Noisy Coworker: You Don't Have To Deal With It
Everyone faces noisy, obnoxious coworkers at some time during their working career. If you have done as much as you can to politely get them to stop, it may be necessary to get a little bit more creative, or possibly to get help from someone else. You may find that something like a comical gesture is surprisingly able to get the noisy coworker to realize that they are annoying you.
If that coworker is one that sings or whistles all day long in a horrible off key pitch, there are a couple ways to make them quiet. One of the easiest ways is to simply ignore your coworker. To do this, try turning up your own music or use headphones to cancel out the unbearable voice, singing, or humming of your coworker.
If this does not work very well then try something that everybody who is annoyed with this coworker can participate in. You could even do something funny like, have everyone sign a written petition to get them to stop and post it onto their computer screen for when they come back.
A problem solving method for a noisy coworker could be a petition filed as a collaborative group. It helps because it prevents you from being singled out as the only reason for your coworker to stop irritating noise. This way the coworker will not get annoyed with you and a friendly atmosphere can be maintained in the office. It will be quite amusing to see the reaction of the coworker.
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, but you will still have to cope with them on some level. There are a couple of ways to silence a coworker who insists on whistling or singing through the work day. You can start by simply ignoring coworker by bringing your own music, or by using head phones. If other people agree that Annoying coworkers in the office cannot be allowed to keep disrupting people: everyone could sign a petition to stop them. So if you have problems with a Noisy Coworker or just the general Office Noise associated with work, then get creative to get your point across.
Published September 22nd, 2008
Filed in Career