When Co-Workers Don’t Realize They’re Annoying You

My 70plus co-worker insist she has to cut her fingernails here in the office every 2 weeks as the lighting is better here than at her home. I work in an office which has the public in & out all day long....(social services) and she just sits there cutting away after 9:00. She also blows bubbles & snaps them all day too.....now we sit in an area 10x10 so it gets on my nerves & I have made comments but she just doesnt care & goes on about her day.......

Well I have a co-worker who sings all day long (badly, may I add) in her native language, and has gotten verbally abusive when one day I expressed annoyance at the radio announcer (doing the typical tribal yell) ... we are an office, not a nightclub. What's worse is that we all (Managers mind you) tip-toe around this retard AND SHE'S THE FLIPPIN' RECEPTIONIST!!! Does doin' the boss, you ask? In this recess, things are tough enough, but being in this situation makes me think going postal is the next option ... oh, and for those who don't know me I tend to joke alot so please don't send Home Land Security to my home for questioning (thank you). However, you can call the IRS on my behalf so they know she's being paid under the table so she can keep her Medicare benefits ... nice set-up. What does one expect from Ghetto Trash and a hopeful-she'll-do-me Owner??

LMAO

I have a co-worker whose cube is next to mine and she eats very loud chips all day long. She also belches after lunch and makes odd little "hmph" sounds unconsciously I believe. She is very nice and have a lovely phone voice, albeit very loud. Sitting next to her has helped me to understand why people become severely obese: it really is because they eat constantly. I hope I don't sound cruel.

Please, for the love of all that is good and holy in the world, wear headphones if you must listen to music. If you're required to not wear headphones and must use speakers because your boss is weird (like mine) and forbids headphones because they think you can't hear your phone ring with them on, do this... Turn on your speakers when no one else is around, then go to, say, your neighbor's cube. If you can still hear the music, it's up too loud. Seriously.

My coworkers listen to some of the worst music I have ever heard, and even sing along with that. I find myself listening to my own music, in my headphones, even when I don't want to (because, say, the headphones are beginning to hurt my ear lobes) because it's either that or not be able to focus on what I am doing at all.

Also, if you must have personal conversations with people on your cell phone, do everyone else a favor and take it to an empty room, or outside.

I realize that sometimes the office space is going to be a noisey place, and that unless you work in a library, it could get loud at times. But that should be pretty rare and always work-related if so. That even goes for anyone "in charge" (i.e., managers, owners, etc).

I work in a cube. My co-worker directly across from me sings show tunes throughout the day. Her voice is not great. She also taps her heels to some of the songs on her plastic pad under her office chair while she works. This situation and co-workers who whistle while they work are really hard to deal with. Any suggestions?

Some things that comes to mind are those lucky folks that actually have offices, but then subject those around them to their speakerphone conference calls without the courtesy of closing their door. Or those who retrieve their voice-mail via speakerphone several times a day. Finally, those with "latchkey" kids who call several times a day with insignificant problems that they expect Mom or Dad to manage from work.

As one who has managed groups for 15 years, I've learned two things that apply to this article. First, no matter what the offense or offensive action is, each person has a choice as to how to react or respond. No one can make a person angry, irritated, annoyed, etc. It is a choice of the individual to become that way, regardless of what is be done to them or around them. No one has a "right" to become angry. Second, "Don't mud wrestle." The instant one responds negatively to anyone else because of their behavior, they have stained their own white robes with the other person's mud. Refuse to respond or retaliate. Instead, respond with goodness, gentleness, joyfulness and self control. In doing so, you will win the day.

Most of my co-workers are quite respectful and congenial. However, in the category of mindless annoyances, there is the chronic issue of leaving their material at the common-printer. It never occurs to several of my co-workers that others resent having to gleen-through their stack, when the diligent co-worker is trying to immediately retrieve their material that they just printed. Some of my co-workers leave there print-outs for hours, assuring that dozens of other clients (of the common printer) are going to have to rummage-through it. And the biggest slap-in-the-face; printing-out exactly before clocking-out and wlaking-out, leaving the material unretreived until the next day!