To be annoyed about colleagues being loud in my workspace?

[Justareceptionist]

I'm a receptionist on the front desk/main reception in a fairly large building. It has a small foyer area and doors leading off to different parts of the building where others work. It is NOT a waiting area and has no seating.

I take all of the calls coming into the building, which can be very frequent, and deal with issues or I direct calls to other parts of the building.
My colleagues who work throughout the building, of which there are many, will often pass through reception having very loud conversations, or will use the foyer area to stand and have very loud conversations, as it often tends to be an area where they pass through and bump into each other.

One guy will come out of his office and use the foyer area to pace up and down and have very loud conversations on his mobile, often work related, sometimes not, presumably so he doesn't disturb the people he works with in his office.

The other day (this occurrence is an example of the sort of thing that happens regularly) two of the managers came bursting through one of the doors right by my desk, one of them mid-peal of loud high pitched laughter, and continued having their very loud and enthusiastic conversation standing at and leaning on my desk, a foot away from where I was having quite a sensitive conversation on the phone with someone.

Due to the nature of the work, some of the calls do need handling quite delicately and sensitively. I had to ask them to repeat themselves with a finger in one ear.

But it's like my colleagues barely notice I'm there and often in the middle of a conversation on the phone. This might be the first contact this person makes and they hear all that racket in the background.

The other day there were two loud conversations with two separate groups of people going on in the foyer and the phone rang and not one person thought to lower their voice.

I am worried about speaking up because it's often the big managers who are high above me that are doing it, and because I have been there less than a year, the other receptionist has been there years, and I think it's obvious it will have come from me.

YABU - it's part and parcel of working on a front desk and in main entrance area, it's your job to deal with it and it's not a big deal.

YANBU - You should speak up, it's making it difficult to do your job, and they are being inconsiderate.

YANBU, you need to speak up and ask for signs to be put up saying keep noise to a minimum.

That would drive me round the twist.

Is there a canteen or other social area at this company?

I’d be bringing it up at my next 121 and expecting my manager to support me to find a solution.

Yes, I meant to put in my OP there are 3-4 meeting rooms that people can go into to have conversations and a staff room very near to where I sit on reception. Theres also an outside courtyard seating/smoking area.

I'm hard of hearing, even when I'm wearing my hearing aids.

Because hearing aids elevate all noise, not just the noise the wearer wants to hear, any background noise when I ring a company, is amplified.

It's rude of the people in your office who do this, and I'd strongly be telling them so.

Is your company one of many who supply a similar service/product? If so, I'd start my complaint with words around how important first contact is and that any seemingly unprofessional conduct, like quite loud background noise, might put prospective customers off.

If you work in an environment where your business is the only possible point of contact, then I'd start by stressing the need for customer care, especially on first contact.

You should speak up, use the concerns about confidential matters being overheard perhaps.

You need a decent headset - headphones with mic, and volume control, rather than using an ordinary phone handset. It will be much easier to get that than to keep other people quiet.

They are being thoughtless. Are calls recorded? Could you say that numerous callers have had trouble hearing you so that it’s more like a customer issue than you complaining? I’m sure if they were aware of his bad it is for you they’d be more mindful - they probably just don’t realise at all!

No, they absolutely don't realise. It's like they don't even see me. A lot of them are highly trained professionals and as a receptionist, it's like I don't exist until they need to ask something. I'm part of the furniture.

Don't get me wrong, they're never unpleasant or unkind to me and are friendly enough, but they never think to respect that fact that they've walked into my workspace.