To think constant muttering is a bit off in an office?

[ShaynePunim]

My brand new colleague (started a week ago) mutters, sighs and speaks to herself the whole day long. She sits right next to me.

Is this normal or a bit crazy? It really pisses me off.

But I can't say anything really, can I?

[bruffin]

definitely limitedperiodonly
My office is 3 of us middle aged ladies who mutter away, there is always room for a few more. We might be up to MN standards of "being professional" but we do have a lot of fun

[ChaiseLounger]

I mutter and speak to myself at work. 3 out of 6 of us, in our section do.
Never realised it was an issue.

[ilovesooty]

I work in an open plan office. People talk, mutter, laugh, joke and even sing sometimes. I love it and wouldn't work anywhere else!

[JesusInTheCabbageVan]

I'm genuinely mystified by people who do things like that. Especially singing, humming or whistling random little non-tunes. Just... how can you make noise and not be aware? For me, making any kind of noise requires about the same level of physical/mental effort as standing up, or maybe even doing a few jumping jacks. What IS it with you people??

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

I suppose it's a bit like fidgetting. That annoys me. My husband taps his foot sometimes and has to be told to stop. This is irrational and probably hypocritical, given that I talk to myself a lot, when I think I'm alone or in company where it won't matter. I've always done it, since I was very small.

[Cheby]

It's so inconsiderate though. In my office we deal with complex analysis, problem solving, modelling. Stuff that requires you to concentrate and think. To have the person next to you talking through their own work out loud makes it very difficult to concentrate (and not just me, almost everyone finds it difficult). It's akin to trying to do mental arithmetic while someone shouts random numbers at you.

[limitedperiodonly]

I suppose it depends on what you do.

In my job, I would regard anyone who wants to work in silence or be closeted away as very strange.

I'd also say that if you can't cope with the noise of voices in many offices then you should rethink your position.

I don't think my experience is that unusual.

I think that people who clamp on earphones to drown out the existence of their colleagues are odd and anti-social.

In fact, as a line manager I would ask people not to do that. I'd also ask them to stop hiding behind emails and voicemails.

[AgathaChristie01]

The person who talked at top volume on the phone. The person who listened to all their messages on speaker. The person whose mobile was constantly bleeping and dinging and singing.The person who was always crouching down beside people's desks and whispering secretively. The person who liked to sigh dramatically and slam things around, hoping someone would ask them 'what's wrong'?

, oh yes, except where I was, it was the one person doing all of those things.
I think open plan offices require all concerned to have a bit of consideration for others. OP, it might be worth trying, as pp suggested, answering her, and saying you thought she was talking to you.

[DodgedAnAsbo]

The problem is obvious really.
Some jobs require constant , loud , interactive communication.
Some require absolute quiet concentration

anyone who puts the two in the same office is a fool

[FitzgeraldProtagonist]

I MUTTER AND TALK TO MYSELF ALL DAY LONG: so there. Commit me already.

[ZuzuBailey]

Our open plan office has 40-50 staff in it plus visitors and others passing through. Also windows open, windows shut, windows open again. Phones ringing, computers beeping, printers chugging away. Relentless noise and movement.

I just have to try to zone out as much as I can and immerse myself in my work. If it gets too much I plug in one earphone so I can still hear if someone wants my attention or my phone rings.

[mooth]

OP - WE don't choose who we work with. If we did, work would be much easier. Shit, isn't it.

[StupidBloodyKindle]

She sounds like the female Milton. Nick her stapler

[ZuzuBailey]

The problem is obvious really.
Some jobs require constant , loud , interactive communication.
Some require absolute quiet concentration

anyone who puts the two in the same office is a fool

Oh yes, we have Accounts (quiet), payroll (quiet), HR (noisyish) and marketing (LOUD) all in the same office.

It's sheer madness!

[Evabeaversprotege]

Seven of us in a newspaper office, including the editor.

Colleague A mumbles, hums and talks loudly (he's the best journalist I know!)

Colleague B huffs, talks down to people and is very opinionated (I can get on with him because I have to)

Colleague C needs to know what everyone else is working on, makes sure you know if something is happening on your patch and makes a great cup of tea. She's lovely.

Colleague D likes to be 'busy' all day (on the phone to her friend who works in reception, texting her husband and facebooking)

Colleague E is new.... So far he just looks a bit stressed

Then there's the editor who spends so much time telling you how to angle your article he could have written it himself, but then why would he as that's what he has staff for

Normal office, no?

[mrsleomcgary]

I'm a mumbler AND a fidget. But I only work with 3 other people who aren't much better than I am.

I don't do it all day long but if I'm writing an email to a client I find it helps to read it out to make sure it comes across the way I want. I also chew pens (meaning people never steal them),click the top of pens and doodle while I'm on the phone.

Sorry.

[cogitosum]

I fidget and sing annoying songs from toddler groups

[balletnotlacrosse]

Some of the posts on here remind me of how lucky I am to no longer have to share an office. I'd forgotten about the 'oh I'm wacky Iam, Can't stand all those fuddy duddys who don't get my madness' brigade.

[angelos02]

I can't stand mutterers. Swiftly dealt with one by stopping what I was doing, putting my pen down & turning to face her to say 'sorry, what was that?' every single time they muttered. They quickly got sick of me doing that & shut the fuck up.

[chickenfuckingpox]

my friend used to count out loud her colleagues had a game where they would shout random numbers at her if she started she genuinely didn't realize she was doing it!

[MsAspreyDiamonds]

In my last office there was a queen bee type who drove us all to distraction, I couldn't think straight. She would be holding court, she would involve her self in everyone's business and then say she was overworked . I ended up typing a bit of her phone conversation into an email and then reading it back thinking wtf?! Everybody including her line manager's boss were too scared to say anything because she was very in your face but aggressive if pulled up about anything.

[ahbollocks]

My new boss does this, I sit three feet from her and all I hear is this..
'Mutter mutter.. absolute CUNT ..fucking liberty...urmmmm 9.45?
Soooo right.... bollocks..... hufffff...and then we have that embargooo.... well. Fuck.... Taylor swift.... '
It keeps me highly entertained!

[Fluffyears]

I need to talk to myself to help me think so if the person next to me feels it's a problem and turned to me to say 'what?' In an effort to stop me i'd reply 'when i'msiesking to you or need your attention you'll know.' X

[Fluffyears]

Aargh typo and random x because I wasn't talking to myself!

[Summerisle1]

What I genuinely don't understand is how muttering helps the thinking process. If I need to think I need to hear myself think! Not hear myself muttering away in the background.

Also, and with respect to the mutterers, why is it acceptable for them to mutter and interrupt their colleagues on the basis that the interrupted colleagues can put up with it or fuck off? What's so sacred about the right to mutter? The same immunity doesn't apply to farting does it?