Annoying Habit of Coworker - Pls help

AkilaMani · Jun 24, 2014

Hi all,

I have a co-worker who sits beside me. She is a very nice person in all ways, but she has this very annoying habit of eating / chewing with too much noise and loud phone calls. I am somehow able to tolerate the loud phone calls, but the eating habit is something that I am very uncomfortable with.... I feel like I should take a walk every time she puts something in her mouth.

I know it may sound very silly, but I am not able to help it.

She is a good person and I do not want to bring up this topic and hurt her or make it uncomfortable for both of us.

Please suggest what is the best way to handle this....

Thanks in advance.

vijikrish · Jun 24, 2014

Just turn on loud music, loud enough that you can't hearing chewing...loud enough that she can hear...every time you turn on music, she will eventually get hint.

AkilaMani · Jun 24, 2014

Hi Vijikrish,

Thanks. I can't play loud music as there are many people in the same room/floor, but I can put on my headset and turn on music for myself and drown the sound away.... now why didn't I think of that before.....

I usually don't turn on music while doing office work as I can't concentrate... but I can take short music breaks

Thanks again for the quick response.

muthuswathi · Jun 24, 2014

Hi,
Why don't you try to tell her in a polite way that, just because you are eating during office hours, I am distracted, please eat outside the work place.
Or whenever she starts eating, better you take some break, in order to convey your protest in a polite way.
All the best.

anika987 · Jun 24, 2014

see people have more terrible and annoying co-workers

All I can say is sometimes we can adjust.If u can tell her nicely,do by all means.

If not,,let it go.walk away or listen to music and divert attention.

she is not going to eat 24/7.maybe 10 mts 3 times.that we can live with

Noone is perfect.let it go.

worst comes, send her a nice anonymous email abt this without hurting her.

Nakshatraa · Jun 25, 2014

Hi akila,
what to say, while I was working, I had a team mate , who was always burping with a bad stink (sorry to put it that way)
I tolerated this for a full 3 year period.
I can really understand how you would feel .........

MaliniHari · Jun 25, 2014

Is there anyway can you genuinely ask if she has some tooth prob? Because sometimes if we lose teeth, we make sound. Why cannot you put it to her this way? And she can atleast know people are actually hearing it.

JustMyself · Jun 25, 2014

In all honesty, you may not be able to tell this to her face, without affecting your relationship as a colleague. You could ask her to keep her voice down. But sharing an annoying habit is a BIG NO-NO unless she is a close friend.

It would be wise to get a head-phone and listen something when she is loud in any way. Make this a habit. There are noise-free head-phones available, which does a wonderful job of hiding noise around.

hridhaya · Jun 25, 2014

Hi,

Last week, I was on phone at workplace.One of my colleague came up to me and told me to talk in private. I think he was able to hear what I was talking. I felt embarrassed for a moment and later apologized for the disturbance. I now make it a point to move away from desk if the conversation is long.

I am sure loud noise caused by your friend might be perceived by your other colleagues also. you need not tell her formally but bring it up informally.

Krishna9 · Jun 26, 2014

Akila, here the thing to do. Others might also wanna use the tip. In one of your conversations, talk about some who does that and how much it would irritate anyone. If does'nt work, go for the step2- talk about an incident where your husband dragged you out of a restaurant because someone was doing that. Then talk about the restaurant a lot. Your friend should get the hint. If she doesnt, maybe you shd get another friend - No Brains is as much a danger.
VeryIMP: The two attempts much be atleast 2 days apart - you don't want to hurt your friend. Trust me, will work. Women are good with remembering things.