Let's bitch about our stupid, annoying co-workers

Well ok not literally.

"I've really wanted to look up the recipe for semtex on the internet for a while now, but you know. They flag you. I suppose I could go to an internet cafe. Most internet cafes are located in suburban areas with cameras and if you anonymously log in they could catch you on tape. Unless you came in with a disguise..."
^this is verbatim, started typing as soon as he started talking

I have a question! I was working late and was the only person in an area of maybe six cubicles, and some woman came down the hall and was having a long frivolous personal-call cell conversation in the vicinity. I spent a while shifting and coughing and tapping my pencil to let her know someone was around, but she hung around and kept talking for five minutes or so. My question: this is just weird and rude, right, to hang around near someone else's work area yakking on a cell phone? You expect people to have personal conversations at their own desks, okay, but not like gratuitous chit-chat in your area when it's otherwise dead silent.

Could she see you?

She could not, hence the elaborate coughing fit and chair-squeaking (which, if she could hear well enough to use a phone, she definitely heard)

Yeah actually in this case you are the annoying co-worker for being passive-aggressive instead of popping your head around the corner and saying, "Sorry, I don't mean to be rude but I can't concentrate on this because of your conversation; I hate to be 'that guy' but could you, you know, shut the fuck up?"

(modify as appropriate for yr workspace)

just get up and go to the bathroom/water cooler? she would probably be gone by the time you get off, and you have dealt with yr fluids. everybody wins.

oh god

"get back", not "get off"

nope sorry, that correction is not accepted

public masturbation is the obvious solution here--glad someone said it!

just barely stopped myself from changing username to "you have dealt with yr fluids. everybody wins."

kinda odd to jack it at the water cooler even if the office is empty tho

it's a public gathering place of the office, much like a town square

everybody wins

a place to see and be seen

oh, I didn't have any intense need for her to leave, or anything, I probably just posted to ILX until she was done or whatever, I just think it's maybe weird and rude to have a whole personal conversation over by other people's desks when you're aware they're still there

she probably wasn't aware that your were there, though

the initial coughing totally wasn't passive-aggressive, incidentally, I was mostly just trying to let her know someone was there cause I felt awkward about hearing her personal conversation without her being aware of my presence!

blarg, she totally knew I was there, I'm like typing and moving around and coughing

a) sorry--d@n is right the coughing is passive aggressive

b) when i'm on the phone with someone, i'm a lot less aware of my surroundings, and i don't always hear stuff going on. she probably didn't hear you.

c) why didn't you just ask her to go somewhere else?

if you'd gotten up and started masturbating, she would have really known you were there (good looking out, caek)

she probably never would have spoken on the phone again, ever

also lol when did you turn into Liz Lemon?????? hottt

i know what you mean nabisco, i'm sensitive to sounds and stuff too, where i work--but if it's something that only goes on for five minutes, i figure no big whoop. if it went on longer than that though, i would say something. if i was really busy, though, i would say something right away

btw your conundrum is exactly why I wear headphones 24/7

c) why didn't you just ask her to go somewhere else?

cuz I didn't actually care and just thought it was weird and rude? I think the tenor of this complaint is getting lost

like y'all are imagining me as all huffy and indignant whereas in fact I was just going "seriously? you're just gonna stand over there and have a whole phone conversation? *ahem ahem* you realize there's someone over here, right?"

...explain the difference again.

??

cuz I didn't actually care and just thought it was weird and rude?

i think you do care, and like i said, i have the same complaint sometimes. and you totally should care, she was being annoying, but as d@n said upthread, you gotta tell her she's annoying you, otherwise you're coming off. . . as huffy.

http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/5000000/Blerg-liz-lemon-5028033-200-196.jpg

nabisco, working late

like tapping your pencil and squeaking your chair is textbook passive aggression 101

Mr. Que it's great that after all this time together on ILX you know how much I care about different things at work

Umm you guys are seriously weird, though: I would only have told her it was annoying if I were annoyed and wanted her to leave; I didn't really care that much so I didn't -- I just found it sorta weird and then later asked weirdos on the internet if they thought it was weird and rude. The tapping and coughing wasn't intended to say "go away," it was intended to say "just so you know, there's still someone over here, so you probably don't want to steer your conversation in the direction of your sex life or anything, it'll be embarrassing for both of us"

I mean if I am taking a personal call someplace I think is empty, I would 100% appreciate anyone in the area doing a polite little throat-clear or chair-shift to let me know I am not alone

The tapping and coughing wasn't intended to say "go away," it was intended to say "just so you know, there's still someone over here, so you probably don't want to steer your conversation in the direction of your sex life or anything, it'll be embarrassing for both of us"

wtf dude, that's when you start a thread and type out lurid details combined with blatant lies so we can all lol

(I think people are assuming that you found this annoying because you posted it on "Let's bitch about our stupid, annoying co-workers". This is just a hunch, though.)

The tapping and coughing wasn't intended to say "go away," it was intended to say "just so you know, there's still someone over here, so you probably don't want to steer your conversation in the direction of your sex life or anything, it'll be embarrassing for both of us"

just think how much MORE awkward this would have been if you were masturbating

also d@n OTM--you left some crucial details out. and i think we all agree with you that it's weird and annoying

Ach, I'm totally with Nabisco on this one. I don't think his coughing was necessarily passive-aggressive; similarly, I think his colleague's behaviour was a little thoughtless (though it is easy to stop paying any attention to your surroundings when you're on the phone: literally thoughtless, then, rather than pejoratively so?)

Actually my "start a thread, wtf" post reminds me that a dude called into the morning show I listen to to brag about how he had to break up with his girlfriend today because he accidentally slept with her twin sister on Friday and then intentionally slept with her mother on Saturday. It was a total lie but still completely compelling listening.

haha I know, it doesn't rise to some of the gold on this thread, I just wanted a place to ask if it was as weird as I thought it was :(

I'm gonna continue to assume I'm not alone, though, in terms of having stuff happen in life that's not quite annoying enough to say anything about at the time, but just annoying enough to complain about on ILX

xp: (that has nothing to do with co-workers; I did overhear one of my employees yelling at his mom about how she should have actually filled out some paperwork if she expected to tap into Medicare to pay for her medical expenses and how it was now her own damn fault that she is getting massive bills that he is now responsible for since he's taking care of her, that was fun)

meanwhile, my co-workers are openly musing about the best way to research making plastic explosives and nobody finds that even mildly odd

"so, I saw another UFO last night"

honestly not sure why you were so concerned abt alerting her to your presence--if she is oblivious enough to wander around the office having a personal convo than i wouldn't really feel bad about overhearing her.

also instead of coughing or tapping you could have just stood up and stretched or paced up and down the aisle a couple of times, which i do all the time.

i get that she wasn't "annoying" you but still yr reaction confuses me.

I am complex and full of mystery, I guess

as an ilx poster you were already in that league

as we all are

I totally get what Nabisco is saying, is it that unclear to other people? No wonder this board gets such clusterfuck threads sometimes.