To report the cleaner

[EmotionalLimbo]

I'm a PhD student and work in a doctoral school office with several other researchers, all doing our own thing. It's a wonderful quiet space and we're very lucky.

Well quiet that is until the bins are emptied every afternoon. I'm not sure if the person who comes in is a cleaner because I've never seen her do any cleaning in this office but she might do in other parts of the building.

She's just so loud. She's talking on the phone using Bluetooth earpieces so it looks like she's talking to herself. It's so distracting and it's not a work conversation because it's a foreign language.

I've contacted the estates people to ask them to tell her to stop as it's annoying everyone but nobody dare say anything. It's not my job to tackle her.

AIBU?

Love your post. x

Yes you are hilarious as stuffed up waannbes often are.

You should have just asked her to keep the noise down op. Very cowardly of you not to do that.

There's a space at the Edinburgh Fringe if she's quick!

What do you think I wannabe?

As long as she tells the jokes quietly!

In most open plan offices there will often be multiple people on calls and you just have to ignore the noise. I don’t think it makes a difference what job she is doing or what language she’s speaking.

If someone told me to shush, I'd tell them to shush right back and talk even louder. If, however, someone politely and respectfully asked if I wouldn't mind being a bit quieter, as they're trying to concentrate, I'd happily oblige.

Oh, please please don't report bottom of the rung employees to their bosses! Especially if it's something incredibly simple you can deal with by yourself, like walking over and quietly asking her if she'd mind not taking phone calls while she's in your particular room.
Better still, do as others have said, use that 10 minutes to go and stretch your legs, use the loo, get a drink, and generally touch grass.

As important as you think your work is, it's actually NOT that serious. But that woman potentially losing her job because a whiny PhD student can't use her people skills, is actually a lot more serious than 10 minutes of your PhD study.

I work in a University, and we had a real problem with folks wandering into our (Professional Services) office, on their phone, having loud conversations with others, etc. We put up some signs, which said 'This is a quiet office workspace; please don't make or receive calls in this office, and we appreciate your consideration in having respectful working conversations. Thank you' (or something like that.)
It really managed expectations of everyone working there - around 40 of us - and meant that we felt more empowered to say to folks, 'sorry, can we ask you to take your conversation into a meeting room, or take the call in the atrium?' It made a real difference. Obviously, work conversations continued, but having so many people in one office, often doing work which required a lot of concentration for accuracy, it meant it took the overall noise level down a good few decibels.
I genuinely think that their role, and the language being spoken, are red herrings....

Something more important than you are!

Methinks you are here for a laugh or a row...carry on, I have tea to make and bins to empty.

We don't make or take calls. If we need to, we leave the office. It's not an office like that, it's a workspace. We don't zoom or anything. There's a couple of offices to book for those meetings.

This is a very long thread that is ultimately about being too scared to ask a cleaner to keep the noise down.

Ive worked as an office cleaner and we never cleaned while the staff were working. We went in after they had left

Simple answer is to leave a note on your door saying quiet study area and that you will empty your own bins at the end of the day.

For the love of Mike she's not going to lose her job. Nobody wants her to. Just make personal calls in private. It's really not difficult. It's happening every single day.

Oh, so just deciding to take it upon yourself to use that as a 'valid excuse' for you to bitch about a cleaner to her manager? 🤔

What makes you so qualified to advocate it's disruptive to your colleagues who may, or may not even been neurodiverse then?

Come and work here!

Just ask her to keep the noise down, it's really not that difficult!

Yes red herrings is a good word - it’s nothing but just making up you mind that this person is less worthy and that you can lord it over them

Bitch? Really?

Not in an academic office where people are doing research. The thing is, most people just don’t understand. It’s not a typical office. People are sitting doing research.

This!

No thanks, too much looking down on people.