The New York Times reports that average amount of space per office worker in North America dropped to 176 square feet in 2012, from 225 in 2010, and that real estate experts say there is no doubt that workers are being shoehorned into even less space. This means that everyone will get to hear those loud calls about how long your mother-in-law will be staying or why the $1,500 medical bill the collection agency insists you owe should really be covered by insurance, the paper says.