From the den of the beast.

There are several problems with open-plan offices, and I'm not even going to mention noise pollution. These are my favourites:

• In an office of a major national government department, it makes any attempt at protection of privacy data a bit of a pathetic joke, really.
• Everyone who is standing in a queue that is slowly growing to stretch from the line in the carpet towards the door, entangling with the other queue and threatening to head outside, can see you when you stand and yack with your colleagues instead of talking on the phone or even trying to fake work by pointing at a computer screen.

Stop complaining about people hating you if that's the best customer support you can come up with.