are! My saviors. But Gosh! how I hated that open space...! And now that the Chinese virus is (mostly) behind us, it is recognized worldwide how open spaces did facilitate the spreading of it in work environments! Cherry on the cake.(*): I exaggerate a bit: as a junior lawyer in New York City, I shared an office for the first two years or so.Nikon D850, Micro-Nikkor 105mm ƒ/2.8 macro lens. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Flash lighting. Composite shot made up of 25 focus-stacked exposures, set automatically  using the built-in function on the camera. Stack processed with Helicon Focus.[ATTACH=full]412396[/ATTACH]</blockquote>

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