People who wear earphones all of the time - AIBU?

[Pariswhenitdrizzles]

I find it really rude and annoying!! I see some people who wear their earphones ALL of the time - at work etc. - and, because they have them in the whole time, even when you're speaking with them, you can't even tell whether they're listening. I just find it really rude and impolite.

Oh yes, the ones you speak to and they then pull out the earphones, close the hanging mouth and say 'what?'

Also they are usually half deaf anyway because they have blown their hearing with loud music.

If you are the boss, sort it. If you aren't, tell the boss if this is impacting your work.

I wear mine at work because it stops me being easily distracted

It's a commonly recommended management technique for voice hearers, paranoid thoughts, adhd (and other focusing problems) and misphonia.

I wear mine because i do actually have hearing issues.

It means people are less likely to assume i can hear them before calling me rude/running me over on their bike/with a pram etc.

I usually wear them when I'm walking through town to signal that I don't want to be approached by strangers. I wouldn't think it's appropriate to wear them in work without it being part of the job though.

I wear my noise cancelling headphones a lot because I'm autistic. To those who don't know I have ASD it probably does look rude. Oh well.

I wear them in the office so i can actually get on with work rather than be constantly interrupted by wittering colleagues who won't STFU

Lots of people wear them in my office (law firm) because it can be really noisy and it helps to block out what's going on around them, and to indicate they don't want to be interrupted. Open plan sucks when you have work to focus on if you can't do something to block out other people's conversations!

On the street - YABU, it kind of annoys me when strangers come up and ask me questions when I’m clearly listening to music.

In the office - YANBU. I’m acting head of my department when the head is on holiday or working away and I have had to impose a ‘no headphone’ rule as i got sick to death of shouting across the office and repeating myself. I’m not buying that people need music to concentrate either.

I'd love to wear mine at work, then I wouldn't have to listen to accounts of bladder injections, hatred of partners exes, disgusting commentary from managers pet to manager, whining about why sofas haven't been delivered, pros and cons of which holiday destination, etc.

If I did wear them, I would take them out if somebody wanted something, but I would be much more efficient if I didn't have to listen to managers inane chatter about bollocks all day long.

Cate why don't you like being approached by strangers? What about little old ladies asking for help - for example!

I think it's very rude when in a shop or when you need to interact with somebody. I've seen people treat checkout operators etc with complete disdain, looking irritated if they are spoken to (e.g. Do you have a club card?). If you are concentrating at work, then that may be an excuse, but looking vacant and never saying please or thank you, let alone hello or goodbye - that is very rude.

cherry - maybe if you you simply approach people rather than shouting across the office you might get better results.

I wear mine all day because it blocks off the stimuli from the rest of the room. I have ASD and it helps me concentrate. I listen to audiobooks. If someone wants me, they can get my attention easily enough.
I don't see why they should bother other people so much - we don't 'chat' much in my team anyway...90% men!

as i got sick to death of shouting across the office
Exactly the kind of noise I'm blocking out.

Lethal I still stay aware of my surroundings - we just have a lot of people 'fundraising' with dodgy looking wristbands, people conducting surveys and some trying to sell stuff. I take them out if people look lost, or like they need help - and now I'm heavily pregnant the old problem I had with random blokes approaching me in the street seems to have disappeared by itself for some reason

I wear them commuting to drown out the endless train announcements; next stop, short platform, don't forget you belongings, see it, say it, sort it....
I wear them to drown out innane conversations of mobile phone users and to avoid overhearing people under 30 use the word like four times in every sentence

I wear mine partly to help with anxiety and also, (and as awful as this is apparently going to sound) people interrupt with with crap less often. I don't always have anything playing, just them in makes people consider whether it's worth stopping me to ask how my evening was, or if I'm pleased it's Friday. I get more work done!

Maid the only reason I ever shout is when someone has their head phones in. If they didn’t have them in I wouldn’t have to shout

Ds (23) is autistic. He wears his because he needs to cancel out noise.

cherry - maybe if you you simply approach people rather than shouting across the office you might get better results

Why should I have to traipse across the office every time I need something simple like an email forwarding to be ‘approachable’ to staff just because they have to have music every second of the working day? No. We have a busy office where we need to be in constant communication with each other, we can’t do this if people are purposefully blocking each other out.

Everyone in my place (law firm) listens to music. Okay, not everyone, but a clear majority, including senior people.

I've never had to resort to shouting to get someone's attention. If you walk over to someone, they'll generally see you in their peripheral vision and take their phones off.

If you are shouting in open plan, my music is staying well and truly on.

I don’t work in an open plan office, and no one works in isolation in my team. people’s right to listen to music does not trump the need to have the department working efficiently.