To ask here - how do people handle the office Chatterbox?!

[sensuallettuce]

Argh - lady in my office will not stop talking ESP when it's just her and I - she launches into stories that last 20 mins sometimes . She is a lovely lady but this is affecting my work (and I suspect hers as there are things she hasn't done for me).

Sometimes I'm on my way out the door to the loo and she traps me by beginning to regale me with something - sometimes I just walk off while she is in mid flow.

I have my back to her in the office and even when engrossed and 'hmm' 'hmm' or not response at all she continues to talk at me - and I cannot concentrate.

I am in a senior role but not her line manager - but not very good at this kind of thing - any ideas please?!

If it was me I'd just be polite and explain that I was too busy to chat.

Gaffer tape.

See whether you can keep the chat to times when you're stretching your legs (e.g. while on way back from bathroom/lunch etc) but say Oh listen I don't want you to think I'm being rude but I have to get this document out by {whatever time} so if I don't answer you it's because I'm concentrating" with a hassled smile and see if it has any effect of keeping her a bit quieter until your 'deadline'. Lots of people at my work listen to music while they work because it helps them focus?

We have a lady like this in our office. Most people have quickly learnt just not to engage. However we have a new starter who sits next to her, who I suspect may be a new leaver if it carries on much longer. This woman just does not stop talking and her stories are so detailed and looooooong. She carries on talking even if you just start working again, or even make a phone call. It's a tricky one because you don't want to be rude. Eventually I suspect she willl get a warning because in such an open plan office everyone can hear her banging on and on.

Thankfully I am a hot desker at most and can escape!!!!

Boy do I feel your pain sensuallettuce - I have one of these too. They're not very good at picking up on the 'shut up vibes', are they?

I would keep it breezy and say with a big smile 'oh gosh, lovely, well really must crack on, got this report/whatever to do' . Or actually some people respond just fine to the 'actually really can't chat, just in the middle of X' approach. I think it's just about putting your work first and being assertive when you need to (says she who can't bear to offend people )

With my chatterbox, she's lovely (like yours) but she only talks about two topics - her son and her parents. I couldn't give a shiny shite about either of them and her stories just bore me senseless. If she was sharing some juicy celebrity gossip or something, it would be easier to take!

It is really awkward as she is really nice - but likes the sound of her own voice and talking about herself which isn't that interesting.

Similar to hidden - just say "sorry, no time at the moment, perhaps we can discuss non-work related items another time?" (Covers the 'going to the loo' / lunch etc., scenarios too.)

This will be no help whatsoever, but some people were bitching about a man with these traits in our large open-plan office not realising that his son had recently started with the company and happened to be sat within earshot of their jibes. I doubt the boy was unaware of his father's characteristics, but it made me squirm / snigger.

People in my office tend to wear earphones to fend off chatterers, too...

Have got got someone sitting near you ? You could get them to ring your internal number and pretend to be on the phone to a client

i am this person

We have a radio on in the office - sometimes when I get home I feel like my ears are ringing ARGH!!!

devonshiredumpling, it's nice to hear a bit about people's home lives, or what they got up at the weekend. It's just when you get too much detail, or the monologue conversation goes on for too long, it gets rather wearing!

I feel your pain lettuce.

devonshiredumpling Oh I read this thinking Woops I think that's me too!! sorry.

remember Blackadder
"Mouth is open, Nursie, should be shut"

I wish I was one of those blunt people

Reported

This drives me nuts. The woman who was replacing me for mat leave was like this. Inane fucking chatter when we had so much work to cover.

I just had to say to her that we had loads to do and could talk about it later, I think I knew more about her life & daughters lives than she knew about the job. Not good, I ended up being so worried she'd blame her lack of knowledge on me, I ensured everyone knew what work we had covered.

I've been gone a week now and she still chats incessantly and doesn't seem to get much work done.

If you're going to do spam, at least do it properly!

It depends on the relative status of the chatterbox.

Even if s/he is nt talking to you, it is a pain in the arse.

With one office chatterbox, I got narked and asked sharply whether he was planning to do any work that day. He looked a bit stricken, then shut up. He didn't hold it against me.

With some other people - parallel to me "politically", who used to wind each other up, argue and "banter" (to me, "banter" is just oppressive joking at others' expense - aagh), I was specific, saying loudly, "Could you stop winding each other up/ arguing/ chatting? It's very distracting." There is nothing personal about that (not like "you are boring and sexist shits who do deserve to be pissed off, but I just don't want to listen to it" would have been! ). When the new boss got involved with it, it got worse, as the political imbalance made the winding up more into bullying. If I had stayed there longer, I would have had to have gone to HR and the union on te grounds that it was a very unpleasant environment in which to work. Also, they had monthly deadlines, whereas I was realtime and needed to concentrate.

By the way, let our voice ring out across the office with any requests for silence: people in other teams nearby will hear and (a) thank you silently and (b) back you up if it comes to it (for example if the chatterbox has the protection of his/her immediate line manager, who can be overruled by that LM's manager).

Could do what our supervisor does, just pointedly put your headphones in...

It's not my sister is it. Lovely lady but goes from A to B via Z, K and W