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drybones
Toucan
Joined: May 15, 2008
Age: 39
Posts: 254
Location: UK
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 Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 7:20 pm Post subject: question about workplace singing |
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in our open plan office we have music playing all day - every genre since its on random shuffle.
now this one guy insists on singing loudly pretty much all day long to nearly every song - he moans when anything "electronic" comes up cause it has no lyrics for him to sing along with.
now apart from me everyone one else (8 people) seems to have no objections to his singing (which id rate average at best), in some cases saying comments designed to actually inflating his ego more so about his "obvious talent" 
its a very relaxed workplace and the singing dude is very popular too so i dont want to say anything directly or even over email
should i mention my annoyance to my boss or am i being unreasonable? |
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t0
Velociraptor
Joined: Mar 24, 2008
Posts: 473
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| Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 8:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Can you bring in your own headphones (with music or just for quiet)? I would try that first. If anyone asks, you can tell them you find it harder to work with the noise of the office. |
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drybones
Toucan
Joined: May 15, 2008
Age: 39
Posts: 254
Location: UK
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| Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 5:21 am Post subject: |
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yes, i do that now anyway. their not perfect headphones since i still get outside noise - made worse by the fact my desk is within 2 meters of one of the speakers playing the office music  if that wasn't enough i occasionally get phoned up too or just called by my boss over the office so even if i had perfect noise blocking headphones it wouldn't be 100% practical at the moment.
sure id love to move my desk someplace else but thats not possible for various logistical reasons.
oh well, considering my circumstances, i might just have to get live with it although the plus side is that I am able to work from home 2/3 days a week now so it at least limits the amount of time i have to be in the office |
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Pandora
Cat Lady
Joined: Jun 18, 2005
Age: 47
Posts: 4684
Location: Townsville
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| Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 9:04 am Post subject: |
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I found that with earphones too. It's not singing that bothers me though: it's people talking too loudly on the phone and/or clearing their throat constantly. Hearing somebody clear their throat reminds me of somebody constipated and it makes me feel queasy.
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Greyhound
Phoenix
Joined: Apr 10, 2008
Posts: 507
Location: Birmingham, UK
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| Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 9:59 am Post subject: Re: question about workplace singing |
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| drybones wrote: | | in our open plan office we have music playing all day |
 How can you cope?
I HATE it when people assume that everyone wants to hear music ALL THE TIME.
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crackedpleasures
Phoenix
Joined: Oct 14, 2007
Posts: 1777
Location: In between the bright lights and the far unlit unknown, CZ
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| Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 8:37 pm Post subject: |
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Talk to him about it in a polite way. When people work together daily, it is normal you talk about things that you don't appreciate when they happen too frequently. It all comes down to the way you mention it. If colleagues complain about each other in a blunt way you got a proble, but politely asking or telling something should never be an issue (and if he makes a problem out of it, then this says more about him than about you)
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pineapple
Deinonychus
Joined: May 01, 2006
Age: 24
Posts: 380
Location: san francisco
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| Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 9:51 pm Post subject: |
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Wow, that is REALLY annoying. I can't believe that anyone would sing constantly in an office, unless you were a professional choir. Would you be able to tell him that his singing is making it hard for you to concentrate? You could even say something like, "You have a great singing voice [even if he doesn't], but it's making it hard for me to concentrate on my work." I'd be surprised if your office-mates weren't appreciative of you making the first move.
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poopylungstuffing
"Ultimate Creative Oddball"
Joined: Mar 09, 2007
Age: 33
Posts: 4234
Location: not otherwise specified
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| Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:29 pm Post subject: |
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nobody would like working with me very much....singing is one of my main stims...i do it without thinking and find it hard to supress.
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Sorce
Phoenix
Joined: Dec 03, 2005
Age: 23
Posts: 609
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| Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:41 pm Post subject: Re: question about workplace singing |
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| drybones wrote: |
now this one guy insists on singing loudly pretty much all day long to nearly every song - he moans when anything "electronic" comes up cause it has no lyrics for him to sing along with.
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So lazy. i sing the electronic parts too. |
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poopylungstuffing
"Ultimate Creative Oddball"
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CaptainMac
Snowy Owl
Joined: Mar 10, 2008
Posts: 166
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| Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 1:54 am Post subject: |
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We have people who sing along at my office. Not a big deal except some of them can't find a pitch to save themselves!
However, I usually can't join them because I hate mainstream modern music. They usually have on one of those mix stations and while I know most of the 80s songs and some of the 90s I'm lost on most anything 1998 or later unless it's European in origin (which doesn't happen on an American station much). At least I could join in with some of the stuff I heard the other day--The Police, Dan Hartman, and Foreigner all in the same hour! (Probably the best I've ever heard on that station...then they play stuff like Fergie the rest of the way, and I'm already mad at her for taking the title of an awesome Four Seasons song from the 1960s and turning it into modern mush that has nothing in common with the song of the same name from Frankie Valli and company).
It's probably a good thing they don't play Depeche Mode on that station--I would be belting out the lyrics really loudly (and on key I may add) any time their songs came on. (I actually sound alarmingly like Dave Gahan when I sing).
Oh, and I love electronica. If they played your station at my office I'd probably crank up the instrumental pieces. |
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whitelightning777
Butterfly
Joined: Jun 25, 2008
Age: 34
Posts: 12
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| Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 9:43 pm Post subject: Mimic |
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Find someone else who is an extrovert who is good with people. Ask him (or her -- usually it is a her) whether the situation is normal and how to react to it. State that you are distracted and don't know what to do.
Then, do as everyone else does... exactly. IMHO |
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Legato
Phoenix
Joined: Jan 18, 2008
Age: 21
Posts: 524
Location: M83
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| Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:57 pm Post subject: |
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Ever try singing back in a purposefully nasty raspy voice? I say that because I've been in a similar situation.
As a phone monkey, my coworker habitually sung to himself out loud in between calls - when I'm still on a call and he being right next to me... Needless to say, I constantly was very distracted in calls which led to my entire train of thought being derailed, confusing the customer I was supposed to help.
Not knowing how to approach the situation, I eventually got really frustrated (about to break something frustrated) and the next time I was in-between calls and he was on one, I started singing a Johnny Cash song as loud and annoyingly as I could while staring right at the prick. After about 20 seconds I looked up and my supervisor was glaring at me, so I waved my hand and bowed in submission, but surprisingly the guy never sung very loud ever again.
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infinite9
Tufted Titmouse
Joined: Jul 08, 2008
Posts: 31
Location: Chicagoland
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| Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 7:03 pm Post subject: Re: question about workplace singing |
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| drybones wrote: | in our open plan office we have music playing all day - every genre since its on random shuffle.
now this one guy insists on singing loudly pretty much all day long to nearly every song - he moans when anything "electronic" comes up cause it has no lyrics for him to sing along with.
now apart from me everyone one else (8 people) seems to have no objections to his singing (which id rate average at best), in some cases saying comments designed to actually inflating his ego more so about his "obvious talent"
its a very relaxed workplace and the singing dude is very popular too so i dont want to say anything directly or even over email
should i mention my annoyance to my boss or am i being unreasonable? |
Earplugs have made a vast difference in my quality of life. Snoring dogs while trying to sleep, noisy kids when I'm trying to work, the idiotic blaring "next station" announcements on the train, the train driver in love with the horn, downtown traffic, noisy cell phone people, impromptu speaker phone conference calls in the next cube... It goes on and on.
brian |
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MadAme
Snowy Owl
Joined: Jul 15, 2008
Age: 56
Posts: 132
Location: At wits' end
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| Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:11 am Post subject: |
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| I don't sing in the workplace myself, but I have a co-worker who goes around humming the first eight bars of one particular song over and over. If it weren't so expensive, I feel like buying her a copy of "The Ultimate Fake Book" -- 1500 songs. Or maybe I'll just bring in my own and whack her on the head with it. |
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