POOJA P, 25, a business development associate with an e-learning company, has a dilemma. One of her teammates, whom she considered very close, has been peeping into her computer screen at work rather obsessively.

Pooja is baffled. This colleague is close to her and often confides in her. Why does she snoop around at her desk and peep into her screen so much? Not only is this upsetting Pooja, it is also taking a toll on her performance and mind frame.

Have you experienced this?

Desk surfing as a phenomenon is common at the workplace. Many suffer the consequences of it, but don't pay much attention to it.

Incidentally, the term desk surfer was coined by Jared Sandberg, whose column, Cubicle Culture, appears in careerjournal.com. The list (of terms) gets longer: cabin lurkers, office snoops, cubicle crashers. Whatever they are called, they are very present at work and can be unsettling.

Illustration: Abhijeet Kini

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e-mail: Amrita Bose

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