What bugs the heck out of you at work but doesn't seem to bother your coworkers?

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People having video calls at their desks. We have soundproof booths and conference rooms but no, people will just talk loudly in the open space area. It's like people talking on the phone on a bus. Hearing only one side of the conversation is super distracting. Sometimes two people sitting next to each other will be on the same video call. I guess more people are bothered but not enough to do something about it.
- I sometimes send them quotes from their own conversation on chat.
  Passive aggressive ftw 😁
  
  That's not actually passive aggressive, that's just being sassy. The term "passive aggressive" refers to something completely different than what most people think.
- Open offices are a mistake.
  Having to reserve conference rooms to have a semblance of quietude is a terrible system. I don't miss that shit.
  We had a loud talkative guy at my place. Fucking deep voice that he was projecting like he was on a stage or something. It was not possible to have a conversation near him when he was on Zoom. We barely spoke in the open area anyway, but some people just wouldn't shup up. I can still hear their stupid voice when I think about it.
  
  I didn't have an issue with open offices before the pandemic. We barely had any video calls (everyone was at the office) and people kept it down. Then everything switched to video and a lot of people are assholes.
  
  I did not really mind when I worked at a ~10 people company, it kind of made sense. Working on a floor with over a hundred people in an open office was miserable. There was always someone on Zoom or people having live meeting in earshot.
  Blow my mind that all those office managers and floor planners and supposedly expert at organizing a work environment think that it make sense to cram in hundred of people working on wildly different stuff together at earshot distance. How hard would it be to create big divisions so that you only get to hear the 10 or so people which you're directly involved with. Anyway, there was clearly an "everyone must be an extrovert" culture thing going on. The higher ups sure seemed to enjoy hearing and seeing everyone everywhere all the time.
- Do you have enough rooms from everyone at the same time ?
  
  Yes, I keep seeing people shouting at their desk with a empty booth 2m next to them.
- For our office we've had to resort to this and it's pretty miserable. There are simply not enough conference rooms and phone rooms to handle all the meetings. People are unfortunately typically in teams with people across the country so every meeting is a video call. It's really annoying so many people just end up wearing noise canceling headphones.
- This is the one. I hate being in the office for this reason, unless I'm just there to socialise. I can't bring myself to take a call in an open plan space. It just feels rude to the people in the office, but also those on the call who will get a stream of all the calls everyone in the office are on.
- Sounds like the soundproofed rooms are for people who want privacy, and/or quiet place to work
  
  The soundproofed rooms don't have extra monitors or proper chairs so they suck for long time work.

191 comments