Open Spaces

Just my luck that as operations around me in my Oceanographic corporation are closing down, while the remaining team (near me) are the most annoying.

These are socially dysfunctional people. A particular profession seems to attract a specific type of person - the role of sea-floor substrate analysts. These guys are great, and provide a good value, but the skills that they use day-in, day-out don't involve people skills, reading social cues, communication and being aware of their place in a community.

They need to immerse themselves in a very abstract world, and thus generally have trouble seeing themselves from other people's perspective. I guess it's called empathy, seeing ones self, or your behaviour from another's perspective. Thus you see habits like the guy who must suffer from a bit of post-nasal drip. His problem resolution is not to buy a big box of kleenex. No - he's found a solution I have never seen in another workplace in my 25 years in large groups. His solution is a 130dB every 3 to 5 minutes continuously.

Then there is the near-by female 'sea-floor substrate analyst'. She giggles on every interaction with a sort of half laugh, and either can't tell that all the male students are flirting with her, or can and doesn't care. I hate to think of the business impact of a 2 hour conversation at her desk as a student chats her up. She's probably getting about $90k in salary, and both that and the student are going out the window for several hours a day.

Another guy entertains himself by snapping the lid on his glue-stick incessantly, another thinks he's a stand-up comic and jumps into a loud performance whenever more than one person is nearby, and yet another laughs by loudly and rapidly breathing through his clenched teeth - and EVERY interaction is funny. Oh, almost forgot the guy with the loud voice who is the poster boy for patronization. If someone didn't know what the word meant, but knew this guy, all you'd have to say in way of explanation is his name, and they would respond "ah, that's what it means."

Meanwhile the rest of the floor has emptied out and is quiet. Ah well - I keep telling myself that someday soon I'll have a new job, or be at home and it will be quiet and peaceful and I'll not have to deal with the sweaty ears from wearing headphones all the time listening to audio of wind through the cherry trees... yes, cherry trees, the sound sample lasts a long time, and is both peaceful and blocks out chatter very well. Go figure.

With that rant out of the way, I will turn to my mornings work, and my long awaited first cup of tea. Would love to know I'm not the only one with annoying open-office neighbours. Comment below!