Let’s call the noisy coworker NoiseGuy for short.

Situation, I work in a open office, in the same space there are some rooms with actual doors. NoiseGuy works in one of these rooms but he always keeps the door open.

NoiseGuy is very noisy about everything. He is constantly stapling papers at full power, whistling, yawning out loud, singing, and sometimes he just shout up some words out loud like “WEEELL!!!”.

I’m quite sensible to noise so I thought it may be just me. But I’ve asked other coworkers and everyone is sick of it. When he shouts specially loud everyone look at each other.

I did some research and he doesn’t even work in my department. He apparently got demoted here for having issues with his old department and being sent to my office was, apparently, his punishment.

He knows he is noisy, and I think he is doing it on purpose to bother everyone around him, that’s why I also think he keeps his door open. Everyone in office have decided just not to acknowledge him very much in a “do not look at the monsters” way. But he is just not stopping, it’s been years like this.

I don’t want to create a bad ambient in my workspace, but I’m starting to have a bad time each day when I hear him. I don’t want to switch jobs as I have otherwise a great job.

Options I have thought:

  1. Talking with my boss. My boss is not his boss so they have no power over him.

  2. Talking with his boss or human resources. They were the ones who sent him here, I don’t think they would be doing more as he is impossible to fire or have any other work-related punishment.

  3. Talking with NoiseGuy. He has apparent personality issues. I don’t want to mess with that. Most likely he would be even more noisy knowing he is bothering someone.

  4. Having a meltdown and going to his office and slam the door close. I fantasize about this, but he will just open the door again and I would be the crazy one in the office.

  • Nollij@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    2·
    16 minutes ago

    Part of this is exactly why your boss exists. Raise your concerns with them, and get them on your side. They can also (vaguely) let you know if you are alone on it, or if it’s affecting the entire department.

    Your boss is also in a much better position to talk to the other guy’s boss, or someone further up the chain. It also removes the emotional component (similar to how even lawyers should not represent themselves in court), and keeps it focused and level.

    There are a lot of other good comments in this thread. Bring them to your boss as possible solutions, and let them fight the battle for you. It also shows you have a desire to solve this (rather than just gripe), and gives them options they may not have considered.

  • Alsjemenou@lemy.nlNederlands
    3·
    2 hours ago

    Calmly and consistently close his door saying ”you left it open, let me get for you."

    Repeat as often as is necessary.

  • 1984@lemmy.today
    261·
    6 hours ago

    Situation, I work in a open office

    Found the issue.

    But hey, all that amazing collaboration is wonderful isnt it? I mean, when im at home, I have no idea how to collaborate. How do people do it? Do they have some tool for it? I dont know, HR just says office is the best, so it must be.

  • Blizzard@lemmy.zipEnglish
    31·
    7 hours ago

    NoiseGuy works in one of these rooms but he always keeps the door open.

    Close the door.

  • oneser@lemmy.zip
    56·
    10 hours ago

    IMO the obvious course is:

    1. Talk with your boss that it’s affecting your productivity.
    2. Encourage your colleagues to talk to their boss.

    Leading to your bosses ideally addressing this with his boss and if that doesn’t help then your bosses should bring in HR.

    • daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
      21·
      10 hours ago

      Gathering more coworkers into it seems the more reasonable approach. I don’t know what could actually be done. As NoiseGuy department is actually HR and they are the ones who sent him here because they didn’t want to have him around. But having more people complaining together will obviously increase the chances of something being done.

      • runner_g@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        1·
        51 minutes ago

        AFTER trying to deal with it internally, and documenting everything, if its still a problem, you could try leaving an anonymous review on google/whatever. Don’t call him out by name but do call him out by room number.

      • GreenMartian@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        20·
        7 hours ago

        I don’t think I need to emphasize this more: everything in writing! When HR decides to do nothing, and the problem escalated, you and your coworkers will have proof that you have complained (hopefully many times), and that nothing was done.

        When I say escalated, it could be anything. From complaining directly to higher management that HR is useless; to the whole department doing a mass walk-out. Either way, you need proof that you have made complaints and that they fell on deaf ears.

      • null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        14·
        9 hours ago

        HR people are not immune to this type of issue.

        It’s not like they need to fire him, they just need to stash him somewhere else because you guys have done your time.

      • RustyShackleford@lemmy.zipEnglish
        5·
        10 hours ago

        What state, as I would suggest you might want to gather evidence of his behavior incase he tries denying everything and painting you as nuts. Especially seeing as HR is the department that put him there, so your complaints could fall on deaf ears.

  • ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    16·
    10 hours ago

    IMO you go to him and ask politely for him to knock it off or shut the door.

    If he doesn’t then you go again and gently remind him, restating the boundary and saying something like “this is a shared workspace. If you can’t respect other people’s needs then I will need to discuss this with a mediator” or whatever.

    Then escalate as appropriate.

    Keep in mind some of this is on him and some of this is on you. Whistling, singing, shouting out? Bad form on his part.

    “Stapling papers at full power”? Yawning? Honestly, even just saying “well!”? People exist and make noise friend, welcome to the hell of an open office, maybe get some headphones or loops if you’re that sensitive to noise?

    On one hand excessive noise is unacceptable and should be reprimanded. On the other hand some noise here and there is inherent to a shared office space. Figuring out which is which is within the scope of hr so maybe tag them in but always keep in mind their ultimate purpose is to protect the company

  • Almacca@aussie.zoneEnglish
    181·
    10 hours ago

    Walk over to his office and close the door, maybe with a finger to lips shushing gesture. Keep doing it until he gets the hint.

  • witty_username@feddit.nl
    6·
    9 hours ago

    If you have the funds, consider buying noise cancelling headphones. Then go to your boss. Make sure to show them that you want to be respectful and considerate.
    Avoid giving off the impression that you are sewing discontent among your colleagues. Chances are that managers will not help you if they get the impression that you are being excessively fussy, or worse, that you are orchestrating discontent among your colleagues.

  • Rayquetzalcoatl@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7·
    10 hours ago

    If you want to avoid confrontation, find a reason to talk to him in his office and then calmly and “accidentally” close the door on the way out. As long as everyone else works with their doors closed, you can laugh it off as a mistake if he even notices.

    Some people really are just accidentally obnoxious though, he might genuinely not know he’s being a pain in the arse. We have a similar coworker. Always with these shitty unfunny quips, often plays air horn sound effects interrupting other people’s conversations if they think something positive has happened… Just so much fucking noise from one person.

    They’re on holiday this week and I’m over the fucking moon lol

    • daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
      6·
      10 hours ago

      That’s actually very clever. I don’t really have reasons to go to his office (I haven’t go once in five years). But some other people do, maybe I can convince them to do it.

      • Rayquetzalcoatl@lemmy.worldEnglish
        6·
        10 hours ago

        It might work but it’s really not a long-term solution. Confrontation is uncomfortable and I know you mentioned he has personality issues but is there somebody who could talk to him? When the guy I work with joined, he would constantly tap his feet and it would shake my desk, and the desks of like four other people around us. Eventually we just asked him to stop – he didn’t even realise it was bothering us because nobody said anything.

        Granted, he’s actually friendly, but still… Someone might just have to ask Noiseguy (nicely) if he could maybe be a bit quieter? Or poke your head in and say “you okay? Oh, sorry, I could hear you from across the office.” - just something to maybe remind him like, hey, keep an eye on your volume. This might not get solved by just closing the door!

    • daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
      3·
      10 hours ago

      Three years more or less. I started working here during the pandemic. And for the first couple of years I didn’t noticed that much. We used to have a deaf coworker that also did a lot of noise, but because that’s how he could communicate, so it really didn’t bother anyone as he wasn’t doing it on purpose to bother. But since that noises disappear from the office I think I have noticed this more, or maybe he is doing it more, I couldn’t tell.