Question

Read the following passage and answer the questions based on it.

An employee has been assigned the task of allotting offices to six of the staff members. The offices are numbered 1 to 6. The offices are arranged in a row and they are separated from each other by six foot high dividers. Hence voices, sounds and cigarette smoke flow easily from one office to another.

Miss Ruby needs to use the telephone quite often throughout the day. Mr. Minhas and Mr. Brar need adjacent offices as they need to consult each other often while working. Miss Harsha is a senior employee and has to be allotted office number 5, having the biggest window. Mr. Dongre requires silence in the offices next to his. Mr. Tanjore, Mr. Minhas and Mr. Dongre are all smokers. Miss Harsha finds tobacco smoke allergic and consequently the offices next to hers are to be occupied by non-smokers. Unless specifically stated, all the employees maintain an atmosphere of silence during office hours.

In the event of what occurrence, within a month of the assignment of the offices, would a request for a change in office be put forth by one or more employees?

• A. Mr. Dongre quitting smoking
• B. The installation of a noisy teletype machine by Miss Harsha in her office
• C. Miss Ruby needs silence in the office(s) next to her own
• D. Mr. Tanjore taking over the duties formerly taken care of by Miss Ruby

Hint:

Work out which single office is protected by Mr. Dongre's silence rule, then check which of the four scenarios breaks silence in that exact office.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

The trick in this kind of question is to first work out exactly which office each rule is protecting, then test each proposed change against that specific office, not against the whole floor.

With the seating fixed as 1 = Dongre, 2 = Tanjore, 3 = Minhas, 4 = Brar, 5 = Harsha, 6 = Ruby, the only "protected" office in the whole layout is office 2. It is protected because office 1 is an end office with a single neighbour, and that neighbour is office 2, so Dongre's silence rule lands squarely on whoever sits there, which is Tanjore.

1. Mr. Dongre quitting smoking: this only touches the smoking rule tied to Miss Harsha's allergy, and Dongre was never seated next to Harsha, so nothing about this changes anyone's situation.
2. A noisy teletype machine in Miss Harsha's office: her neighbours, Brar and Ruby, have no silence requirement written for them, and Ruby is already a source of noise herself, so this passes without conflict.
3. Miss Ruby needing silence next to her: her only neighbour is Harsha, who is already silent by the default office rule, so this new need is met automatically.
4. Mr. Tanjore taking over Miss Ruby's frequent phone calls: Tanjore sits in office 2, the one office that Dongre's rule specifically requires to stay quiet. Making Tanjore noisy here breaks that rule directly.

Only the fourth scenario lands on the one protected office in the whole arrangement, so it is the one guaranteed to cause a complaint and a request for reassignment.

Let's summarize:

• Office 2 is the single spot in this layout that must stay quiet, because it sits next to Mr. Dongre.
• Any change that keeps office 2 quiet, or affects offices with no stated silence requirement, causes no conflict.
• Making Tanjore, in office 2, a frequent phone user is the only change that breaks an existing rule.

So the change that would prompt a request for a different office is Mr. Tanjore taking over Miss Ruby's duties.