Whistling in an open plan office?

[Babyblade]

Hi, I have a colleague who habitually whistles to herself while sat at her desk. She's worked here for the last 7 years but the whistling has only started in the last 2 years (since she started listening to music on her headphones).

I have a prickly relationship with her but it's professional. We work in a small open plan office of about 6 people.

Previously I've asked my boss if he could have a word with her. We don't have a HR dept. It was a relaxed conversation between myself and my boss, I even mentioned that he whistled too. He was happy to stop whistling himself, agreed that whistling was anti-social but I don't know if he raised it with my colleague.

Today, my colleague and I were in the office together alone. She had her phone speaker on (horrid tinny sound) listening to the radio and was whistling along.

I LIKE music but I like to hear it properly. I HATE whistling - it's like running fingers down a blackboard to me.

I summoned up the courage and finally asked her if she wouldn't mind stopping. I was polite.

She has agreed to do so but said that she thinks it's quite acceptable to whistle in an open plan office. Is it?

I love the general sound of hustle and bustle in an office. I DON'T want silence. AIBU to find whistling in an open plan office anti-social?

Stab her. I couldn't cope with that at all.

I'll provide you an alibi.

I HATE whistling, agree it's like nails down a blackboard. And in an office? Nope! Stop being an antisocial dick.

It does seem fairly anti-social. If someone does something that affects others (something that can be heard or seen) in a public environment that can be seen as annoying, I think that's definitely anti-social. It would irritate me as well.

YANBU

FFS - some people are so oddly oblivious.

I detest open plan. The worst was when the open plan office I worked in had about 30 people in it and there were three different radios tuned to three different channels. But we weren't allowed headphone to drown out the cacophony.

Also, a colleague was a drummer in his spare time and drummed on his desk ALL FUCKINH DAY.

YANBU OP.

Nobody should be whistling, humming, singing, tapping out drum beats on their desk or using "leaky" headphones in an open plan office. Obviously conversations and chats etc are normal and acceptable but things like whistling that fall into the noise-without-purpose category are definitely not good open-plan office etiquette. It's not necessary and will always annoy people.

We use headphones in our open plan office all the time but they have to be ones that don't leak sound to other people.

Thank you

I was starting to wonder my sanity when she said that she thought it was normal. Even my boss agreed it was anti-social when I mentioned it to him.

The 2nd part of her response what that apparently, I eat crisps noisily ... of which I was unaware (I also dislike noisy eaters but I'm slightly less sensitive to that but feel shame ). I've said I'll eat future snacks away from my desk = fair enuf .

We're now both sat here in total silence - it's not much fun but it's better than her whistling.

YANBU.

Seriously some people are oblivious to how annoying their habits can be for other people.

I have one colleague {(similar set up to you, small open plan) who speaks to her husband on the phone anywhere from 5-20 times per day. From 10 seconds to half an hour at a time. The thing is, because they have nothing to say to each other they just ask eachother the same questions over and over again. And at the end they take forever to say good bye.

I've contemplated caving in my own skull with my mouse before but i'd hate to disturb anyone.

Acceptable professions for whistling:

Milkman
Shepherd
One of the 7 dwarves ...

Babyblade

The only reasonable response to whistling is to cave the offenders head in with a stapler.

Same as pen clickers, tappers and chair squeakers.

It seems that I may have been quite restrained

The countless times I've sat here in pain + seething in rage. I wish I'd been brave sooner!

I've worked in open plan offices all my life and you are right - whistling is unacceptable.

To be fair to her, it might be unconscious. But she knows now.

Excellent answer on the pa crisps response. Make sure you follow through.

I'm determined to be a crisps from here on.

... in fact I'll be driven to eat fewer of them = waistline bonus!

My FIL is a happy, absent-minded whistler. It drives me MAD. I couldn't listen to it if I was trying to work.

When I was pregnant I had to ask a colleague not to eat rice cakes at her desk as the noise/smell combo was unbearable. She was fine with it!

I can't bear whistling, it makes me murderous. I don't know how you've put up with it for so long!

Sniffing...worked with a sniffer for two years in an open plan office. I used to go to the toilet and bit wads of toilet tissue.
Open plan offices are the human equivilant of battery cages for chickens.
If noise can be used as a form of torture then it is not unreasonable to ask someone you are locked in with for 7 hours a day to shut the fucking fuck up...

It's not acceptable to make any more noise than necessary in an open plan office. Quiet infrequent chat is of course a part of a normal day, phone calls, keyboard noises etc. all normal... whistling and tinny headphone music is really selfish in an open plan office.

after 2 months of bliss ... SHE'S WHISTLING AGAIN!

Arghhhh

(And I've only eaten crisps while she's away on her lunch hour)

I am reviving this thread due to being about to strangle my whistling colleague. Sits opposite me. Whistles absentmindedly and tunelessly, about 10 times per hour. Please make it stop.