In this fan-favorite format, hosts Josh Smargiassi and John Sorrell go solo — and the conversation ends up being one of the most practical and entertaining episodes in the show’s run.

It starts, as many of the best conversations do, somewhere completely unrelated to office furniture: a DoorDash driver mistaken for an intruder, a machete, and a pizza sent two hours in the wrong direction. And then — as always on Believe In Your Office — it gets back to the office.

The Rooms That Don’t Exist Anymore

Josh and John walk through what’s effectively become extinct in the modern office: the file room with rolling track shelves, the 40-person boardroom, and the massive L-shaped corner workstation that existed purely to hold a CRT monitor the size of a small refrigerator. The conversation makes clear how dramatically the physical office has transformed over the past 25 years.

The Felt Cubicle Ceiling, Explained

One of the more surprising technical deep-dives in the episode covers the felt-topped cubicle ceiling — a real product that creates acoustic privacy without requiring a fully enclosed office. John and Josh explain why this matters for companies trying to balance open-plan collaboration with the need for confidential conversations.

The Tax Case for Furniture Over Construction

Perhaps the most genuinely useful information in the episode is the financial argument for building with furniture rather than permanent walls. Office furniture typically qualifies for a full Section 179 write-off in year one, compared to roughly 1/39th depreciation per year for traditional construction — a distinction most business owners have simply never been told about.

Open Plan vs. Private Office: The Cycle Repeats

The hosts also dig into why open office plans — which aren’t actually new, tracing back to Frank Lloyd Wright — keep cycling in and out of favor. Their conclusion: when everything is open, you lose the ability to have a candid conversation without the whole floor hearing it, which is exactly why private spaces keep coming back even inside open-plan offices.

The episode closes on an unexpectedly hopeful note: hacky sacks are reportedly making a comeback, and nobody’s looking at their phones while they play. As Josh puts it, everything that was old is new again — and that includes how we think about the office.

Believe In Your Office is produced by Boomerang Office Furniture and Common Sense Office Furniture — bringing nearly 30 years of experience furnishing offices across Philadelphia, South Jersey, Delaware, and Central Florida. Visit boomerangofficefurniture.com or commonsenseof.com to learn more.