Ever find yourself annoyed at the office?
After working at the Daily offices for more than a year, I find myself annoyed by office-type behavior that probably should be no concern of a college student for at least another five years or so.
But alas, someone printing multiple pages of something (that sometimes isn't even work related) and not refilling the paper, burning popcorn so the whole office smells and stealing coffee/coffee filters are just some of the things I've noticed...
Ever had similar feelings, then this story from the Times is for you. It's a call for more workplace manners and cites behavior such as leaving food in the communal fridge so long it becomes some kind of "science experiment." (Also something I've noticed at the Daily, there's actually a fridge with a disclaimer, something to the effect of "Open me with caution, I smell."
A humorous anecdote from the Times:
Lynne R. Viccaro. Every day her work at her former marketing job on Long Island was made all but impossible by a woman at a nearby desk who had an enmeshed relationship with her cellphone. It was also her home phone, and therefore rang all the time. Its ring tone (“Get the Party Started,� by Pink) was set at rock-concert decibels, and despite direct requests from surrounding colleagues, the woman never changed the setting to vibrate.
One day the offender went to a meeting and the phone “started thumping and pumping� on her desk, Ms. Viccaro said. In a moment of inspiration, Ms. Viccaro took the shrieking device and wrapped it in bubble wrap and duct tape until it resembled a noisy basketball, then crammed it into the bottom drawer of its owner’s desk.
“The real fun started,� Ms. Viccaro explained in an e-mail message, “when she got back and heard the now-muffled sound of her cell,� trying to announce a missed call. She rescued the phone from its plastic tomb and shrieked “Who did this to my phone?�
Ms. Viccaro proudly confessed.
“Why?� the woman yelled.
Ms. Viccaro’s reply? “Because there wasn’t an open window nearby.�
Well done, we say. Well done.
This is also something I've noticed, personally, not to mention co-workers discussing trials and tribulations of their personal relationships just steps away from where you're trying to work.
However, while the story is funny, the comments take the cake here (presently, there are 385 of them):
"When the boss farts while talking to you."
"I work in an open environment office. One of my "neighbors" clips her fingernails at her desk. Clip. Clip. Clip. Argh!"
"I share an office with a very nice guy..only problem he stinks!!! I know that he does wash himself and his clothes look clean but he sweats a lot and his body odour is horrible. It looks like he has never heard of anti-perspirant and I don't know how to broach the subject with him..."
"I am easily annoyed by grown adults leaving messes in the staff room."
"You mean like the lady who snaps and pops her gum incessantly every day for eight hours straight, or the guy who loudly slurps his coffee for two hours then loudly slurps water the rest of the day, or the ridiculously large wig wearing lady who wears so much perfume she leaves a plume of stench 10 feet in her wake, you mean them?"
Finally, "Army Reserve folks serving in Baghdad. Always in full uniform, helmets and guns included, when they are sitting at their internets in bullet proof safe offices reading mom's email - bragging and talking tough language with other similar characters. Then at night, when there is real potential danger they go first jogging, then swimming, then get drunk and all in civilian cloths and obviously no weapons."
Isn't work hilarious?