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Is It Possible to Complain About a Coworker

Okay, please feel free to tell me if I'm making a big deal out of nothing.

I'm ready to throttle the woman who sits in the cubicle next to me. She literally talks on her cell phone to various friends and relatives for 5-6 hours per day. And she yells. And swears. We're talking words I had never heard of. I don't care if her friend's kid is in rehab, or which tv her father should buy, etc. And she's so loud that I can't get any work done.

The problem is that she's worked here for over 30 years and has lots of friends. And she's scary. Like would think nothing of coming up to me outside, yelling at me, and maybe even throwing a punch. What do I do?

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Re: Is It Possible to Complain About a Coworker

  • This is always going to be tricky.  But - if you really are having problems getting your work done, and IF that's definitely going to become clear to your boss, I would talk to him/her. 

    You could approach it from a POV of "what's the policy on personal calls/ cell phones at work?" and gently explain that she's on her phone a LOT and it's disruptive.

    Or you can just be more upfront "her numerous personal calls and tendency to talk loudly and curse is very distracting and it's hard to do my work". 

    Or (sorry, these things are popping into my head as I type), you could ask to be moved to another area of the floor.  But this is still going to involve a discussion as to why.

     

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  • If your work is suffering because she's so loud, then I would talk to your boss.  I wouldn't talk to her directly.  Generally speaking, I would say, "Hey, could you cool it with the phone?," but if she's nuts I think you should take it to your boss.  He or she should be able to address the problem.  That's why they make the big bucks.
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  • Thanks ladies. I appreciate your help
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  • Have you approached her?  I know at my company the expactation would be that you first try to work out the issue directly with the employee, unless you had a good reason for being uncomfortable doing so.  But it does make you appear more professional to be able to resolve these issues.

    You might just pop in to her cube and say, "I'm so sorry to disturb your call however I'm not sure if you realize how far your voice is traveling.  It is a bit distracting.  Would it be possible to take your personal calls in the break room?"

    If she snaps at you then you have two reasons to raise the issue to your manager.

  • I don't care how long you have worked somewhere. Abusing company time like that is not okay! I would tell HR. Legally they cannot retaliate against you.

  • A neutral solution is to ask to move to a different cube.  If your boss asks why, tell her you are very easily distracted by your "neighbor" and believe your work is compromised because of this.

    Don't be afraid of her and her cronies. If she is unpleasant as you describe, I'd suspect many people dislike her as well.

  • That is tough.  I was in the same situation except the person was my boss so really no where to turn but to go higher up and that person sat behind her and obviously didn't notice.  She would  make horrible mistakes all the time talk in her cube for hours and or leave for hours and go talk in a conference room.  How she did not get caught is beyond me b/c people from other departments noticed it. 

    I'd go to your boss if you can and if not then try HR.  maybe if other people around you feel the same way they will take you more seriously rather then just think your annoyed.  It must be affecting her work performance to talk that much on the phone.  I would also keep a record of her conversations to document it.  I did that.

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