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[quote=twelvepaw;44303445]Interesting take on this; your comments are duly noted.
I am not sure how you are able to make assumptions about the type of work I am doing ("very basic") or the position I have ("these types of positions"), but it is worth mentioning that in my area temp jobs encompass a pretty wide variety of positions including office support, customer service, all manner of tech, banking, insurance, and management
The agencies (at least in my area) also want the right person in the right position; someone who is not happy in a position isn't going to perform at optimal level for the client. As well, the agency wants to make money; if they have a particular position requiring a particular skill set they won't let it sit unfilled just to teach an applicant with an otherwise unblemished record a "lesson". Your mileage and experience may vary.
When I said basic I meant jobs that don't require a certain degree or experience. You said the others are temps as well. Yes, office support, customer service, etc.
Agencies such as Office Team, Apple One, etc. want the temp to be a right fit, and that means doing the job, finishing the assignment when they end it, and not making waves at the company.
I think you're somewhat naive on how they work. Let's say they're paying you $15 an hour, they're charging the company $25, I think you think that they're goal is to place you in the right job. No, they're goal is to make money and keep their client(the company) happy.
Yes, they will tell you what you want to hear, that they're busy looking for your next assignment, but the reality is you caused an issue for them(not saying it isn't a bad enviroment), they don't care about that.
Short of noise canceling headphones, which I own and carry for travel, there's nothing you can do that you did not already do.
Long story short, the manager can do something, but for whatever reason chooses not to do so. Offices are strange places, especially when people are thrust together in close quarters.
Good luck with your future endeavors, and I do think it's best to get away from that office now.
Thanks! I don't have noise cancelling headphones but you can bet my earbuds will be getting a lot of use over the next two weeks
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coolhand68
I am experiencing the same thing at my office. I have an office clique that sits on the other side of the wall from me. The ringleader is a middle aged woman with a loud shrill voice, and SHE NEVER STOPS TALKING! What's worse is that she knows how to charm the bosses and brown nose. But it is a huge distraction and there are times her talking interferes with official phone calls and she can be heard through closed doors during meetings. Straight up obnoxious.
Yes- that is it exactly except my coworker is directly behind me (I should be so lucky to have a wall between us)! I am sorry that you are having to deal with this too. It is unfortunate that one person is allowed to have such an impact on the tone of a department.
Interesting take on this; your comments are duly noted.
I didn't complain about this woman. I gave my notice and in doing so alluded very generally to why I was leaving; my boss got it and commented on it.
It is horrible, and she is getting worse.....
I appreciate everyone's comments; it is enlightening to see how different individuals are viewing this situation. I am learning a lot and hearing perspectives that I wouldn't have otherwise considered
Sorry - I misspoke - I thought you had complained about her. You did the right thing by alluding to the boss especially if he/she asked you why you were leaving. Otherwise if nobody says anything to this woman it will continue.
This is absolutely no surprise to me. I've worked in offices for 20+ years, and the below are just some examples of what I've had to put up with:
1) A woman in the cube next to me would argue with & have fights with her boyfriend on a daily basis (on the phone). She was there for at least a year before she left, so I put up with this every single day until she was gone.
2) An entitled woman crying & whining because she felt she had too much work - when she actually did a lot less work than everyone else in the office.
3) A woman had a temper tantrum & threw her drink against the wall in her cube, getting the liquid everywhere - actually, that was kind of funny
4) A guy making a lot of personal calls on a daily basis. People were glad when he retired.
I put up with all of it & have never gone to management about this. You just have to put up with this type of thing in an office setting.
Sorry - I misspoke - I thought you had complained about her. You did the right thing by alluding to the boss especially if he/she asked you why you were leaving. Otherwise if nobody says anything to this woman it will continue.
The PBFH behind me has near daily meltdowns because she thinks she knows how the company should be run. She gets really out of order when an issue comes up and she isn.t brought into the loop.
I hope she has a nervous breakdown, actually.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by photobuff42
Why couldn't the manager do anything about it?
If it were me I'm sure I would even lose my temper and yell, "Just be quiet!"
As a boss myself, I would have to take action for your outburst, because it is clearly intentional and can be seen as harassment. The OPs office neighbors are not intentionally causing trouble and distraction by their behavior. Still, once informed of the problem by the OP, the supervisor is obligated to act, since it's affecting the OPs ability to do the job. Either that supervisor is incompetent, or lazy and prefers to not have to do the work to satisfy a temporary worker. I had a similar situation, one of my staff complained to me, but the offending employee worked for someone else higher up. I went to her boss and we had a meeting with all involved, to work it out. We ended up moving the loud person to farther away from the others, and she agreed to work on being quieter.
Sounds like you made the choice for them about what needs to be done. You quit and had the issue so nothing will be done. Had you brought it up without quitting something may have been done.
I have ear buds that I will wear but unless I crank the volume (at which point I won't be able to focus) I will still be able to hear her- her voice really is that loud even at normal volume. I don't have headphones and would never use them again if I bought them so they would be a huge waste of money.
Thanks though, good suggestion.
If I really want to drown out the ambient noise, I'll find a white noise playlist on Spotify or Youtube and listen to that. With ear buds, it should be very effective.
If you really want to dump some money into the problem, you can buy a pair of noise-cancelling headphones. Bose Quiet Comfort are supposedly the best, but they come with a hefty price tag.
Noise-cancelling headphones or playing 'white noise' over some high quality earbuds might work.
I sympathize with the OP. Back in 2008, I signed a six month contract to work for a company and they had the option of making me an employment offer at the end of the contract. The office was in an old department store facility and there were cubes and quite a few of us had our own offices. But the offices had no roof, so every sound from anywhere in the building was heard and sometimes it seemed amplified by the open roof with walls! I had previously worked for companies that piped in 'white noise' all over the building so that even people in cubicles could have private phone conversations and not hear everyone around them. I have ADHD and find ambient noise VERY distracting!
I bought my own white noise machine for my office (around $150) and installed the speakers in all four corners at the top of the walls. That was the only way that I (barely) made it through my six month commitment. I was offered a position at the end of the contract and it would have been the highest paying position I'd ever had up to that point....but I couldn't continue to work in that atmosphere. I didn't think it was fair to either of us if I wasn't able to do my best work, so I turned it down....
Unfortunately, small companies often don't think about things like office layout and noise issues. I'm sure there are a lot of folks out there whose jobs would be much easier (and they'd do more and superior work) if more thought was given to their working space.
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