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eating at desk
16

eating at desk

eating at desk

(OP)
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?

RE: eating at desk

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.

RE: eating at desk

Same issue here. I have tried management, but these days everyone is too damn sensitive to say anything!
I finally walked over to the guy and kindly asked him to stop, he did.
Rudeness and ignorance has taken over politeness good manners.

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

RE: eating at desk

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

RE: eating at desk

Or counter-attack with stinky cheese, salami, hot peppers...

 

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: eating at desk

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: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies

RE: eating at desk

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

RE: eating at desk

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

RE: eating at desk

I met a guy who thought eating corn-nuts was okay. HC...

 

===================================
Forging     http://mech.e.tripod.com
-------------------------------------------------
Ddraig Breuddwydia....www.tailofthedragon.com

RE: eating at desk

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.  

RE: eating at desk

5
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.
 

RE: eating at desk

Headphones and 30 GB of music solves all of my external noise problems.

RE: eating at desk

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.

RE: eating at desk

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.

RE: eating at desk

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

RE: eating at desk

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.

RE: eating at desk

"...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

RE: eating at desk

2
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.
 

RE: eating at desk

Zapster,
For me, it has nothing to do with politics, religion, etc.
It means 'zero' to me what coworkers believe in regards to politics and religion.

It has everything to do with professionalism, politeness, and manners.

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

RE: eating at desk

This thread is really dumb.

RE: eating at desk

i agree with ctopher...all those things are annoying!!  the coughing and blowing of noses is really really irritating.

around here for the most part, the phone calls are unavoidable as they are work related.  we're too close in this "cube farm" to do anything about it.

RE: eating at desk

I think you're just being oversensitive and should get back to work.  

RE: eating at desk

Loud talkers get to me, especially loud phone talkers & I sit near one.  As far as the food things goes, its not the sound, but the smell of food that gets me.

RE: eating at desk

If you ever want to see a bunch of cube droids practice whining for the Olympics, log into www.dilbert.com. But this thread isn't far off it.

I find the combination of loud but ineffective air conditioning, noise cancelling headphones, and a large music collection, render even the noisiest of neighbours bearable, including when they have a tube meeting (not as exciting as it sounds) at the next desk.
 

Cheers

Greg Locock

SIG:Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

RE: eating at desk

Living (sorry, working) in a cube farm can be a trial but some one here (in this forum) once highlighted the compensatory joy of what he richly described as a "Groundhog Event" that is, some happening so surprising or shocking that everyone's head would pop up over the partitions to see what was going on.
Now, Ctopher, I'm sure that you must have experienced at least one Groundhog event to make it all worthwhile?

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
 

RE: eating at desk

I have heard 'groundhog' events happening, but I don't participate.
I'm not one that 'brakes' to look at an incident.

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

RE: eating at desk

"One that brakes to look at an incident?"
I hope you haven't taken that expression from dippy radio traffic reporters commenting on the jams that result when there has been an accident.... try driving through an accident scene at your usual rate of knots and see what happens, or perhaps you do and explain that the reason you are going slower is because of the car in front.  

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
 

RE: eating at desk

Its an interesting point, in terms of management supplying the space to have a common lunchroom versus everyone eating at their cube. When my current company shifted offices, the lunchroom was forgotten about, despite being discussed a few times as a requirement for the office fitout.

Previous companies had a separate lunchroom, and the difference in moral and social interaction was amazing.

So now we get most of the fun that has been listed in this thread, and most of us end up eating at our desks. Most of the noises and so on don't really bother me, with the exception of one engineer who insists on talking on the phone in his loudest voice when he thinks he's doing something important, which is generally antagonising our clients. Funny how he talks really quietly when management ring him up to tell him to extract his cranium from his rectum.  

RE: eating at desk

Eating doens't bother me.  I worked in a cubicle office a little while ago and one guy was always eating chips.  I was fine with it but I know a couple other guys that it drove crazy.  I told them to suck it up.

However, everyone has their pet peeves.  Some people it's hearing people eat.  We have a smoker, who I'm sure is already dying b/c of it, in our office.  He'd have these coughing fits that were totally gross.

I'm in an "office" now, and to be honest, I miss the cubicle like atmosphere.  I like to be able to talk to people to get through a day and now I can't.  Our new office has separate offices for everyone and it seems so inpersonal.  I always feel like I'm interrupting something when I go to talk to someone.  It's definitely taken some of the personality out of the office and I miss the old setup.

RE: eating at desk

there are always noises in my office, we have about 20 or so people in the same office, and the office is never quite, people are chatting to each other, on the phone, eating drinking, etc, noises never bothered me :)

Cuttie

RE: eating at desk

Wearing ear plugs is a given in the office environment. I use musician earplugs which attenuate 30-40 DBA. They are OK for the phone. They are white, multi-ribbed with a special core to allow conversation. I use them in church, too, now that it is similar to attending a rock concert.

From the mgr point of view, a person sitting at his desk during lunchtime is available on the phone for an urgent call.

RE: eating at desk


I feel lucky that I get along with my office partner.  We both eat crunchy things at our desks and have enough manners to bring in enough to share with each other.  We will both put on our headphones to 'tune out' phone conversations and such.  

I never really thought of crunching to be all that distracting.  Farting, belching and clipping toenails is distracting.  As is my boss' penchant for never ever picking up the receiver on his phone.  I can hear his conversations from two offices away.

"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance!"

RE: eating at desk

Cass,
are you referring to that farting draughtsperson? Is he still working there with you?

An elephant never forgets!

 

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
 

RE: eating at desk


jmw,

Yes, the farting CAD guy is still here, and works no where near my desk.  He comes into the office to ask my office partner something and will announce his arrival by farting or belching.  Lovely



 

"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance!"

RE: eating at desk

I am shocked at how insensitive so many of you can be.  Have you no compassion?  It sounds like the draftsman might be suffering from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).  Whereas it is not common for those suffering from IBS to have problems with excessive gas at both ends, it can happen.  All I can say is thank god for the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA).  The DDA aims to ensure disabled people have more equal access to things that most people take for granted - like working, learning, shopping, and going out with friends.  It requires people, mainly service providers and employers, not to refuse service to a disabled person, nor to refuse to employ them, just because they are a disabled person.  

The thing to keep in mind is that we should all be more accommodating to others and not jump to conclusions.  It is possible that this errant drafter may be suffering a medical problem.  In addition, he may also be exhibiting what seems to be inappropriate conduct when the gas happens.  Haven't we all have been guilty of an uncontrolled laugh that was derived from some type of embarrassment?  

I say that it is time we all become a little more accommodating to others; because you never know, they just might be suffering from a medical or psychological disorder.
 

RE: eating at desk

LOL Zapster, nice touch...or maybe the medical field classifies everything, including lack of good manners, as a "syndrome" or a "condition" or a "disorder" because then they can charge to treat it.

RE: eating at desk

By the way, and I apologise because we are not in the language forum, what does "more equal" meaner?
Shouldn't that be "Equal" or "more equitable"?

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
 

RE: eating at desk

You poor poor souls, you need to get a job in the field and then you can tell the guy next you to shut the F@*% up.

 

RE: eating at desk

I think these are very petty problems.  I admit to sometimes wanting to throttle my office mate when he's loudly crunching away, but it only takes a second for me to realize that my reaction is just that, MINE.  For some reason I'm not in the best of moods, and he just happens to be an easy target on which to aim my frustrations.  Once I realize this, I can tune him out and get back to work.
Now, I once worked second shift and the first shift engineer that I shared a computer with would invariably leave thick, black lumps on the sides of the mouse.  I would have to wipe it down with alcohol every afternoon before I could start working.  I finally had enough, went to my manager, who issued a memo regarding "office cleanliness".  Didn't work, so I was soon assigned to another work station.  "Booger Boy" didn't last much longer at that job.
Choose your battles well.

The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. - Hunter S. Thompson
 

RE: eating at desk

1.  I have a strange aversion to the sound of people chewing.  Completely illogical etc. but it bugs the #%^$# out of me.  So I kind of get where you are coming from.

2.  Overall thought, pretty petty, get over it and don't bring it up with your manager unless you want to get a rep as the whining, moaning....

3.  This kind of reminds me of a house mate from uni.  There were 4 of us, 3 of us agreed that the 4th person was almost unbearable.  It was mostly petty stuff, just so much of it.  Could probably be summarized as a lack of social ettiquete (and this was a house of engineers so we didn't have high standards).  However, whenever we tried to explain to someone else how annoying he was, they just didnt' get it and even we came to realize how petty it all was when you tried to list it.  Still wanted to smack the guy several times a day though.

KENAT,

Have you reminded yourself of FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies recently, or taken a look at posting policies: http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

RE: eating at desk

Uh??

Being on "farting terms" with another is about as close as one can be.  It has to be earned though.

- Steve

RE: eating at desk

GTstartup - while I probably wouldn't be able to use your terminology to address the procurement guy next to me, I definitely agree with your train of thought.  While the field is a vastly different environment than the cube farm, there can be definitely be some perspective learned therein:
i.e., Try working out of your truck for a week with the constant traffic of scrapers, dozers and end-dumps for 10 hours a day 6 days a week; or have a welder (plus generator) and a demo saw constantly running 5 feet from your site-trailer window...
Then go back to your office and the sound crunching corn nuts will be no more than butterflys dancing on feather pillows ~~~~

RE: eating at desk

While it is a certainty I have been out in the sun far too long; I would rather be dodging equipment than be stuck in a "confined space" for the duration.

I admire the heroes of cube Ville. It must require hordes of stamina and fortitude to endure such.

The entertainment value from (most of) this thread has been side-splitting, for me.  
 

RE: eating at desk

Hey Cass, look what Chris has found.... now you can talk back to the CAD guy in his own language.

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
 

RE: eating at desk

laughtears
If you don't like the sound of the first one, just go back a page and you get another version automatically.

The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. - Hunter S. Thompson
 

RE: eating at desk

I hear 'ya Drumchaser, This thread makes me appreciate having an office, thank you to everyone who has contributed as it made my day (sorry).  

Some days I get really annoyed with the paging system but it's usually just when I'm in a bad mood (and at least that has a volume control).  As a ex-filed guy, I would be fired and/or arrested if I had to sit beside any of the above-mentioned individuals.

RE: eating at desk

Paging systems!!

We used to have a ("staff location") system with 4 lights and a buzzer in a ceiling-mounted box.  Every public place had one visible (and audible).  When the buzzer went, all the "important people" would look to the box to see if their combination of lights was active (on/off/flashing).  If it was, they would phone the switchboard to get their "important" message.  Of course the number of combinations was only 3^4 (minus one - all lights off), so only 80 people were officially designated as "important".

- Steve

RE: eating at desk

Who sold them that then?
Salesman of the year I guess.

Somewhere along the line some one gets the bright idea that a receptionist and a separate telephonist isn't a good idea and the jobs get combined.

The next bright idea is to replace them with Robbie the Robot phone systems so that whether you phone in or visit you end up for a day on the phone listening to dumb messages.

That brings up the most hated phrase of all:
"All our technicians are dealing with clients at the moment and you are number X in the queue. Your call is important to us. Please hold on until someone is available to answer your call." Cue the dreadful music interrupted for a repeat message or an advert.

OK, who is paying for this call? Me? Damn.
 

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
 

RE: eating at desk

If the call was important to them, would they not have a real person answering the phone? (Did I say that out loud?)

Has anyone ever found coffee stains on there papers or desk, when you aren't a coffee drinker?
I had a boss that did that more than once. At least he could have left his coffee in his office.

RE: eating at desk

I started using noise cancelling headphones to play tunes off a thumb drive (no performance hit). More and more I simply don't play the music and wear the headphones.

It helps with the noise and bored people are less inclined to visit.

I do remember how it was back in the days with squadbay seating, desks and no cube partitions. There was one whistling cigar smoker.

Things have improved.

I wonder if cube partitions built with acoustic damping sheets/fabric would necessarily be cost prohibitive. Even passive noise control of some sort would be better that what's done now in most places. There's always 60Hz (or some harmonic) hum of some sort in industrial building office spaces too.

RE: eating at desk

A whistling cigar smoker... hate to sit directly across from him.  The only thing that I know of that could make me go postal at work is someone whistling while I'm trying to concentrate on the task at hand.  I know... my problem... must calm down...banghead

The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. - Hunter S. Thompson
 

RE: eating at desk

I used to smoke a pipe, nearly continuously, in a tiny office with wood- paneled walls and carpeting.  It still smelled like a humidor for years after smoking was outlawed.  Which made it a popular destination for smokers, who would stop by to chat, but mostly to inhale.

Those were the days...

 

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: eating at desk

I had a boss who smoked a pipe.
He gave me a lift home one day and if you want to worry, worry about being driven along in heavy traffic at 70mph while someone steers with his knees and occasionaly his elbows so he can get out his tobacco pouch and load and fire up his pipe..... and you know how fussy and ritualistic pipe smoking is, this was a long drawn out operation and my nerves never recovered.
 

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
 

RE: eating at desk

Cigar smoking is no longer allowed in the office, thank goodness.  My complaint would be their breath.

The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. - Hunter S. Thompson
 

RE: eating at desk

"Would I be appropriate to approach our manager and ask if this can be stopped, or am I just overly sensitive to those sounds? "

No and yes. Now move on.

RE: eating at desk

my boss farted in front of me one time.

it took everything in my soul not to laugh.  i bit my tongue for a good 10 minutes while he was asking me questions.

i had a co worker one time who had the messiest arguments with his girlfriend (now wife).   

RE: eating at desk

Although it may be common to answer a ringing phone in a near by cubicle, while the owner is away. It's also common for the owners wife to call and chew you out for answering there phone (Only some people wives).

It also common to have a phone in the office that no one answers, as it is one number different from.... In my case a pharmacy (People calling asking for drugs).
No wonder we turned the ringer off. Although a new coworker was horified that we turned the ringer off. We told him if you turn it on, you have to answer it. Got an bunch of laugh's from that.
 

RE: eating at desk

Come work where my friend works if any of the above bothers you.  These are the rules (not kidding):

No loud or excessive talking
No eating at desks (including snacks and sodas)
No music allowed (head phones and Ipods included)
No conference calls (or speakerphone calls)
No talking on the cellphone (or texting) for non work related issues
No comics or political items on the cubile walls

Just silence and diligent work all day.


 

RE: eating at desk


I worked at a small company once where 'the' rule was:

-No longer than 2 minutes in the restroom

It was in the engineering area, watched/timed by the manager. It may have been because of annoying sounds, or ??

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

RE: eating at desk

I afraid to think of what other reasons might have been caused that rule...

RE: eating at desk

My first real job ever was sweeping floors, carrying a rod, making blueprints, and minor drafting for a consulting civil/ structural engineer, whose office was in a 16th century church... oddly enough, the same church where my Cub Scout troop had met just a few years earlier.

He was a nice guy, but a real stickler about any kind of noise.  Office rules included no loud talking, etc.  You even had to walk softly because the old floors squeaked and groaned.

You could tell when The Boss was out on the road, because the Chief Draftsman, who'd been with him forever, would be whistling, loudly, incessantly, and quite musically.  He was really good at it.  It's been almost fifty years now, and I still miss the whistling.

 

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: eating at desk

I miss the tales of Design offices old.

The places where where on the 1st of July the manager would come out and say "Gentlemen, you may remove your ties".

Frankly Ztrain, some of those rules aren't such a bad idea.

KENAT,

Have you reminded yourself of FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies recently, or taken a look at posting policies: http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

RE: eating at desk

from whos perspective... management or the employee?  ;)

And yea, I agree they are best for the work enviorment.  But when your friend can show up to work in torn jeans, dancing to his Ipod while muncing on a donut at his desk... it does make me jealous.   

RE: eating at desk

The last few posts bring to mind a few conclusions that have become painfully obvious the last few years.

A structured work environment and the ability of some current managers to manage effectively.

Fortunately I have a supervisor who is his own man, runs his own shop (as much as the current hierarchy will permit) and requires results on a timeline.

If you stay busy, show initiative, and produce, he bothers you not. If you dally, a discussion will come in to play.
He does not wait till your yearly review to give you guidance on the program.

My prob is with some of the other managers who do not (cannot) deal with confronting/managing their employees.

It is my belief most folks need accountability and structure in their workplace....what has happened to this?

Individuals who are untethered tend to be counterproductive to the mutual goal of the organization.

Managing effectively is a skill that apparently some folks cannot grasp.

 

RE: eating at desk

Management love to bang on about teamwork but always forget that every team has a captain who directs, decides and carries the responsibility.
Thus in any environment without that captaincy there is no team work and precious little effective work as too many people "do their own thing".
 

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
 

RE: eating at desk

Hmm historical issues with the office space

1) Having cube that open faced the mail room. Big time source of interruption in the days before heavy email usage. Everyone picking up mail stopped to say hi since I was a known jokester

2) Another job with an area with a open cube that people would congregrate around while I worked. Brought in ipod to remedy that. Boss was ok with it. At least I could tune it out.

3) Current job where one girl just migrated into. She has the "Do you live in a barn" type outdoor voice. Hopefully this will be remedied when the office is renovated. Sound falls off with the square of the distance and I'm hoping she's in the far corner at that point.

RE: eating at desk

You know, when I first read this post I thought you were just overly sensitive.  I have recently obtained a new neighboor who does very similar stuff as mentioned above.  It appears that karma has a sense of humor.  The most annyoing being the mucus that he attempts to fling down his throat with a violent swirl of wind through his nostrils.  I have started asking him if he needs a tissue, but I don't think it has soaked in yet.  I'm going to start making projectiles out of paperclips and fling them through the air with rubber bands...

RE: eating at desk

Do you guys work in my office?  There's a snorker across the row from me.  As luck would have it, his first name rhymes with snot.  The guy behind me smacks his lips, often.  
 

RE: eating at desk

first name rhymes with snot??   

RE: eating at desk

I used to work with a guy like this called "Noc".
We had lots of noc-noc jokes based on snot.

Smacking lips while eating, talking with mouth full of food, and other noises, are considered rude and not polite.
Manners are gone these days. They are just not taught anymore and a lot of people don't care anymore.

When I politely asked a guy next to me to stop popping his gum every second, he said he didn't notice he was doing it. I asked him if he was aware which office or building he was in. He doesn't talk to me anymore...I'm fine with it.

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 3.1
AutoCAD 08; CATIA V5
ctopher's home (updated Aug 5, 2008)
ctopher's blog
SolidWorks Legion

RE: eating at desk

I just finished my tuna sandwich, the lady that will go heat up her curry soup did not say anything, and the guy that enjoy's his breakfast burrito did not say anything.
But maybe I did not hear them because of the telecons with loud talkers and speaker phones going on.
The loud talker/belcher was away from his desk, so I didn't have to worry about bothering him.

RE: eating at desk

2
Wait did any of you go to college? I would think that living in a dorm would at least show you how to survive life where other people actually exist...

RE: eating at desk



LUDPEKA1, There was a time when I thought no way does anyone have 30 GB of music, until I got assigned a mind-numbing graphic task where the only thing that kept me awake was the music I listened to, and downloaded.  I now have almost 20 GB of music on my iTunes.  

But the earbug style headphones make my ears hurt after awhile.  I sometimes wish I could unplug the earphones and just crank the music like I did when I was in the field, but then I guess we would have a thread about the 'awful' types of music people listen to....

"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance!"

RE: eating at desk

Depends on if you just sat in your room all day instead of actually interacting with people. But i guess life didn't start with the people here...

RE: eating at desk

"interacting with people"?  As in:

Wearing blazers and top hats while playing tiddly winks down Oxford Street during rag week.  No thanks.

- Steve

RE: eating at desk

Compared to:
being a mole in your dorm room while its sunny and 60 degrees outside. No thanks.

RE: eating at desk

I agree with GTstartup and Casseopia, life is better in the field.  I am amazed at the amount of unprofessional behavior I have encountered at the "Professional Association" I work in.  Just counting the days to the big test and a change of scenery.  

RE: eating at desk

This is a great thread.

Most of the time I would  tell myself, I would never live around such nuisance. And there are times I dont even have time to notice the nuisance.

What is the dividing line here?

RE: eating at desk

This is reminding me of a recent "Dear Abby" (or similar advice column).  Okay, it's not the same situation at all, but it's funny.

Someone wrote in saying that several times recently they've had to change their seating location in a restaurant because they just could not abide seeing others' terrible eating habits.

Was it people talking with their mouths full, chewing with their mouths open, washing their hands in their water glasses?  No, it was their switching utensils from hand to hand (I guess American vs. European, though I thought it was American style that switched, and this writer was American) that this person found so loathsome they couldn't bear to watch.

I was disappointed that the advice columnist did not suggest that Gentle Reader seek therapy.

Hg

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RE: eating at desk

"Switching utensils from hand to hand"

We Brits have a very strict cutlery etiquette.  I recall my old primary school headmaster patrolling the school hall at dinner time, telling kids off even if they held their forks the wrong way: "It's not a shovel".

Americans seem to use their hands if at all possible.  If a fork must be used, it's held in the dominant hand.  If a knife must be used, the fork is transferred to the other hand, used to hold food still while the dominant hand is used to cut the food.  When cutting is complete, the the dominant hand resumes custody of the fork.

- Steve

RE: eating at desk

"Americans seem to use their hands if at all possible"

Yes, they work better than our feet.  UK types, being less evolved, presumably still retain prehensile toes...

RE: eating at desk

I'm wondering what will happen when the above - very numerous, very accurate, and very descriptive! - observers all find out they are all describing the same office .....

Still, to compare, all this makes me yearn for the glorious 12 hour days and 7 day  weeks in a shiftwork (er, sh*twork) trailer in mud and gravel outside a field office trying to build things with a 12 foot extension cord, 2 foot wide (temporarily-cleared) space on a folding table on a mud-filled worn-through-holed linoleum floor in 98 degree August weather in 95 percent south Louisiana humidity ....

With the porta-poop potties overflowing outside and in the sun all day ....

RE: eating at desk

You had gravel with your mud?  
And a table?  
And an extension cord?

Okay, I have an office job, in South Louisiana.
I'm even on the second floor now.

My prior office was also air conditioned, and only got damp when the canal came up through the adjacent factory floor, whenever it rained.

The possums in the ceiling were not a bother.

 

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: eating at desk

i look forward to one day working in a office. What annoys me is during seminars and such, i look down the rows and someone is playing solitaire, during an event which they paid top brass to get into! Fools!

RE: eating at desk

(OP)
I am at a new job, and there is a guy (a computer geek who waits for phone calls) who sits next to my office and eats a bag of Fritos every freaking morning ... not the 1 oz vending size but the 14 oz (more of less) size, so for three hours I hear him eat, brush his hands off, and shove his hand back into the bag.

Why are most computer geeks such assholes?

RE: eating at desk

It's not just common to computer geeks, it's people in general without good parenting.

Chris
SolidWorks 09 SP4.1
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

RE: eating at desk

For me it's definitely the loud talking people using speaker phone that distracts me. Though, I wonder how many of us complaining have habits that annoy our cube-mates... I know I'm a culprit of cracking my knuckles every now and then.

I just started at a new job several weeks ago. They have my desk located in a corner in the shop/warehouse. They have tall shelving separating the area but that doesn't stop any of the noise of drills, hammers, forklifts, random banging... Surprisingly I've been able to tune out and get used to most of the noise, but the electrical box and panel is located 2 metres directly above my head and it relentlessly buzzes.

 A co-worker was asking me if I minded the noises and proceeded to tell me that the previous person to sit here was convinced that sitting below the electrical box for years is what gave him cancer...

I'm starting to think that sitting near the loud talkers wasn't that bad.

RE: eating at desk

One place I worked we were in a regular office, but just outside of the office was a lab with pipes, etc. This was being torn out over the course of a couple of weeks. I was almost at the end of my rope when they were done. Prior to this that lab had the occasional small leak of a chemical used to give natural gas its smell. Much stronger than the smell of gas.

Peter Stockhausen
Senior Design Analyst (Checker)
Infotech Aerospace Services
www.infotechpr.net

RE: eating at desk

The guy in my example was eventually fired.

For a few years he managed to convince his boss that he inherited a train wreck and he was fixing it at a cost.

Part of the big staff turnover was due to his blaming all the old fogies with over 25 years of service for his failings.

Also the major product being legislated out of business was an excuse. It still did not explain why he could not manage a deal when he had by far the best market intelligence and the best infrastructure in the country to offer potential new generation partners. Distribution of refrigerant gasses is a very infrastructure intensive industry and that alone should have had suppliers lined up at his door.

Also his boss probably didn't want to admit his mistake. His boss also was pushed sideways and left with a useless post until retirement.

Regards
Pat
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