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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

#331

Post by catalogia »

magduf wrote: post #286
LameRubberDucky wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citation needed. Otherwise, this is just reads as ageism.

Easy, just look at the reply in this thread from "AmericanChopper". Every single time this topic comes up on an online discussion like this, there's plenty of people like him saying the exact same thing. And I have to partially agree with him: most engineers I work with do not have a problem with these offices. It's only a few.

AmericanChopper claims that he's never met somebody who disagrees with him but seems to feel comfortable diagnosing those people, whom he's never met, with autism. Not a great comment and I don't think he made it in good faith. Saying that people who disagree with you must be autistic is too common online for me to give any comment like that the benefit of the doubt.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#332

Post by ken »

cbhl wrote: post #329
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…

I would start working on a plan to finding a quiet space that is yours. That might mean a small town, or it might mean a $3000/mo+ studio apartment. How do you get to having enough cash flow to afford that space? Can you nix the hotdesking membership? Worst case, can you bail on the startup and join a megacorp?

Are you suggesting a megacorp is more likely to offer private offices?

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#333

Post by ssambros »

cbhl wrote: post #329
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…

I would start working on a plan to finding a quiet space that is yours. That might mean a small town, or it might mean a $3000/mo+ studio apartment. How do you get to having enough cash flow to afford that space? Can you nix the hotdesking membership? Worst case, can you bail on the startup and join a megacorp?

> join a megacorp?

How will that help with the noise problem?

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#334

Post by gav »

x2f10 wrote: post #298
mrmuagi wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I'm not a huge fan of the foam ear plugs and find 3M's "Peltor Sport Tri-Flange Reusable Earplugs" something that's comfortable for me to wear on long international flights to sleep. The downside of the non-foam design is 26db vs. 32db. They are around $5 for a three-pack.

https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/company-us/all-3m-products/~/All...

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#335

Post by peteretep »

ken wrote: post #332
cbhl wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would start working on a plan to finding a quiet space that is yours. That might mean a small town, or it might mean a $3000/mo+ studio apartment. How do you get to having enough cash flow to afford that space? Can you nix the hotdesking membership? Worst case, can you bail on the startup and join a megacorp?

Are you suggesting a megacorp is more likely to offer private offices?

Megacorp is more likely to have a collection of programmers who sit together and peer pressure people into being quiet.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#336

Post by peteretep »

magduf wrote: post #159
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…

>Yes, you can use noise cancelling headphones but: >2. They don't really block all the noise and you live in anxiety waiting for that one blaring ringtone to squeeze through NC headphones aren't designed to block all noise, only repetitive noise, basically white noise. Other noises, like ringtones, actually are louder or easier to hear on many models of NC headphones, as is speech around you. Noise-cancellation's pur…

Probably not a particularly PC comment, but occasionally I am jealous of people who need hearing aids to hear that they can turn off if they need quiet

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#337

Post by ken »

zeta0134 wrote: post #214
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…

I know this isn't a great solution, but could you try a lightweight pair of headphones, and some relaxing music? Not particularly heavy music mind, but just something you can leave in the background. Maybe a movie soundtrack. I use videogame OSTs but that's not everyone's cup of tea. This would maybe make the headphone issue more bearable (lightweight - much less uncomfortable for long periods), and the goal isn't to…

I’ve never understood how some people believe that the problem of too much noise could be solved by adding more noise.

There’s too much light in my eyes, and dark glasses are uncomfortable. Well, have you tried shining another light at your face? Maybe a different color of light would help.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#338

Post by toddsiegel »

m463 wrote: post #273
ARandomerDude wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I buy 33 dB ear plugs in bulk for this reason. I keep some in my briefcase and a backup stash in my glovebox. Game changer.

I get the 3M EAR classic superfit 33s in boxes of 250. Makes a huge difference in my life.

Seconded. I actually use the EAR Classic Plus, and they’re excellent.

I work in a coworking space. They’re not quite comfortable enough to wear continuously all day. If you take periodic breaks, and remove them when you go to the bathroom, get coffee, take a walk, that’s enough make it so you can keep them in while working at your desk.

Breaks are good so I don’t really count this as a negative.

They even perform well in super noisy coffee shops.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#339

Post by ben509 »

baot wrote: post #291
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…

You have to pick your battles.

I've found I can politely request that people not have meetings standing three feet from me, and I can generally get people to not yell across the entire room.

But every now and then this womans let off her ear-shattering "AHHH HUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUH" laugh and not once has my muse inspired me with words that would convey a gentle, face-saving admonishment.

It's ultimately because she's laughing. Her laugh sounds like someone torturing a seal with a jackhammer, but my company policy is that it's a fun place to work. And that means people get loud, and if I don't like it, I can look for work elsewhere.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#340

Post by rozab »

jackhack wrote: post #80

There are two mutually exclusive groups of people: "Concentrators(1)" and "Communicators(2)". Concentrators must have conditions that allow one to form and hold complex ideas, and act upon them. This is almost always some degree of a quiet environment, without visual or auditory distractions. the opposite of the ideal conditions of Communicators. Communicators must interact with others to do their job. (1) Typical of…

>There are two mutually exclusive groups of people

gonna have to stop you right there mate

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