How To Deal With Noisy Eaters at Work?

dippy3103

I so can sympathise... And once you notice something like that you become sensitive to it. I know of someone that is such a noisy eater grunting & lip smacking I have to make my excuses and leave the room.

Sounds just like my mums dog on chowing down....

picassosmum

We had a tooth sucking, slurping relation and during a family dinner I blurted out " your dinner sounds nice". During the silence his wife said to him "Eat quietly" . He apologised and said he didn't realise and grumbled that no one had told him so it must be our fault. I hate confrontations but sometimes everyone snaps. Just make sure you are not holding anything sharp or heavy !

happyinflorida

I would jokingly say to each of them - "are you aware of how much noise you make whilst eating and drinking?" - see their reaction. They may smile back and say "yes" or be genuinely horrified - they may not realise it.

That could work.

Now another way of dealing with it would be to also annoy them in some way such as if you're female, get one of those smelly perfume atomisers and spray it their way quite a few times. If they say anything you could retort "didn't think you'd notice over all that loud munching and slurping!"

If they get annoyed at you then you could say let's come to an agreement then, I'll stop spraying if you stop eating loudly and slurping loudly.

Win, win all round.

Good luck!

jenniewb

This used to be the bain of my job in a past position. I worked at a desk all day and when it came to breaks we were forcibly told to not sit at our desks at lunch and that it was either sit in the staff room or leave the office and go outside.


Being the winter months when I started the role (October) and constantly raining, it was not really such a nice idea to go outside. Add to that that I worked on a very busy high street (lets just say the busiest in London) it was too busy and manic where I just wanted some time to myself. I wanted to go to the staff room, sit on the sofa and eat my lunch.


On a Sunday there were so few of us in that I always seemed to draw the short straw, was given an 11am lunch (no one eats lunch at this time!) and had to eat my lunch with the noisiest eater known to man- I never even knew it was possible to eat so loudly!


Add to this he would always eat fried chicken, the staff room reeked of BO and human excrement as a result. And he never seemed to stop- lunch was an hour and he ate FOR THE ENTIRE HOUR! Mouth wide open, head stooped and smacking his lips so loudly I wondered if he was trying to some how take the p out of his noisiness.


I ended up just not being able to eat. Waiting until my afternoon 4pm break and eating my lunch then. I hated doing this. But it was the only way around a problem. I used to plug in my earphones and just sit breathing through my mouth, trying every week to swap my lunch with just about anyone else, once or twice getting an offer but it being declined the following week.


I look back now and think the best thing I could have done would have been to speak to the manager- I was so afraid of losing my job by making a fuss but TBH it wasn't fair and did impact on my work. I would have sat outside the office, gone for long walks around the many shops or found a nearby Pret/Starbucks/coffee house (there were many) ordered the cheapest drink possible (wages were only a fraction above minimum wage) and sat there for an hour reading a magazine. Smartphones were not available at that time but as they are now it would have been far easier to have found a way to keep myself busy now. Back then it was fork out for a £4 magazine or be bored senseless.

dippy3103

Maybe you could orbit this thread & leave it laying around x

deadrobot

I totally sympathise, I too am sensitive to noises. There are 2 people in my office who cut their nails at their desk and it makes me feel sick! As soon as they start it's all I can hear, snap, snap, snap *shudder* it's disgusting. I don't really want to speak to them about it as I'll look 'petty' so I just run off to the toilets for 5 minutes until they are done.
For you though if it's happening all day that would drive me nuts. I would speak to the manager and say you are sensitive to noises and it's all day and stopping you from doing your work. Maybe instead of speaking to the people the manager can move you desks, that might be a better option.

Good luck!

barry100_2

they probably don't realise its noisy.
Record the sound and then play it back ( DISCREETLY).

Maat

It sounds to me as though you may have misophonia, also known as selective sound sensitivity syndrome (4S). You can find information about it here:

http://www.misophonia-uk.org/

I hope you can find a solution that works for you.

wingfield1960

You have my sympathies....you sound like a nice person who doesn't want to cause an atmosphere in a small working area...however you do need to fight fire with fire....it's got to be the mackerel and diet coke lunch bag for you for a fortnight....and throw in some hard boiled eggs.....If you cant beat 'em..join 'em!!.good luck :rotfl:

minicooper272

I really can sympathise - I think I have a bit of a phobia of people eating... And I think they should consider banning crunchy food from the workplace sometimes (crisps and apples).

If it gets too much for me, I stick in some headphones with music. I use something called 'Marshmallow' headphones - they are like foam earplugs, and when music is playing, I can't hear any munching. A very MSE alternative to noise cancelling headphones.

Can you use headphones? If not, can you ask permission, and maybe explain why? This way it's not you complaining, it's you asking to instigate a solution.