Yeah the problem is if you've been there for a long time, it's expected that you're going to stay forever and your complaints get minimized, deflected and ignored. The only way to shatter the caricature is to actually leave. I think the only time to do it is during hiring, but I would like to know how other people have managed it.
The problem is that if you're working at a place that switches to the open office layout, which happened to me, there are only two options: deal with it, or quit.
I made my feelings known most emphatically, but I stuck it out for 2 years, and now we are moving back to cubicles. The thing is, so many people now work from home that the open office layout isn't so bad.
