How To Deal With Noisy Eaters at Work?

DKLS

There is only one solution and that is to snap and pick the noisiest eater and club them to death with a stale baguette, that will teach the rest of them

mattcanary

Retrogamer wrote: »

This probably sounds silly to most people but here's the situation.

I've recently changed roles at my job and had to move to another department with some new people.

In the new team we sit at a big long desk with room for about 20 people, with the manager sitting at the end.
Because our shifts are long (11 hours) the manager / department lets us eat at our desks if we want as long as it doesn't hinder our work.
I'm fine with this, i eat at my desk as well sometimes.

There are two people i sit between who are really noisy eaters. I don't mean crunching noises or anything like that. When they get a coffee, it's as if they need to hoover it into their mouth rather than drink it like normal people.
Anything they eat, is so loud with slurping and lip smacking noises i genuinely couldn't make any more noise than them if i was trying to eat as loud as i could. One of them is into their fitness so he eats at his desk maybe 3 times a day and every time they have to suck their fingers clean, again making as much noise as you probably can in the process.

A few other people feel the same in the team by how annoying / distracting it is but they don't want a potential confrontation or falling out by asking them to turn the mouth volume down a bit.
I've avoided speaking to the manager just now as i'm quite new to the department and it's a pretty minor thing, but for some reason i'm really struggling to ignor eit.

Any suggestions?

How the hell can someone slurping while they are drinking put you off from working??!!




It's hardly crime of the century.

mandragora_2

mattcanary wrote: »

How the hell can someone slurping while they are drinking put you off from working??!!

There speaks either a very lucky person who's wired entirely differently to me, or a noisy eater.

Retro - you have my sympathies and I'm afraid I have just one solution I can offer you. It's the only thing I could do in these circumstances.

Resignation letter.

Actually, thinking about it, as the newbie in the office, is it perhaps more than coincidence that this desk is the one you've been landed with, and that these two have ended up working in proximity together over the years? Perhaps this is just the least popular desk to work at for the very reasons you've experienced. If that's the case, two things are clear. 1: this is a known issue and everyone is dancing on eggshells round it, avoiding dealing with it and 2: the next time someone leaves, make sure your 'baggsie' of their desk has gone in long in advance, so that you can move, and some other poor newbie has to go through the ordeal instead of you.

bugslet

I work with someone who chews gum all day in a very small office. I have asked and he manages to chew for a couple of days with his mouth shut, then off we go again. I can cope with noisy eating at lunchtime, but, yep, drives me nuts!

warehouse

Headphones. Big fat headphones.

mattcanary

And people on the forum criticise others for "whining" about problems with claiming benefits?




OP - man up. Get a grip. And the rest of you - entertaining the OP??!!

ShadowPuma

mattcanary wrote: »

How the hell can someone slurping while they are drinking put you off from working??!!

It's hardly crime of the century.

Imagine as you are making a very important phone call a washing . machine making lots of noise next to you... you can hear the "glug" of the draining, also the "whoosh" of the water coming in.

To someone who is sensitive to the sound, and especially with some of the louder "slurpers" I've experienced its not like you are next to the washing machine its like being IN the washing machine. And also can be bad enough that it actually makes you feel sick (ala when someone is coughing something up in front of you).

Now add to this that the sort of person who is sensitive to the sound quite often will find their brain accentuating these sounds. It becomes like a constant thing next to you as if someone is running nails down a chalkboard over and over again.

The desire isn't to blame the slurpers (unless they are very bad) but it doesn't make the issue easier to cope with.

Melaniep101

OP - I feel your pain... I've just had to move desks to get away from a colleague that grunted all day... It was loud, and sounded like he was taking a dump... Totally wound me up all day long, and if I asked him to stop it, he'd say "oh I cant help it". Is there anyway you can move from the offenders?

aggypanthus

Its disgusting, saliva, crumbs, all over desk , phones ,papers pc etc etc,! No handwashing in between,?

RuthnJasper

I used to work in an office with a woman who brought her own pilchard sandwiches in most days. Dear God; the smell...

The hum coming off them, especially in a hot summer, haunts me to this day...