Tales From the Cubicle – Story One – Cubicle Pet Peeves

You are in the middle of your day and then it happens, one of the most frustrating aspects of not having an office – the annoying cubicle pet peeve occurs, not once, not twice, but over and over. You roll your eyes, you sigh loudly, but your subtle expression of annoyance does not deflect this individual from doing their bothersome thing…whatever it happens to be. I work in a cubicle too and it is a very common workspace layout that lends itself to overhearing, overseeing and interacting with others who may not have the same common courtesy that you do. Here is my list of cubicle pet peeves.

- IM/Email noises – In a day and age where everyone communicates online whether it’s through email, IM, Trillion, MSN messenger, etc, not having the sound turned off is incredibly distracting and irritating. The grating nature of these noises is probably due to its repetitive nature (chime high…chime low…doorbell…cow (repeat over and over and over). I work with someone whose IM sounds like the NBC theme and it drives me nuts. If someone is sitting in front of the computer screen is it necessary to have an audio sound when an email or IM arrives? I say no, turn that sucker on mute!

- Speaker Phone – Ever overhear a conversation about a doctor’s appointment, birth control pills, 2 week cruise vacation plans or accident information from someone working on the other side of the room? I have! All the time! Why is it that some people have no shame when it comes to private matters? Go into an empty conference room to make those types of calls, or wait until your lunch break or step outside for a minute. There is one woman at my office that has EVERY conversation on speaker phone. With cell phones as prevalent as they are, shouldn’t people be used to holding a handset to their head? (shrug)

- People Who Don’t Know When To Go Back To Their Desks – They come to ask a work question, then ask if you saw the last episode of “Lost”, then ask how your kids last soccer game went, asks about the four pictures on your desk and your screen saver and your backdrop and about 12 other topics – like they don’t have work to get back to, right?

- Reply All – Ah! I hate reply all! Scene - It’s the office potluck and EVERYONE hits reply all to tell the coordinator what they are bringing. There really should be usage regulations with Reply All.

- The Office Microwave and The Smelly Things People Cook – Do you have someone in your building that insists on cooking fish once a week in the common room microwave? How about the two or three people who over cook their popcorn almost every day? Have anyone ever reheat eggs in the microwave? If you haven’t – it’s coming. If you have, then you are ever-so familiar with the nauseating smells that they create and that emulate throughout the common room as well as into the actual office space. Stick to sandwiches and soup and non-smelly lean cuisines please!

- The Office Singer – Do you have an office singer? I DO! He walks around singing the most random songs at the top of his lungs. I once heard him IN the bathroom (I was at my desk). Why some people don’t understand this is rude, I have no idea, but what I don’t understand even more is why NO ONE says anything (I of course haven’t, that would also be rude)!

Who annoys you in your office? Do you have anyone that does the above? What about pet peeves of people who don’t work in offices, what do people do out on your jobs?

“Basically, I'm for anything that gets you through the night - be it prayer, tranquilizers or a bottle of Jack Daniels.” – Frank Sinatra

So may the prayers, tranquilizers and JD be with you and see you next time.


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