Stop Shaking Your Salad! or: Why Are People So Loud in Open Offices?

[crienne]

While I don't mind using headphones to cover up the noises around me while in the office, sometimes I wonder if others don't think or care about their co-workers when they do things like yell across rows, crunch on snacks, hover around someone's desk to talk to someone else, or shake a salad in a large plastic container for 30-60 seconds.

TL;DR: Open offices are terrible. Discuss.

 

[nsilvias]

it can't be any worse than microwaving candy

 

[Like the hat?]

No one shakes a salad for a solid minute

 

[finalflame]

I literally don't have a problem with any of this and love my open floor plan office. It's actually bothersome to me when workplaces are dead quiet with the expectation of not making any noise. I worked somewhere like this and it was hell on earth. I'm sympathetic to people who are bothered by noise, but that's what headphones are for.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

Why would you eat a salad at your desk

Take a lunch break like a normal person

 

[Sunster]

I literally don't have a problem with any of this and love my open floor plan office. It's actually bothersome to me when workplaces are dead quiet with the expectation of not making any noise. I worked somewhere like this and it was hell on earth. I'm sympathetic to people who are bothered by noise, but that's what headphones are for.

Click to shrink...

same. library office would put me on edge.

 

[Deleted member 48897]

Say what you will about fabric cubes they do at least cushion noises.

 

[Cation]

it can't be any worse than microwaving candy

Click to shrink...

LOL, gosh what a legendary thread. Thanks for being a good first post

 

[Lost Lemurian]

My office is all cubes, but I still keep my earbuds in all day because I can't stand silence (I think I may have mild tinnitus) and I also get too distracted by too much noise.

 

[ArjanN]

No one shakes a salad for a solid minute

Click to shrink...

Some people really like to toss a salad..

 

[Deleted member 39374]

Loud chewing makes gives me violent urges tbh

Also microwaving fish

 

[Carn]

Good thing that that there is more and more proof that open offices are detrimental to employee's happiness and also detrimental to employee interaction.

 

[Deleted member 9486]

I'm super happy to have my own office and being able to shut the door. I prefer leaving it open, but there's some grad student cubicles right outside it and they can be talking loudly for a long time some days. I can't stand working in cubical/open office set up personally. I just get distracted to easily by noise and people/things moving around. So I love having my own office, being able to work from home if I want on days I'm not teaching or having meetings.

 

[Tapiozona]

Obligatory, Why-can't-you-fu****s-be-normal.meme

As others have said, no one shakes their salad for a minute, period. Even still, who cares? Also, everything you mentioned is completely normal and part of the dynamic, not of an office environment, but of life.

I have a few employees who feel the same was as OP and they're honestly a detriment to the team. Mad at the weirdest things, hate working with others and conversing with them even more, etc. No projecting on OP but those people, at least in my environment, tend to be mad that they don't get promoted when those types of behaviors are the exact reason why they aren't.

Good thing that that there is more and more proof that open offices are detrimental to employee's happiness and also detrimental to employee interaction.

Click to shrink...

None of those items are proof that open offices are detrimental to employee happiness and interaction.

 

[Darryl M R]

Nah.

Open offices are great and no one shakes their salad for an unreasonable amount of time.

 

[Carn]

None of those items are proof that open offices are detrimental to employee happiness and interaction.

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I was referring to actual research, not to OP.

 

[Squarehard]

 

[Fat4all]

you'll mess up the salad if you shake too long

 

[Deleted member 11413]

Eh, that's all normal human behavior that should be allowed. Put in headphones maybe?

 

[Quixzlizx]

People not in offices who use speakerphone should be put to the sword.

 

[Deleted member 6949]

I can't find the original tweet, but this is what it's like working in an open office:

 

[Ryu]

Hmm.. overly sensitive, OP? Let people do what they want. They probably don't like the open office too. What you describe isn't out of the usual at all. The only thing that sucks is the open office, period. Every open design actually, open classrooms too. There's a point reached where there's just simply enough.

 

[crienne]

Hmm.. overly sensitive, OP? Let people do what they want. They probably don't like the open office too. What you describe isn't out of the usual at all. The only thing that sucks is the open office, period. Every open design actually, open classrooms too. There's a point reached where there's just simply enough.

Click to shrink...

I am, very much so. It's a problem I've had my entire life and compounded with my ongoing depression, anxiety, and panic disorders open offices just tend to pick at all my littlest annoyances and insecurities.

Could I have not made this topic? Sure. Did I just want to rant? Absolutely. Should people actually care about my rant? Nah, not really.