RWHN's Burning Issue of the Minute

[LMNO]

I endorse this course of action.

[Don Coyote]

Pretty much.  Anyway, I'm just venting.  Pay no attention to the crotchety old man. 

Just pop a few foam darts into the back of their heads when they aren't answering the phones.

Or that.

I think from now on I'm just going to break into an Irish Jig when I'm trying to get someone's attention.  Perhaps the sheer awkwardness and embarrassment will get them to wise up.  

[AFK]

I mean, I'm already the office weirdo, so it's not like that is ever going to improve.  I might as well play it to my advantage. 

[Jenne]

I can get fired for not wearing headphones.    But I work isolated at home, and headphones are supposed to isolate us even further from distraction.

I make my living listening to people online and judging them.  But I have to answer the phone and chat as soon as it comes up if it's from work, too, so I have to be aware of those things at the least.  It's a balancing act.

But RWHN, I'd be very pissed if I needed to get ahold of people and interact with them and WORK at getting their attention in order to do so.

[Cramulus]

I sometimes wear an earbud in one ear, generally for watching youtube videos.

the earphone thing isn't common at all over here.


if I were you, I'd take to shooting people with rubber bands if they don't respond to a "Hey."

[Richter]

Used to have 1 earbud in, other ear on my phone.  Got out of the habit, and never really picked it back up.

Other folks in the office; I'll knock down their cube walls, or sneak up to 1 in. behind them if they remain oblivious.  If they fail getting the phone then they deserve the hole they're digging.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

nobody in my office ever wears earplugs. because we actually have more fun talking shit to each other all day than we would have listening to music.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

RWHN, does your office not have email? Is it a frequent and expected part of the job that your co-workers will have to interrupt each other's work for urgent matters that demand immediate attention? If yes, then it sounds like the earbud issue is one that should be brought up with management as a matter of a policy that needs adjustment. If no, then maybe people are simply trying not to have their work needlessly interrupted by people who haven't figured out how to use email for non-urgent matters instead of interrupting other people's workflow with trivial demands for attention.

[Triple Zero]

Workplaces I've been, the rule was (or should have been) that you don't wear them, unless you got a good reason to have to zone out and be shut off from the world to absolutely concentrate. Which is a thing programmers sometimes got to do, and since it's a weird mathematical symbolic zone that takes effort/time to get into, it is allowed.

It's also a reason why certain blogs on software engineering management call for private offices for programmers. But I never seen a place where they have that, also it seems kinda lonely. You need to be able to crack geek jokes with your coworkers, after all.

[Cramulus]

RWHN, does your office not have email? Is it a frequent and expected part of the job that your co-workers will have to interrupt each other's work for urgent matters that demand immediate attention? If yes, then it sounds like the earbud issue is one that should be brought up with management as a matter of a policy that needs adjustment. If no, then maybe people are simply trying not to have their work needlessly interrupted by people who haven't figured out how to use email for non-urgent matters instead of interrupting other people's workflow with trivial demands for attention.

he's talking about people who listen to their mp3 player so loud they can't tell that their phone is ringing. That's a legit issue, not a matter of RWHN just needlessly interrupting people with "trivial demands for attention".

if given the choice between typing out an e-mail and standing up, walking 25 feet, and asking a quick question, I almost always take the latter. If you send an e-mail you might not get an answer for hours and that can totally bone your productivity.

also - this is probably an issue that can be solved without going to management to make a new policy, that sort of shit pisses everybody off.

[Jenne]

I think that's why my company has a policy of keeping close eyes and ears on for contact from colleagues.  It's seriously grounds for dismissal if you can't be contacted within a moment's notice over and over again.

[leln]

Where I work, company policy states that headphones of any sort must be kept low enough to hear fire alarms, general conversation etc. I tend to use this as an excuse to eavesdrop whenever my earbuds are in. My supervisor is talking to someone from another department? Pause mp3 player and listen while making convincing typing noises or staring intently at a spreadsheet. After all, this info may be useful later on. If someone talks to me while I have the earbuds in, I make a point of removing them and using body language to convey that my attention has been captured. Moral of the story-if someone doesn't hear something they're either intent on destroying their eardrums or they're fucking with you. Call them to task, 'cause either way they're doing it wrong.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

RWHN, does your office not have email? Is it a frequent and expected part of the job that your co-workers will have to interrupt each other's work for urgent matters that demand immediate attention? If yes, then it sounds like the earbud issue is one that should be brought up with management as a matter of a policy that needs adjustment. If no, then maybe people are simply trying not to have their work needlessly interrupted by people who haven't figured out how to use email for non-urgent matters instead of interrupting other people's workflow with trivial demands for attention.

he's talking about people who listen to their mp3 player so loud they can't tell that their phone is ringing. That's a legit issue, not a matter of RWHN just needlessly interrupting people with "trivial demands for attention".

if given the choice between typing out an e-mail and standing up, walking 25 feet, and asking a quick question, I almost always take the latter. If you send an e-mail you might not get an answer for hours and that can totally bone your productivity.

also - this is probably an issue that can be solved without going to management to make a new policy, that sort of shit pisses everybody off.

I didn't say that he was, but that people in the office interrupting others work frequently, without an urgent reason, might be a contributing factor. He says he's had to try to get people's attention to let them know that someone else was trying to get their attention. Maybe the person with the earbuds was making it hard for them to get his/her attention on purpose.

If they are working on something and they don't want to be interrupted by the phone, it might be most reasonable to ask them to please turn off their ringer when they turn on their music. Nobody wants to have to listen to someone else's phone ringing interminably, but other than that, unless their missed calls are his problem, he might find it easier to adapt to the existing office culture than to try  to change it.

[Triple Zero]

Where I work, company policy states that headphones of any sort must be kept low enough to hear fire alarms, general conversation etc. I tend to use this as an excuse to eavesdrop whenever my earbuds are in. My supervisor is talking to someone from another department? Pause mp3 player and listen while making convincing typing noises or staring intently at a spreadsheet. After all, this info may be useful later on.

hah I did  that all the time

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I don't know anything about RWHN's work environment, I'm just putting some thoughts out there. I've worked in offices where being interrupted was a serious problem, and it was incredibly annoying. And, in one place I couldn't turn my ringer off, and the dumb chick in the cube next to mine, who was also constantly interrupting my work to tell me things that weren't urgent or often even relevant to my job, would tell me my phone was ringing when I was sitting right there, and was letting it go to voicemail on purpose because I was in the middle of something important and time-sensitive that I needed to finish, and I knew the call wasn't something I needed to pick up. It was nerve-wracking. That's the crappiest part about working in a cube environment; not being able to defend your workflow boundaries against well-meaning officemates who think they're helping you do your job better, but are actually hindering you getting it done at all.