bagatelle

Are you bothered at your work of people talking excessively around you? Do you complain and are there consequencies of your complaints?

I have two examples. First from my own job.

Two women at our office, when in same evening shift, kept constantly talking loud and joking, disturbing others to the point, their behaviour was seen undesired by many and some co-workers apparently complained to the management as well. Later the other woman was assigned to another type of work for a month. Since these two were separated, the evenings were more peaceful.

Disturbing others was not told being the reason for the transfer, but the women themselves were the ones suspecting, they were separated on purpose. They've been later back again working together, seemingly more quiet. They knew very well they were being nuisance, but they chose not to comply to wishes of others to keep it down until the complaints went further.

My other example is from my hubby's work in a garage. He was suddenly told that he should move to work on another car hoist (?) across the hall. Some excuses were made by the foreman about the rearrangements, but my husband and the guy on the next hoist started pressuring him to tell them the real reason, because they knew this must be only due to some other guy complaining, that they talk too much together while working. Which was the case in the end.

So, how do you deal with these type of situations? Do you openly negotiate with your co-workers, that they are being noisy and disturbing or do you rather take it to the management and expect them to deal with it?

How much tolerance do you have? Do you have office rules you have to abide, so this could not happen?

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snowy

Ugh, we had a temporary worker recently who talked nonstop. Another coworker and I talked about it, and the other coworker, who is much more frank than I am, asked her if she could be quiet. It didn't work, though. She's just one of those people who puts voice to EVERY SINGLE FUCKING THOUGHT that comes into her head. It's so annoying that we asked our boss not to schedule her again, and our boss agreed.

It was a tough situation, because I really wasn't sure how to tell someone to politely shut the fuck up, and she wasn't reading any of my nonverbal or verbal cues showing lack of interest (facing away, not providing verbal confirmation of what was heard). I tried telling her that I'd like to listen to the children's conversations, but that didn't work either. I am really glad that I have a coworker who isn't afraid to be blunt; I just wish it had worked.

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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

robot_parade

I think usually when a problem like this comes up, it depends on how well you know and get along with the problem coworker. If you think you can communicate with them in a positive and effective way, then I'd say go for it. If not, then maybe in the longer term you should work on your relationship with the coworker...even if you never get to the point where you like them personally, a better working relationship has got to be a good thing. Not to mention the practice getting along with people you don't naturally click with.

In the short term, if you don't feel comfortable talking to them about it, then I think resolving these kinds of disputes is part of a manager's job. I would say in general it would be a bad idea to complain to other people about them (although I'm guilty of that myself...working on it!)...I would bring it directly to the managers attention, in as constructive a way as possible.

MSD

This is one of the joys of having my own office, I can close the door, cover the window, and put headphones on. If I expect a constant stream of people bothering me, I can go down to the part of the server room that serves as my workshop where my work phone doesn't get reception and make some work for myself.