Am I the only one who finds it extremely difficult to work in an open office?

Especially when people are very talkative . One co-worker talks to herself even, and talks out her every move.
Examples: oh I need to send that email to bob... did I call cory yesterday...I have to send the report and do this and do that. She even goes as far as saying every word she is typing while sending an email.

All her phone calls are on speaker phone.

She will play personal videos on her phone, again out loud.

I told her " I'm gonna buy you some headphones"

Anyone else find it difficult to work in an open office?

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ABCDEF7 · M

I think you need to practice concentration more to handle the situation.

1. Try "Tratak", a yogic practice to enhance concentration. Sit on a posture with your whole spine in straight line. Keep your head straight. Put a lit candle one metre apart(on table or something safer)at the level of your eyes. Keep the fan off. Start gazing the flame of candle without flickering your eyes. Don't move your sight & mind away from the flame. After few seconds water will start coming out from your eyes, don't worry it's natural, have a break. With practice you will be able to increase the time.

2. Start doing your work at home with the television on. Don't face it. You can start with low volume. Increase the volume as you learn to concentrate with that level of noise. After few days you will be able to concentrate with high volumes, and even having the TV in front of you.

Best Wishes 🙂

iamnikki · 31-35, F

@ABCDEF7 thank you. I do need practice as I realize I cannot always have my own office/workspace. I've always been this way though. I cannot sleep it if isn't completely silent. Only noise I can sleep with is a fan. In college, I couldn't even get much done in the library or anywhere because it's too noisy.😞

FaeLuna · 31-35, F

Oh, I hate open offices, specifically for the type of coworker you mention. Plus, I just can't work as efficiently knowing that there are people always looking over my shoulder. Doesn't matter if they're not actually watching me, it's the fact that I'm a private person in a public setting that messes with me.

iamnikki · 31-35, F

@FaeLuna same, it's annoying having to hear people's every move. Hear them smacking food, sleeping drinks, on the phone all day, just constant noise all day.

FaeLuna · 31-35, F

@iamnikki The person that used to sit immediately behind me at the office was guilty of all of those. It drove me crazy!

exexec · 70-79, C

Yes, it is really difficult in a job that requires thought and analysis of data.

iamnikki · 31-35, F

@exexec yesss. Sometimes I really need to concentrate

Jeffrey53 · 51-55, M

Yeah it’s not only in office. That happens to me when I’m at work on a break in our break room Keep telling these people you need to be considerate to others we don’t need to hear your music or phone calls

iamnikki · 31-35, F

@Jeffrey53 you know, I complain about not having a break room at this job, yet in other jobs, the break room was the same. I'm trying to have peace and everyone else wants to talk .

Adamski24 · 41-45, M

Luckily I haven't experienced that, even reading about her was stressing me out, i would have to say to her

hey sweet cheeks,PIPE THE FUCK DOWN

iamnikki · 31-35, F

@Adamski24 you are so lucky

Viper · M

No, if it's very noisy, I would have troubles too!

SW-User

I don't like it. It's actually inefficient and creates a less productive environment. If you can't get people to stop the chatter, can you wear earbuds/headphones & listen to music to tune them out?

iamnikki · 31-35, F

@SW-User I do but it's really not safe. I just do it a few minutes at a time to de-stress

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PhilDeep · 51-55, M

Yup. Hated it. Yelled at people to shut it couple of times if it got really bad :(

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