I HATE making phone calls when I can be overheard. Everyone Can Hear Every Conversation About Everything But music in my headphones is too intense and just adds other sounds and it prevents me from concentrating. Somedays I need to put on my headphones to isolate myself from the “tic tic tic tic tic” noise of everyone typing.
The Curse Of Headphonesīecause everyone is trying to focus and crank out their work in peace, we have become long rows of people wearing headphones all day–the exact opposite of the vibrant, collaborative space the open-office layout was meant to promote. One woman wore a perfume that we nicknamed “Meemaw Roses.” It was almost worse than the smells of old food. The various smells are a distraction in themselves, not to mention chewing, throat clearing, and other bodily noises. People eat all types of food at all hours of the day it seems. God forbid I check email or do some online shopping while I eat lunch at my desk–EVERYONE knows everything.Īs I’m typing comments regarding my pet-peeve about NOT having a private, closed office on Fast Company, they’re not compelled to look over my shoulder and say, “Oh, cool article.” 6. God forbid you show up to work to actually get some work done.Īccidentally making eye contact with the worker sitting directly across from you because the cube dividers are just a LITTLE bit too low… 5. If you choose to ignore these constant interruptions, you are usually marked as uncommunicative, too negative, antisocial, or something similar come review time. Sometimes You Just Don’t Want to Talk to People Having to hide in the stairwell to take personal calls. If you’re eating lunch at your desk (which you know, is sad but sometimes unavoidable), people will come up to you and ask you a long-form question even thought you just stuffed your face with a sandwich. Your privacy and time are no longer respected. Sometimes you need to make personal phone calls or are having a frustrating moment, and you just need a little personal space. “Hey, look at this Youtube video.” “Hey, listen to this story I told you five times already but am going to tell it again.” Nevermind the amount of time you lose during the interruption itself, but you completely lose your flow and momentum on whatever it was you were working on. It takes me twice as long to do my work than if I were able to work in solace. Footballs flying, loud conversations and nowhere to hide. I can hardly ever work uninterrupted for more than a few minutes at a time.
In the morning, everyone (and I mean EVERYone) says “Good morning” and throughout the day, they make other comments like… “It’s so quiet in here!” At the end of the day… of course… it’s good-bye, see you tomorrow. She does this frequently throughout the day–often to tell me about things I am intentionally trying to block out, like the phone ringing.įor anyone in the company to get to our kitchen, they have to walk through our department because the facilities are located at the back of our work area. This means, if I put on my headphones my co-worker can still wave her hands to get my attention.
Our open space has low cubicles so I can also see the person next to me. Your Co-Workers Won’t Stop Interrupting You I don’t care if the offices are all glass and off no visual privacy, it’s the ability to shut the door and keep outside noise from invading my space. It’s hard to concentrate!Īs a creative person I love to collaborate but I love solitude equally as much because distractions for me are very counter productive. The worst thing is the noise–you can hear people typing, sneezing, coughing, eating, taking calls, cursing, and anything and everything in between.
Being constantly “open to chat” with my boss as apparently making eye-contact means I have time to talk about whatever is most important for him right there and then. Below we’ve compiled some of the most common gripes, and our favorite responses. We received lengthy (and sometimes painful) responses from over 100 people.