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Noisy Coworkers And Other Sounds Are Top Distraction in Workplace, Study Says (npr.org)
Sounds, especially those made by other humans, have ranked as the top distraction in the workplace, according to design expert Alan Hedge of Cornell. A staggering 74 percent of workers say they face "many" instances of disturbances and distractions from noise. Hedge says the noise is generally coming from another person, though it's much more disturbing when it's a machine that is making it. NPR reports: The popularity of open offices has exacerbated the problem. The University of California's Center for the Built Environment has a study showing workers are happier when they are in enclosed offices and less likely to take sick days. This does not bode well for some workers facing cold and flu season, when hacking coughs make the rounds. [...] Rue Dooley, an adviser at the Society for Human Resource Management, says HR professionals often call in, asking how to manage co-worker complaints about various bodily noises.
There are people who seem to think that door slams, loud racking sounds of turned door knobs and juicy Ka-chunks of door latches engaging are just fine in a scholarly/academic office environment.
The main floor of our Engineering Library has a door that is going "Rack! Ka-chunk" a couple times a minute from persons passing through to other floors, all day long.
Spent 2 full days in a conference room with colleagues from numerous other institutions working on behalf of a Federal agency in Arlington, VA.
Not one door slam the entire time. Do the Federal agency people know something about concentrating on work that state universities do not?
In my last job there was this retard sales guy who never graduated high school, but would constantly kiss the business owner's puckered butthole, and to make himself sound important he would hover around the office on the phone talking extremely loud (just like the owner of the company)
Usually the most noisy co-workers are the most subversive parasites who have 0 talent and are only trying to someone impress their superiors by their assholishness
How things have changed. In the 90's I went to a startup (sw) and we had offices, all of us. The company we left had switched from offices to cubicles. And in keeping with true PHB mentality, the prior company had taken a poll if we wanted to stay in offices or switch to cubes. They pinky-swear promised they would do what the employees wanted. Of course the employees overwhelmingly voted for offices and when the results came in, the PHB's said we "know" you really wanted cubes, soo they went to cubes.
Where I work there's a guy sitting about 2 metres away who grinds his teeth. Constantly. Every single day. Have you ever heard the phrase "familiarity breeds contempt"? This is a perfect example. The sound is not unlike the creaking sound an old wooden chair makes when you sit in it.
Then there's the guy who purposely sneezes as loud as he possibly can for reasons only he knows.
Now, one of them makes noise without realising it and stops when he's asked to (briefly) but the other...
Working every day with either of them is bound to make any sane person pissed off.
If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
You have to realise that there are some people who over the years have gone or are going completely nuts working in an office 9-5, Monday to Friday. Given mortgage, bills, car and other completely idiotic responsibilities we've unfortunately taken on, the choices are (1) make quacking noises at desk or (2) take the rope you keep on top of your wardrobe, tie it around a beam in your garage, put the other end around your neck and jump off a chair.
I am one of those people.
Thank you for your understanding.