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eating at desk 16

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jerry1423

jerry1423

Mechanical
Aug 19, 2005
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I work near a person who eats at his desk. It really would not bother me if it was quiet foods, but it is always things like chips, carrots, and stuff like that.

Sometimes I wear factory earplugs so that I can concentrate on my work better.

Would I be appropriate to approach our manager and ask if this can be stopped, or am I just overly sensitive to those sounds?
 
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If you have a dedicated break room I guess you could force the issue. I'd rather hear eating sounds than the sucking and blowing of snot.
 
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Be thankful it's not a toxic cloud of perfume, so thick that you can't taste anything else when your lunchtime comes.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
 
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They sell chips here as a fundraiser. One or another of us is often crunching on something. It's no worse than keyboard clicking, phone conversations, or the loud manager on the other side of the cube farm laughing about somethingorother.

I hate the cube farm. I want to crunch carrots without feeling self-conscious.

Hg

Eng-Tips policies: faq731-376
 
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How long does the person eat for? A few minutes? If it bothers you that much, go for your lunch at the same time, or wear ear plugs.

If someone eating a "noisy" carrot is disturbing you compare it to people on speaker phone in the next cubicle for 40 minutes at a time (not being very complimentary in that time either).

Dont fret the petty stuff!

Ctopher - have you thought that the only person who is sensitive is the person who is annoyed by the slightly distracting noise. It is not so much being sensitive, it is changing how you react to something.

Tickle
 
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I'm sensitive to coworkers that make consistent annoying noises "all day". The occasional noises I can deal with.
An example would be: PC speakers announcing every stupid little computer noise; stupid loud cell-phone ring while it's sitting on the desk when coworker is away; eating out loud with mouth open.
I was raised with proper manners when around others, regardless where I'm at.
Coworkers acting as if they are the only person in the building, eating like pigs, acting stupid, or just plain rude, do not belong in a professional environment.
The guy next to me chew gum all day and constantly 'snapped' the bubbles "8 hours a day".
IMO, want to act immature ... stay home.

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 3.1
AutoCAD 08
ctopher's home (updated Aug 5, 2008)
ctopher's blog
SolidWorks Legion
 
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The guy that sits in the cubicle next to me burps all day, eats the smelliest lunches you can imagine, talks nonstop on the phone in low frequency monotone, and whines incessantly about all the injustices he is subject to in our office. It is insufferable, but that's life in the cube farm.
 
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That's all baby stuff.

I work in a cube farm with half of the people being loud speakers, a fourth sneak up behind you, another fourth cannot just say their piece and go back to work, you have to listen to their personal triumphs and woes (I am at a dead end no escape). Going back to the loud talkers, half have speaker phones, and get on telecons with the other half of the loud talkers, everyone can hear the telecon with customers and suppliers it has a stereo effect. What is fun is when a loud talker with a speaker phone answers the phone and his wife chews him out for putting her on the speaker phone.

Yea we have corn nutters, chipper, slurpers, spillers, belchers, farters … the list goes on.

Get over it – deal with it. At least the cafeteria in your building doesn’t back-up the grease trap a couple of times a year – that’s a pleasant smell to work in.
 
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Our old office use to sit between a sewage works and a fish gutting/processing factory. The smell tended to vary between faeces and rotting fish, or combinations thereof. It was lovely.

I tend to use headphones to drown out the background noise, but I seem to be lucky that I dont have any noisy eaters, loud speakers, farters, belchers etc within ear shot.
 
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I have to question the cost-benefit of open office concept vs some type of semi-enclosed office space. Our office is really "open" with the open Herman Miller desks and short dividers so you can hear the shuffle of papers from three workstations away, and the telephone conversations 5 desks away. Tough to concentrate, tough to get any quiet-time work done, as constant interruption is the daily routine. So how is that efficient? At least most of the cubby-mates around here are easy and pleasant to get along with, and are entertained by my occasional "firm discussions" with Contractors and Suppliers regarding the current mess they've got themselves into. Some of them have been able to expand their vocabulary when dealing with the Site People now.

I agree with the approach of just dealing directly with the person and see if you can, in a friendly way, ask if they can tone it down a little. Personal interfacing is a lost art, considering the current social interface in the office is e-mailing from one cubby to the next.
 
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I also have to listen to the cube's on each side of me IM each other all day. The snickering and 2K/word minute typing can really get on my nerves.
I have asked them to either talk once and get finished with their conversation or take it outside.
They giggle and say "It's fun".
WTF!!

If I were the manager, I would outsource their positions with the local elementary schools.

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 3.1
AutoCAD 08
ctopher's home (updated Aug 5, 2008)
ctopher's blog
SolidWorks Legion
 
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I sit in the Bermuda Triangle of cubes. North I have a guy that never uses his "indoor" voice, spends too much time on the phone talking with his kids and arguing with his ex-wife (still lives with, +10yrs!), or is complaining about his hired hands that didn't do a great job "at the ranch" caring for his pigs and show-goats. He's a shell-on legume and nut eater. To the West I have a cube stalker that constantly finds conspiracies in everything the company does, mumbles under his breath (that's my stapler), or extols the trials and tribulations that his co-workers have forced upon him (like his job). He likes to eat many crunchy things out of foil bags. Finally, to the West, I have someone that is constantly involved in speaker-phone WebExs, speaker-phone teleconferences, etc. I don't think he ever picks-up his handset. When he is not doing that, he listens to his music much too loudly, and many times he is not even at his cubicle when the music is playing. He also has terrible allergies, and if he is not sniffling, he is blowing, or sneezing, or coughing, etc, etc.

Wow, thanks for letting me rant.
 
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"...he is blowing, or sneezing, or coughing, etc, etc"

We have one of those too. He makes me sick!
I have asked to either send him to the Dr. or ??
He will not go. I have listened to him every day for the past 3 years do this!
I 'never' touch door knobs with bare hands.

Working virtual is one of the best things I have ever done.

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 3.1
AutoCAD 08
ctopher's home (updated Aug 5, 2008)
ctopher's blog
SolidWorks Legion
 
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All,

Reading these posts has been an education to me. I am unaccustomed to such pettiness. Perhaps if you had a little more work to do you wouldn’t find time to think about your neighbors? I guess that we are all different; however for me, none of the stuff you described would bother me if I had a backlog of work to keep me busy. However, I would start to get petty if I had too much time on my hands and did not like one of my coworkers. For some I suppose the real problem could be a difference in ideology. Could it be that the real issues are a difference in politics, environmental consciousness, or religion that are manifested in your sensitivity? For me, if I did not like someone and had to work next to them day after day, every little noise or smell would be offensive to me.
 
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