Down with standing desks!

Sit down, you healthy humble-bragger

Standing desk
(Image credit: Brooks Kraft/Corbis)

The other day, I walked into an office. One man towered above the rest of the employees, who were busily pushing papers around their desks and talking on phones and inputting information into computers. At first glance it appeared that this man might be about to head out to get lunch, or perhaps stomp into a meeting and demand a significant raise. But as the minutes ticked by, I realized he wasn't going anywhere. My heart sank.

There's one of them in every office nowadays. One and then two and three, catching like the flu, four and five, and then another. I'm not talking about those goofs who sit on balls (so 2010!). No, these are the Standing Desk People*, who are only outdone in their open, unselfconscious embrace of healthy living by the treadmill desk people, to whom you almost have to give credit because if you can manage to combine your workout and your work, well, there's just more time for sitting and drinking and eating cheeseburgers at the end of the day, isn't there?

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Jen Doll

Jen Doll is the author of the memoir Save the Date: The Occasional Mortifications of a Serial Wedding Guest. She's also the managing editor for Mental Floss magazine and has written for The Atlantic, Esquire, Glamour, Marie Claire, The Hairpin, New York magazine, The New Republic, The New York Times Book Review The Village Voice, and other publications.