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Super Contributor
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Registered: ‎03-09-2010

@hckynutjohn wrote:

@elaine8812 wrote:

After reading the posts on poor grammar, I started to think of other irritating issues we deal with at work.  I work in an open cubicle workspace.  It is unbelievable and disgusting on some of the things I hear and witness in what people do at their desks.  I have coworkers who think nothing of spitting in their wastebaskets at their desk.  One person who was sick actually threw up at her desk and she was in a position to leave her desk and go to the restroom.  The use of profanity along with poor English is rampant.  I am an older worker and I think today's work environment has changed for the worse in so many ways. 


 

 

 

I worked in a hot/noisy/dirty pollution omitting factory where it was men only jobs. Open to the ladies, but those shown the I worked for over 26 years? Not 1 female wanted the job.

 

Spitting was a given to help rid lungs of toxins. Vomiting was a nightly occurrence for a lot of us machine operators. Profanity? Ever worked underneath a motor vehicle or under it's hood, the engine compartment? If not, I doubt you would understand.

 

Heat/cancer causing fumes/high decibel noise and lifting over 400 or more 60-80 lb. reels of wire per shift, and I am gonna be concerned about someone's poor English? Now I am OLD, and what I stated was from 1958 through 1985, and you think this just started happening in the workplace?

 

What I described above was/is the life of many blue collar worker. My reason for writing the above is to give some perspective when it comes to the different working environments. Would you prefer your present one or the one I worked in for a total of 33 years?

 

 

hckynut(john)


 

You're comparing apples to oranges.

 

OP works in an office; you worked in a factory.  Both are totally different work environments....especially during the time that you worked.

 

Spitting, profanity, and vomiting are not, and should not be, accepted behaviors in any office-type environment.

 

 

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Registered: ‎09-18-2014

@Karnerblue wrote:

In our office we have one person who airs her medical issues all day long.  She's on the phone with her husband and doctors and pharmacy.  The woman is a hypochondriac.  When she's not complaining about her imaginary health issues, she talks to herself all day long. 

 

Also people eating at their desks with their smelly food (liverwurst and onions, chinese food, chomping on carrot sticks, etc) is gross.  People have no manners because they don't care about anyone else -- just themselves.  And don't get me started on gum snapping.


___________________________________________________________________________

I worked in an office environment, in cubicles, for 40 years. You get used to people in close quarters.

 

What you describe is nothing new and certainly not attributable to younger people.  It's also not a lack of manners or not caring about other people.  It's LIFE.  People sometimes need to eat at their desks because of a busy day or a noon time conference call or for any number of reasons.  What they eat might offend you, but really it's your problem. Not theirs.

 

If you are so sensitive to the sound of carrots or to the scent of Chnese food, you may be in the wrong work environment.  Perhaps working at home would cause you less stress. I like to think that working in such close proximity to a variety of people made me more tolerant and accepting of what is really just everyday life.

~Enough is enough~
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Registered: ‎06-26-2014

When I see TV shows from the 50s and 60s the office settings are all open. Rows and rows of desks with typewriters on them.  I would absolutely have HATED that (especially since smoking at your desk was permitted back then). The "boss" was the only one with a private office.

 

I would not want to work in an open office area. I once had a small office and enjoyed that very much, now I'm back in cubical land. I am lucky in that I have very pleasant co-workers, especially my "next door neighbors."

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Posts: 4,136
Registered: ‎06-03-2010

@Karnerblue wrote:

In our office we have one person who airs her medical issues all day long.  She's on the phone with her husband and doctors and pharmacy.  The woman is a hypochondriac.  When she's not complaining about her imaginary health issues, she talks to herself all day long. 

 

Also people eating at their desks with their smelly food (liverwurst and onions, chinese food, chomping on carrot sticks, etc) is gross.  People have no manners because they don't care about anyone else -- just themselves.  And don't get me started on gum snapping.


I work in a medium size office that is partly associated with construction.........my office is right next to the receptionist........she talks to herself all day, she can't hear real well so she talks loud and has a host of medical problems she talks about all the time.........my boss brings food into my office and eats all the time........the constuction end guys curse.........and everyone but me chews gum.........my office is where they ALL like to gather

 

and ya know what......gawd bless em one and all..........I'm paid to do what I do and THAT is what I focus on, not what they are or are not doing.....I DON'T CARE what they are doing.........I'm real good at tuning out what I don't need to hear or see.........and it's probably the reason I get a long with everyone there...............raven

We're not in Kansas anymore ToTo
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Registered: ‎06-29-2010

@Mominohio wrote:

@raven-blackbird wrote:

@elaine8812 wrote:

After reading the posts on poor grammar, I started to think of other irritating issues we deal with at work.  I work in an open cubicle workspace.  It is unbelievable and disgusting on some of the things I hear and witness in what people do at their desks.  I have coworkers who think nothing of spitting in their wastebaskets at their desk.  One person who was sick actually threw up at her desk and she was in a position to leave her desk and go to the restroom.  The use of profanity along with poor English is rampant.  I am an older worker and I think today's work environment has changed for the worse in so many ways. 



it's simply changed in a way you are not accustomed to.........if we climbed into Mr. Peabody's way back machine to the 1800's or the 1950's, they might be complaining about you...........different times, different way of doing things.............................raven


This response trivializes what is NOT just a different time/different way of doing things.

 

People's behavior in public and business settings is getting down right disgusting. More and more are lacking not only manners, but common sense as well. 

 

Basic etiquette and proper behavior in public don't go out of style, like clothing or home fashions do. Crude language, behavior and acts in the presence of others, especially in the workplace or general public are running rampant, and in my opinion, need to be called out when seen, rather than excused, tolerated or ignored.


I remember a thread from late last year that got many posters upset by those of us who actually comment on the lack of manners of others.  Seems that many have devolved into the stone age. 

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There are two kinds of class:

First and NO

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Re: This bothers me.....

[ Edited ]

@mstyrion 1 well thank you for your thoughts and suggestions.  I'm honored that of all the responses you chose mine to comment on.  I've worked in this same job for 21 years.  The issues I talked about have just been within the last few years.  Also, one does not just decide to work at home.  That is not an option for me.

"Never water yourself down just because someone can't handle you 100% proof."
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Registered: ‎05-23-2010

Re: This bothers me.....

[ Edited ]

Because of the way the economy has been, and continues to be for many, companies know that unhappy employees can no longer just up and quit and find another job. Because they know this, they don't have to deal with many things that make employees unhappy in their work. An employee may be unhappy or handicapped in their job, but so what? They're not going to quit, so who cares?

 

I have had a lifelong profession that has traditionally been done in quiet isolation with no sounds to be heard other than typewriter or computer keys. When I started my current position 17+ years ago I understood that I had to answer the phone as well, and in a large cubicle and open office with conversation going on all the time. It's been difficult but I mostly adjusted.

 

Over the past 18 months, the noise and distractions have tripled. There is more noise, from more people, more often, as we are expected to increase (as in double) our workload with less staff while maintaining 100% accuracy in all that we do. In an open office where others play strings of voicemail messages aloud and participate in conference calls that last an hour - as well as yes, play the radio.

 

Absolutely NO consideration is given to those of us who do highly involved work that has always been understood industry-wide needs to be done in isolated silence. And we are berated and denigrated for each "error" caused because we are unable to concentrate.

 

Our supervisor and our manager COULD address most of these issues, but instead ignore them because they are well aware the specialized jobs are scarcer than hen's teeth and "we ain't goin' nowhere." So we are open to what is a very hostile work environment, if not hostile for the "usual" reasons.

 

I'm retiring in two weeks 😎

Life without Mexican food is no life at all
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@chi5925 wrote:



 


You're comparing apples to oranges.

OP works in an office; you worked in a factory.  Both are totally different work environments....especially during the time that you worked.

Spitting, profanity, and vomiting are not, and should not be, accepted behaviors in any office-type environment.


 

 

You are exactly right, apples to oranges. I conceded that in my explanation. I was not fortunate enough to work in a clean/air conditioned lower noise decibel office, that was exactly part of my point. The other part was to inform some that the things mentioned are not new and exclusive to this era of time, quite the contrary.

 

Are there not superiors in office environments? Are there not rules and/or standards in office environments? If not, why not? If so, why are the rules not enforced? In my job there were many that complained a lot, but only to fellow workers. I have always believed in complaining to someone with the authority to DO Something about it.

 

Makes me wonder if maybe the OP isn't like my former co-workers. Complain to ole john here, but heaven forbid letting a superior know you had a complaint. Just might lose a few of these brownie points they had accumulated.

 

 

hckynut(john)

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Registered: ‎09-22-2010

There is also another side to this.  I worked in a transcription office a few years ago.  There were six females and one of them complained about everything (to supervision) voices too loud, smells of food, phone calls, lunch breaks.  She was always mad a something.  She used to clean out her cupboards and bring open boxes of stale cereal and crackers to work and then get mad because we did not want it.  One of my favorite things was when she went to a bakery outlet and brought in a 30 gal trash bag of loose hamburger buns and thought we should be thankful (we were well paid and could afford food).  All five of us quit and took other jobs and she is still there!