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Office noise bothers some people more than others

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Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#291

Post by baot »

lmiller1990 wrote: post #244

A lot of people (in this thread, CEO of my company) say "just wear headphones". Noise should be opt in; not opt out. Recently all of marketing went to a conference for a few days; the difference in the quality and quantity of work done was noticeable...

>Noise should be opt in; not opt out.

That's a great way of putting it.

One of my pet peeves is along a similar line. I have a quiet voice. When I was younger, I had a quieter voice. The change happened because people were happy to ask me to repeat myself or, in a more blunt way, that I need to speak up. That's fine, it's my problem, it's me failing to communicate properly, and I've learned to be loud enough most of the time because of it.

But it doesn't happen the other way. It's not 'OK' to tell someone they talk too loudly. You can try, and they may temporarily adjust (while, actually, thinking it's your problem) but they won't change their voice for good, like I had to.

If it's a failure of communication for me to be heard by the person stood next to me, it should also be a failure for a person talking to someone at the same distance if I can hear them on the other side of a busy office or a train carriage. And if someone has a bassy vocal fry that penetrates walls, they should raise their pitch. I don't want to have to opt out of their conversation and, if I do, I have to be confrontational.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#292

Post by usrusr »

beaker52 wrote: post #207
bryanrasmussen wrote: post #199

The only time noise really bothers me is when I am trying to debug something that seems like it should be really simple but nonetheless keeps not doing what I expect it to. Once it goes over a couple hours I start to turn into a madman, and there has to be quiet. On the other hand if I'm debugging something that should be problematic I don't notice the noise much, for any normal programming task as long as you don't…

From observations of myself, I think this behaviour is compelled by a childlike grasping at control of some trivial external aspect of my experience to make up for my inability to control the bug I'm working on, for example.

Similar experience: I usually don't mind the noises, even when the mental stack is close to maximum capacity, but only while I'm on a good trajectory towards finding a solution. When the trajectory degrades into running in circles, suddenly everything louder than breathing becomes infuriating.

I'd describe it slightly different than lack of control, even if it's essentially the same: the noise is something to blame for the lack of progress so the helpless mind will blame it a lot. It's also an outlet for that tiny amount of anger about the failure, anger that would otherwise just fuel more focus, and then that anger itself becomes the main distraction, creating a leveraged effect much bigger than the noise itself. Today I had to silence a broken door before I could eventually beat that bug, didn't even feel much different than introducing the appropriate instrumentations in the view...

(about headphones, I used to do that when noticing first signs of that running in circles noise sensitivity, but now I absolutely can't be bothered to sacrifice my hearing to make up for the deficiencies of the workplace provided by my employer)

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#293

Post by mffnbs »

i2shar wrote: post #203
brailsafe wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My biggest hurdle—aside from undocumented code—at my new company, is fucking mouth noises from coworkers and the sound of crumpling snack bags in an open office. It's to the extent where I have to leave the area and regain composure before mentioning it. If I can't find a way to manage, I'll leave, but I'm not in the financial position to have that luxury yet. What will probably happen, is I'll work up to a slow comp…

I have the exact same trouble with mouth noises. I couldn't explain the extreme irrational anger I felt when a co-worker was chewing on something while others hardly even noticed. It used to be very unsettling before I came know that it was a known condition with an official name[1]. While knowing that hasn't cured it, if I encounter someone making these noises, to avoid outbursts, I am now quick to put on headphones…

Yep, I become outwardly violent when I hear specific sounds. I have to physically leave the area to regain composure.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#294

Post by mrmuagi »

navs wrote: post #135

I currently work for a startup and all three of us are hotdesking. We're constantly moved to new spaces in the hotdesking space because a new company is leaving/moving in. I've sat beside recruiters, property managers and salespeople. There's no "quiet" room. The meeting rooms cost a few hundred and need to be pre-booked. My home environment isn't a quiet refuge either. Beside a busy street, more flatmates than their…

Ear plugs like ones made by 3M for construction workers has helped me sleep at night and study without distractions. Have you tried them?

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#295

Post by pyridines »

yla92 wrote: post #48

I am curious about this. Do people who work in the open plan office, feel bothered by clicky mechanical keyboard sounds (cherry mx blue, greeen etc)?

Yes. Absolutely. It's distracting. Clicky switches, like blues and greens, should not be allowed in an open office. It's possible to type softly enough on non-clicky keyboards that they aren't loud, but most of my coworkers seem to love bottoming-out on every stroke. I use QMX-Clips to silence my keyboard. It's only slightly louder than a normal membrane keyboard.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#296

Post by nickysielicki »

nkrisc wrote: post #3

Constant coughing and throat clearing drive me up the wall . I despise working around most smokers as many of them have this unconscious, horrid smoker's cough that they do a few times a minute on average, it seems (I haven't actually counted). But any constant throat clearing sets me off and I usually have to leave or I can't focus on anything. The type of throat clearing I'm talking about is when someone really jus…

I hate this too. The rational part of my brain can generally persuade me to believe that the person does not want to be coughing or sneezing or sniffling, and even though it's still distracting, I can forgive them for it and empathize. I'll even start to feel guilty for being annoyed in the first place.

But all of that goes out the window when someone has developed a habit of obnoxiously and unnecessarily extending their involuntary sounds by activating their vocal chords. It's completely unforgivable to me.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#297

Post by learc83 »

AmericanChopper wrote: post #274
drngdds wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've yet to meet a programmer who strongly defends open offices. They seem to range from "doesn't mind it" to "literally unable to tolerate it."

I love them. They vastly improve team members ability to work together imo. Personally, I’ve never met an engineer in real life who complains about them, I’ve only ever seen this on HN or Reddit. I’ve always suspected it had something to do with this: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6483953/

Did you ever stop to think that maybe it's because people working in open offices are self selecting to work in open offices?

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#298

Post by x2f10 »

mrmuagi wrote: post #294
navs wrote: post #135

I currently work for a startup and all three of us are hotdesking. We're constantly moved to new spaces in the hotdesking space because a new company is leaving/moving in. I've sat beside recruiters, property managers and salespeople. There's no "quiet" room. The meeting rooms cost a few hundred and need to be pre-booked. My home environment isn't a quiet refuge either. Beside a busy street, more flatmates than their…

Ear plugs like ones made by 3M for construction workers has helped me sleep at night and study without distractions. Have you tried them?

If you have a moment, can you share a link or two? There seem to be a number of models and prices. I don't know what's sufficient and what's overkill.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#299

Post by [deleted] »

neverartful wrote: post #132
734129837261 wrote: post #67

My biggest triggers are people who eat crunchy food with open mouths; people who slurp their drinks; people who are oblivious to their environment and sing loudly in open offices. Colleagues next to me eating hard carrots, chips, anything crunchy. Or Chinese expats who slurp their soup and coffee (normal in their culture; rude in mine)... it drove me crazy. The singing one drove me insane at my last job. An office la…

Some of the sounds (in addition to those already mentioned) that do (or have) driven me nuts: fast scraping to get last bit of yogurt from plastic container with plastic spoon, chewing/cracking gum where the chewer makes little air bubbles in the gum and then pops them (x10 if they're chewing with their mouth open), whistling, humming, tapping fingernails against table top, tapping foot against floor/chair/desk, digg…

[deleted]

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#300

Post by AmericanChopper »

learc83 wrote: post #297
AmericanChopper wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love them. They vastly improve team members ability to work together imo. Personally, I’ve never met an engineer in real life who complains about them, I’ve only ever seen this on HN or Reddit. I’ve always suspected it had something to do with this: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6483953/

Did you ever stop to think that maybe it's because people working in open offices are self selecting to work in open offices?

No, because non-open-plan offices pretty much don’t exist anymore.
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