Re: Workplace aural accompaniment (was RE: Telecommuting ...)

Subject: Re: Workplace aural accompaniment (was RE: Telecommuting ...)
From: Anne Robotti <arobotti -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: Editor in Chief <editorialstandards -at- gmail -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2013 12:26:27 -0500

I'm pretty good at tuning out noises that are a regular part of my
day. Quarreling children, the TV, slamming doors, the dog, kids playing
their music or practicing instruments, friends over - that stuff doesn't
even register with me. And my kids are so great about being quiet when I'm
on a call - there are five of them and you could hear a mouse breathing in
the hush that comes over this place when "Mommy has a call." They value my
working at home as much as I do, and they understand that they have a part
to play in my ability to do it.

And maybe (BIG maybe) I would eventually get used to office noises too
after a while. I guess we'll find out since my new job is 100% onsite. But
usually I feel like noises that aren't part of my "regular" noise, like my
neighbor practicing her opera solos and stuff like that, to be way more
distracting than other people. So I don't need silence, I just work better
with "my" noise.

At my last job, when I went to the office, I found it untenable. There
weren't even cubicles, just long tables, and with the traders screaming,
impromptu meetings springing up everywhere, people watching videos with
sound or listening to their headphones right next to me, I found it
impossible to concentrate.

Anne



On Tue, Feb 26, 2013 at 12:10 PM, Editor in Chief <
editorialstandards -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:

> Hmm.
> In a noisy environment, my productivity plummets.
>
> It occurs to me to wonder how many people on this list prefer real quiet,
> how many prefer noisy surroundings, with several conversations going on all
> the time, AND how many need a sound-track (i.e., wear a music machine all
> day) versus those who find music (especially music with lyrics)
> annoying/distracting, too.
>
> Has there been a Techwhirl poll/survey on whether we prefer to work with
> music blasting in our ears or with blessed hushedness?
>
> I don't know about the rest of you but, aside from some tasks involving
> graphics, I don't have very many mindless tasks in my techwriting day. If
> I'm trying to do a task that requires concentration or originality, noise
> is a hindrance. Music is no more welcome than a yappy neighbor dog (Kill
> the doglet, kill the doglet, kill the DOGlet!...[sung to the tune of "Kill
> the wabbit"]) or some chatterbox going on about wedding plans or gossip or
> weekend activities or what they had for lunch, etc.
>
> And... let's get this out in the open... anybody playing rap near me when
> I'm sweating a deadline is asking... nay, demanding... to play a brief
> starring role in a homicide. Well, maybe that should rightfully be a
> "pesticide"? Vermicide ? Disinfection?
>
> No court in the land would.... etc., etc. :-)
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Feb 25, 2013 at 2:49 PM, Cardimon, Craig <ccardimon -at- m-s-g -dot- com>
> wrote:
>
> > Agreed. Yahoo could have done a more surgically precise removal of
> > telecommuting. One done with a scalpel rather than with a butcher knife.
> >
> > Quiet is good, but it's a rare commodity. One of the many reasons I'm
> glad
> > I got used to working in chaotic and noisy newsrooms in my younger years.
> >
> > --
> __o
> _`\<,_
> (*)/ (*)
> Don't go away. We'll be right back.
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