Noisy Coworker: What You Can Do
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.
There are a couple of ways to silence a coworker who insists on poorly whistling or singing his way through the work day. You can start by simply ignoring the offending coworker, by bringing your own music, or by using headphones to ensure that the coworker's humming, singing, and whistling cannot be heard.
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.
So whenever you do have a problem coworker, or just frustration with the general level of noise around the office, put some creativity into coming up with a solution. There are a variety of different, creative ways to tell someone something in a way that will not offend them.
Encounters with annoying coworkers are inevitable. In spite of how irritating those fellow workers may be, you will still have to cope with them on some level. 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. There are many funny ways to get your point across without directly insulting someone. Sometimes telling them that they are bothering you does not do the trick, and the situation calls for more drastic measures such as getting a group of fellow workers to demonstrate what that person is doing that is annoying to everyone.
Published September 22nd, 2008
Filed in Communication
