AIBU to dread a new week as MS Teams chat at work driving me absolutely berserk?!

[blossom2026]

I know this isn't the worst problem in the world - but with every Sunday that comes along, I increasingly dread Mondays and going back to work. It's not the people individually - it's the bloody Teams chat. I work in a reactive service and we are required to be logged in and active on our MS Teams group team chat from 9am - 5pm, whether WFH or in the office, as this is where important stuff is shared and division of work is agreed. Fair enough. What isn't fair enough is the amount of completely non-work related bollocks that goes in there too, with the constant DING DING DING when I'm trying to fucking work. I don't give a fuck if your cat was just sick on your rug, Sandra. No didn't watch fucking Love Island and I don't care how long it took you to get a coffee in Greggs this morning. Fuck off with your dings you absolute bunch of nobheads. NO I can't mute it because I might miss something important. Please join me in my rant against this crime against employment.

haha haven't heard drama llama for a while :) love that.

If I could turn the sound off I would have done that, but I think you're aware of that as it's rather stating the obvious isn't it! Hey ho

Now that I've had a weird response from someone who is either slightly weirdly invested, or one of my bosses, let's share some more (not real) examples!

• morning
• morning
• morning
• morning
• morning
• morning
• just going out for coffee
• back

Is the chat not supposed to help us do our jobs, not distract us with the fucking pinging?

Yes, it's a clique of people that dominate the chit chat. I worked in the public sector and it felt more like being at school than at work. The managers saw it as building a positive work environment. I don't think it is positive as it emphasises the dominance of some people and the exclusion of others and it's a distraction from our actual work.

I turned the volume down as I didn't need to hear the constant pinging. As this is not an option for you, OP, you have my utmost sympathy. I also think there's been some good suggestions up thread.

Thanks and I agree x

Did you decide you didn't want to answer my response to you on this?

Mute your alerts and turn the sound off on your laptop when you are not on calls.

I feel your pain OP. The constant dings are bad enough, but the “hilarious” GIFs really do my head in because they’re always there flickering away inanely!

I do think it's worth raising with your line manager, OP. If you find it distracting and stressful, that should be taken seriously. What if you had a colleague who was neurodiverse? It would be unbearable for them.

Mute notification except for @everyone or @you Style

Then just say that if someone needs you to respond directly then they need to tag you and all relevant updates are tagged to everyone

Thing is, a small amount of chit chat is fine: people saying good morning, the odd funny gif. But if it's a lot more than that, it's a problem and needs to be managed so it doesn't distract people.

Sounds like OP is on calls all the time, that's the problem.

This. If they don't do separate chat, this is the alternative. And they need to do something because this kind of continual interruption is terrible for efficiency and quality not to mention the personal side.

We have a bit of a chat but we are mindful. I have inbound calls here and there so have a headset plugged in and it muted any noise from teams. They show up on screen but I don’t have the ding or the ring lol. We do all have to check in each day and say whether we are wfh or office so my manager can see where everyone is and if anyone is ‘missing’. So there is a lot of ‘good morning, I’m at home/in the office today’

If tasks are assigned from specific people (managers), you can also set up do not disturb mode to only allow calls and notifications from them.

Definitely have an explore of the teams options for notifications.

Your did say it.

- we have managers in the chat who think it's all very entertaining when 100 gifs get shared in an hour.

It's a very reasonable and sensible suggestion to make to ask for it to be separate. Just day that when you're concentrating on work you're worried you might miss something important that gets lost amongst the chat.

You did say it though:

we have managers in the chat who think it's all very entertaining when 100 gifs get shared in an hour.

That at the very least implies that managers are joining in.

Perhaps I'm lucky, I go into teams every couple of hours to check nothings being missed and pick stuff up to do. Apart from that I ignore. We have some non work stuff on Teams too, though not as much as you. I have raised this through my manager, the 'suggestions' box and in team meetings, nothing has changed yet, so I assume management like it and I'm in a tiny minority finding it irritating. I've given up trying to get it changed at the moment, perhaps I'll have another go soon.

Where I used to work, some people would change their Teams status to Do Not Disturb and put a message on the chat to explain that they've done this because they have a complicated/urgent piece of work to complete. You could ask people to text/email you if they need to contact you urgently.

I’m public sector and we don’t have anything like this. We do have a WhatsApp chat that occasionally contains social comments but no notification noise.

I think you do need to raise this with your manager, sounds infuriating. Just because they haven’t realised doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be willing to tackle it.

This is what I do:

Use one of the many methods to keep your Teams profile active at all times.

Turn off all notifications and all sounds.

Use your watch to check for important messages every hour, setting an alarm if necessary (or more or less frequently, depending on how busy things normally are).

Get on with doing some actual work.

I am the neurodiverse colleague and they know that - which is depressing. I don't (and wouldn't) talk about my struggles with that on the chat but there is a constant stream of chat about minor ailments all day which also drives me mental when I actually don't care - I like you but we are at work and I don't care about your minor ailment whilst I'm here quietly clinging on for dear life! Fucks sake man

Can't you close Teams for a bit? I have to focus on document work and have to close Teams and email.

Annoying but requires management to do something. If they are happy for people to be chatting about nothing then just embrace it. Clearly your managers don't care. Used to go on where I worked. Always the same people who seemingly were not busy all day/every day.

A bit of chat is no issue and I actually welcome that, as it makes everyone feel more connected. I just don't need to hear the absolutely constant inane wittering about every bloody brain fart, whether I'm busy or not. The chat is something we have to be on and sometimes my brain is screaming to make everything stop, even on a relatively quiet day. Believe it or not I have a good sense of humour and do sometimes join in but I want that to be a choice, rather than an expectation. Thanks for reminding me that I should get into the habit of pairing my headphones each day - it would stop the ping, so thank you for that excellent reminder!! x