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I work for a large corporation. We are set up in a small closed office and there are about 6 of us in cubicles except for my manager who has his own office. My manager is fairly new in his position and not very good at dealing with employee issues since he is still new at his new position. I work two cubicles from a coworker who has a chronic cough. He's not a smoker. Over time he has gotten to be extremely annoying to the point that I cannot stand him anymore. He's rude, very negative, always gossiping, whining, complaining and making fun of other coworkers, not friendly and looks miserable....he brings his family drama to the office, he plays his annoying music, he's very lazy, he talks all day to anyone that will listen about his bar hopping and his sporting events and clubbing, etc... he's got this mega chronic coughing condition which has been ongoing for over a year now and has gotten a lot worse. He's 48 years old, single, never married, no kids, has great health insurance, makes good money and yet, it seems as if he doesn't even make the time or effort to see a doctor. I wear earphones all day long. I listen to the loudest metal music to drown out his loud constant chronic hacking and barking. It grosses me out. I don't bring any food or drinks to my desk because I don't want any of his gazillion (microscopic) airborne mucus droplets landing on my food and drink. When he goes to the mens room to hack out a piece of lung or whatever, it literally sounds like there are mini cannons firing off in there. The walls vibrate and it sounds absolutely GROSS! I asked him a couple of times after he returned from the mens room if he was ok, and he gives me the most dirtiest look, says nothing and walks off so I decided not to ever mention anything again. His chronic coughing is not only disgusting but very distracting as well. He coughs, hacks and gags with his mouth open and that is very unsanitary. I can complain to my manager but I know my manager will do nothing about it. If I go to my HR dept. they will ask me to speak to my manager first. I don't want to seem as if I'm causing trouble by complaining or be viewed as a whiner and insenstitive. I cannot ask the employee to see a doc because that would make things worse and I don't believe it's the right thing to do. Being that he's such a negative person, I know if I put some cough drops on his desk he will begin a gossip campaign (figuratively speaking) and make me look like an evil person. It's a very awkward situation, one I have never experienced. He hardly ever misses work, however, when he is on vacation, I rejoice! His constant mega loud chronic coughing is driving me nuts! Can someone please suggest anything that could help?
I feel for you. I work one cubicle over from a person I call Phlegmbile. He coughs all day, hacks up phlegm, loudly sniffs his snot up into his sinuses, eats junk food and TV dinners at his desk every hour or so, has hour-long fantasy football phone conversations, daily phone arguments with his mother (he's in his 40s) and whines about how broke he is, despite making close to 70k a year and getting child support from his wife and going on cruises by himself (!?). He's a lifer, so I'm leaving.
Perhaps he has a long-term, chronic respiratory illness. Or even cancer.
If his coughing is bothering you that much, you might want to ask your supervision to move you. Because the risks of an ADA lawsuit are too great for your company to do anything with regard to this worker and whatever it is that makes him cough so frequently.
YUCK! Ask to move your cube. There's nothing like such a disgusting distraction to ruin your day. Not to mention, who even knows what kind of bacteria your co-worker is spreading. This will most definitely reduce your productivity. Yuck. Just thinking about it makes me cringe.
To relate a story.. When I was in high school, I was out on a date seeing a movie.. I remember the movie.. It was "Ghost".. I've got other reasons for that being a memorable date as well, but..I digress.. There was someone in the middle of the theater who was wheezing, for lack of a better term. About once every 5 seconds. It sounded like some kind of weird cross between a sneeze, hiccup and cough.
Annoying, but.. Hey.. He didn't smell offensive or anything, and movies are loud enough that from where I was sitting, it didn't bother me at all. Apparently, it bothered someone else. They went and got a manager.. Turns out the guy had Tourette's, and that was one of his 'ticks'. They brought him a bottle of water to help control it.
So.. I'd say.. Tread lightly. If there is a reason for his condition.. There could be blowback if you raise hell about it to management.
That would be really annoying. I would have to say something to the boss especially since it's been going on a year. The guy has some serious issue going on.
I work for a large corporation. We are set up in a small closed office and there are about 6 of us in cubicles except for my manager who has his own office. My manager is fairly new in his position and not very good at dealing with employee issues since he is still new at his new position. I work two cubicles from a coworker who has a chronic cough. He's not a smoker. Over time he has gotten to be extremely annoying to the point that I cannot stand him anymore. He's rude, very negative, always gossiping, whining, complaining and making fun of other coworkers, not friendly and looks miserable....he brings his family drama to the office, he plays his annoying music, he's very lazy, he talks all day to anyone that will listen about his bar hopping and his sporting events and clubbing, etc... he's got this mega chronic coughing condition which has been ongoing for over a year now and has gotten a lot worse. He's 48 years old, single, never married, no kids, has great health insurance, makes good money and yet, it seems as if he doesn't even make the time or effort to see a doctor. I wear earphones all day long. I listen to the loudest metal music to drown out his loud constant chronic hacking and barking. It grosses me out. I don't bring any food or drinks to my desk because I don't want any of his gazillion (microscopic) airborne mucus droplets landing on my food and drink. When he goes to the mens room to hack out a piece of lung or whatever, it literally sounds like there are mini cannons firing off in there. The walls vibrate and it sounds absolutely GROSS! I asked him a couple of times after he returned from the mens room if he was ok, and he gives me the most dirtiest look, says nothing and walks off so I decided not to ever mention anything again. His chronic coughing is not only disgusting but very distracting as well. He coughs, hacks and gags with his mouth open and that is very unsanitary. I can complain to my manager but I know my manager will do nothing about it. If I go to my HR dept. they will ask me to speak to my manager first. I don't want to seem as if I'm causing trouble by complaining or be viewed as a whiner and insenstitive. I cannot ask the employee to see a doc because that would make things worse and I don't believe it's the right thing to do. Being that he's such a negative person, I know if I put some cough drops on his desk he will begin a gossip campaign (figuratively speaking) and make me look like an evil person. It's a very awkward situation, one I have never experienced. He hardly ever misses work, however, when he is on vacation, I rejoice! His constant mega loud chronic coughing is driving me nuts! Can someone please suggest anything that could help?
He could have a chronic medical condition that you are not aware of or the cough could be a side effect of a medication he is taking.
Turn up your music and mind your own business.
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