The Coffee House

[KenC]

.. so if I find myself unable to get to the mute button fast enough ..

I watch with my finger right next to the mute button.

In election season, I train my finger so that when I see any politician move his/her lips, I'm on another channel before I actually hear any sound.

 

[limr]

Oh man, we're all broken in our own little ways, aren't we?

I have a coworker who alternates between a loud cackle and a long wheeze when she laughs. And she laughs a lot. a LOT. At everything - even things that aren't funny."Where's the conference again?" "In Oswego! *Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze CACKLE* can you believe it? *CACKLE CACKLE Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeze*"

 

[KenC]

We're all just posting incriminating evidence in case someone else takes out one of these people.

 

[limr]

Relax, any of you Feds that are reading! We're just venting! I'm much more likely to just smash through my eardrums with a knitting needle than use it on someone else!

 

[KenC]

Oh, good, now it's the psychiatrists you have to worry about ...

 

[limr]

Meh...I accept my brokenness. Sometimes even embrace it

 

[KenC]

Agree - definitely the way to go

 

[sm4him]

Oh no, Marija! I hope you can get that worked out so you don't have to move Being in an office with other people...snacking...awful...and here's us talking right now about that very thing and how it can be stressful.

Hmmm - I didn't realize this was such a wide spread problem, thought it was just me. My "thing" is white noise. Any type of background humming or fan really stresses me out. When I'm cooking and I have the exhaust fan on, I actually sigh with relief and can feel the stress leaving my body when I'm done and can turn it off. Commercials don't bother me but I have noticed that certain tv shows or movies will use a high pitched whine very subtly in the background to build tension (TWD in particular) and it really bothers me.

This is kinda finny to me since white noise is pretty much my savior in a lot of cases. Every once in a while, the air circulation at work stops and suddenly it goes all quiet. I have to get up and leave if it goes on too long. I can hear everything and I can't concentrate on anything.

Sometimes I wish I could just go deaf and be done with it all!

I am sitting here in my office right now, with the door open, like I've been pretty much ORDERED to do--and earphones in, with white noise being pumped in. I have a white noise app on my tablet, so I can create mixes and playlists to keep one noise from playing so long that IT becomes annoying.

It *helps* greatly, but it doesn't eliminate the surrounding noises. I think I'm going to invest in a pair of really good earphones and see if it helps. Headphones, maybe--because one of the problems I have is that earbuds, even the smallest size they have, hurt my ears. I can only keep them in for so long before I can't stand it anymore.

And of course, the whole time, I just get really irritated by the fact that I'm having to do this AT ALL, since the REAL solution would be to let me SHUT my freakin' door.

When my immediate boss had to relay this new stupid directive from the GM, she said "let's remember that we are lucky to even HAVE offices with doors, since a lot of places only have work carrels." Well, I completely fail to see how it is LUCKY to have a door that I'm not allowed to use.
My response to her statement (and yes, I DID say this to her, lol): Well, that may be true, but on the other hand, perhaps there is a very good reason why *I* do not WORK at those places. I would not last long in that environment. It's no coincidence that the jobs I've held the longest were ALL jobs where I had an office…with a DOOR…one I could actually USE.

 

[limr]

Sharon, maybe you should make your boss read the chapter in Quiet about how UNproductive it is for an introvert to have the door open at work.

 

[sm4him]

Oh man, we're all broken in our own little ways, aren't we?

I have a coworker who alternates between a loud cackle and a long wheeze when she laughs. And she laughs a lot. a LOT. At everything - even things that aren't funny."Where's the conference again?" "In Oswego! *Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze CACKLE* can you believe it? *CACKLE CACKLE Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeze*"

The guy in the office next to me is LOUD. He can't help it, really, it's just his nature. But he is also on the phone ALL THE TIME. Not an exaggeration. He has one of those bluetooth earsets--he comes in every morning, TALKING into his earpiece, he talks ALL DAY LONG, and when he leaves, he often stands down in the lobby for who knows how long, talking on that infernal earpiece.

He feeds my rage. It was bad before, with both our doors closed--now, well it's truly unbearable. Sometimes I have to just get up and leave, before I hurt someone.

But the WORST of it? His laugh. Because when he laughs, he goes FALSETTO. Really, really LOUD falsetto.
I have absolutely NO idea how I've managed to refrain from murdering him.

 

[sm4him]

Sharon, maybe you should make your boss read the chapter in Quiet about how UNproductive it is for an introvert to have the door open at work.

Oh, believe me, I plan to. This all happened after I came back from vacation at Christmas. Well, actually we were told in late November, but I ignored it and kept my door shut anyway.
When I came back to work, I had an email stating that I *had* to keep my door OPEN, not just cracked open, but OPEN. I kind of went off about it, and my boss basically said, "well, let's try it this way." I know what she MEANT was "tough cookies," but I am gathering evidence to present my case further. My plan is to basically call it what it is--discrimination. To say that because keeping her door open works well for ONE person, the GM, means that it MUST be done by all of us, is pure and simple discrimination, and it puts me in a position where I feel like what they are doing is ENSURING that I cannot do my job well. That just doesn't seem like what they should want to set as their goal.

My plan was to give it two months, to show that I really did TRY to work this way. At this point, I'm just trying to hold out for the six-week mark, because every day, I think I just can't take any more. There are days when I am so emotionally spent from trying to control the emotions about the distractions, that I have just cancelled any plans I had for the evening, gone home and melted into an emotional puddle for a while.

 

[limr]

These are all reasons that I probably would have been better off as a farmer or something.

 

[limr]

Sharon, maybe you should make your boss read the chapter in Quiet about how UNproductive it is for an introvert to have the door open at work.

Oh, believe me, I plan to. This all happened after I came back from vacation at Christmas. Well, actually we were told in late November, but I ignored it and kept my door shut anyway.
When I came back to work, I had an email stating that I *had* to keep my door OPEN, not just cracked open, but OPEN. I kind of went off about it, and my boss basically said, "well, let's try it this way." I know what she MEANT was "tough cookies," but I am gathering evidence to present my case further. My plan is to basically call it what it is--discrimination. To say that because keeping her door open works well for ONE person, the GM, means that it MUST be done by all of us, is pure and simple discrimination, and it puts me in a position where I feel like what they are doing is ENSURING that I cannot do my job well. That just doesn't seem like what they should want to set as their goal.

My plan was to give it two months, to show that I really did TRY to work this way. At this point, I'm just trying to hold out for the six-week mark, because every day, I think I just can't take any more. There are days when I am so emotionally spent from trying to control the emotions about the distractions, that I have just cancelled any plans I had for the evening, gone home and melted into an emotional puddle for a while.

Because I SO know what it's like.

 

[SquarePeg]

My personal office pet peeve is people who use speakerphone to dial their phone. THAT drives me nuts. Pick up the phone or use your headset but the rest of us do not need to hear you dialing in to your conference call!

Sharon (also my real name btw ), I too have a loud coworker who is on the phone most of the day (as am I). Fortunately he does close his door when asked. Not sure why I have to ask every time but ok sure. I find it difficult to pay attention to my call when I can hear his going on.

 

[sm4him]

My personal office pet peeve is people who use speakerphone to dial their phone. THAT drives me nuts. Pick up the phone or use your headset but the rest of us do not need to hear you dialing in to your conference call!

^YES. That. Lots of so much THAT.

Sharon (also my real name btw ), I too have a loud coworker who is on the phone most of the day (as am I). Fortunately he does close his door when asked. Not sure why I have to ask every time but ok sure. I find it difficult to pay attention to my call when I can hear his going on.

Wow, there are at least THREE Sharons on TPF, then. That's quite a concentration of them!

My loud coworker USED to always have his door shut. Even then, sometimes, I had to go and knock on his door and ask him to please tone it down.
But now he, like the rest of us, are REQUIRED to keep the doors open. I just can't even fully process what a stupid rule this is!