Noisy Coworker: You Don't Have To Deal With It
We all come across some noisy, loud mouth coworkers during our working careers. We have to deal with them some times by telling them politely to stop but it is not necessarily successful. At other times we can try to be creative and take the help of others in this. Just by doing a comical gesture to tell someone of his or her annoyance may sometimes bring positive results and quiet the noisy worker.
Coworkers, like anyone, can engage in distracting, irritating, unconscious behaviors like humming, whistling, and singing off key or incorrect lyrics. Try to block out the nonsense. Ignore it if you can. Bring in your own music, and keep the volume where you can't hear the distractions, or wear headphones to block it out completely.
If other people agree that the loud, obnoxious coworker in the office cannot be allowed to keep disrupting people, try to come together and find a solution. One amusing solution would be to have everybody sign a petition for them to stop being so obnoxious and to post it on their monitor for them to see.
As a collaborative group, one way to solve this issue may be a petition. This could be one way in which you are not singled out as the main reason for stopping the irritating noise. This way a friendly atmosphere can be accomplished with the unhappy coworker getting angry with you. The reaction of the coworker may end up being quite comical.
If you are troubled by the noise in the office such as the sound of typing, talking on phone, noise of the copier machine etc. then a temporary solution lies in unplugging everything that makes noise. In case this does not help and you don't even get fired then try moving out to the basement or some other quieter place with all your belongings.This protest will be noticed by other people and they will soon comply.
You can find creative solutions to the problems posed by noise in your office, whether it comes from a single employee or the combination of general office sounds. There are many humorous ways to make it clear that noise is a problem that needs to be dealt with, without being grossly insulting.
Encounters with less than amicable coworkers are inevitable. In spite of how irritating those coworkers may be, you will still have to cope with them on some level. Sometimes, telling the Annoying coworkers that they are bothering you doesn't do the trick, and the situation calls for more drastic measures. You can start by simply ignoring the offending coworker, by bringing your own music, or by using headphones to ensure that the coworker's noises cannot be heard. So if you have problems with a Noisy Coworker, or just the general Office Noise associated with work, then put your thinking cap on and get creative.
Published September 22nd, 2008
Filed in Communication