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chiastic_slide
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08 Aug 2012, 12:46 pm

Somebody new started in our office, they sit directly behind me. I am finding her quite rude in violating my work/personal space, things like:
using the bin under my desk for lunch wrappers when she has her own, leaving dirty/snotty tissues underneath my chair/desk where she has attempted to throw them in my bin and missed but not bothered to pick them up, leaving dirty cups and food containers on the window sill between us, knocking the back of my chair every time she walks past. When she first started I said she could use the drawers next to my desk as she did not have any, she wheeled them under her desk but also used the empty space next to me for her bag and shoes. As I needed the worksurface area I brought another set of unused drawers in from elsewhere to fill the empty space, she has now started putting her books and make-up in those as well - she now has two sets and I have none! To top it all off she keeps touching me on the arm to ask me questions! Any advice of how to go about this. There isn't a whole lot of space and I think she is used to a big office so I can understand some ways, but then there is plenty of workspace she is not using of her own without the need to encroach. Don't really know the best way to approach without offending. I am the type to get walked all over by appearing too laidback. Should I just ignore or say something?



charlottez
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08 Aug 2012, 1:54 pm

Print out your post, and hand it to her while telling her, "I'm too uncomfortable about this to speak with you, so I wrote it down. I hope you understand." Or better yet, head your note with that and leave it on her desk.



chiastic_slide
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08 Aug 2012, 3:21 pm

Yes that could be worth a try but first I think I will move my bin out of sight and ensure I am utilising all the space in my area so as to prevent further encroachment and see how that goes.



blueroses
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11 Aug 2012, 8:18 am

charlottez wrote:
Print out your post, and hand it to her while telling her, "I'm too uncomfortable about this to speak with you, so I wrote it down. I hope you understand." Or better yet, head your note with that and leave it on her desk.


The thing is, though, that it is very unlikely she will understand. I'd just be polite, but direct, and speak with her about it face-to-face, if she doesn't take the hint when you hide your bin and pull away each time she touches you. My concern is that if you don't set boundaries and just continue letting it go, she'll walk all over you.

Tight office spaces are the worst and I kind of feel your pain. I have a new guy sitting near me who talks to himself all day and makes the most piggish noises while he eats and there's not much I can do about that. He used to put a CD player on his desk, crank it up, and sit there stomping and whistling to the music all day, though, until I pulled him aside and explained it was hard for me to concentrate while I was on the phone with clients and that, since we are so close together, clients had actually been able to hear him and had asked me what the background noise was.

I tried to kind of blame it on the clients being difficult and be as nice as possible about it and it seemed to do the trick. The CD player kind of disappeared from his desk.