I work in an office and share a room with someone. I love this person to death and we get along great. The thing is that she is always on personal calls. I swear she spends half her day talking to her family. She seems like she is their personal assistant. She speaks spanish so that is how I know it is not all business. She is also on with her boyfriend, friends, credit card companies, etc. If she worked in another part of the building where there were other people in the general public she would be fired by now. She is also typing (sounds like books) all day long. She works in finance so she should be punching numbers, not letters. I can't concentrate of my own work with all her background noise. What do you think I should do that won't her our friendship?

I think if you get along great you should be able to talk to her. Maybe she doesn't realize that the phone talk is distracting you. If she is a good friend she will cut back on the noise.

That's a tough one and would drive me nuts!!! I'm not sure what to do. Good luck.

Perhaps you can play a radio to drown out the noise ? Good luck..

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I'd ignore your suspicion that she's typing books -- typing is typing, so the noise level should be the same whether she's typing letters or numbers.

As for the phone calls, I'd tell her that I find it disruptive and ask her if she could use her cell phone and go outside the office for those calls.

Unless you're her boss, it isn't your place to tell her how to spend her time on the job.

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Earplugs or Noise canceling headphones.

Headphones and listen to some nice soothing music.

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I would listen to an ipod and let it go. If it affects her performance, the issue will resolve itself soon enough.

Employees nowadays do what they want, when they want, and how they want. It is so wrong that they feel so entitled. I have actually waited for someone to complete their very obvious personal call and told them I was now leaving the store because they couldn't be bothered to do their job.

I think cell phones should be checked upon starting work, and be given back at the end of the shift.

Those things being said, I feel your pain. However, it's not your place to counsel or correct a co-worker. It's a management responsibility. You either need to outright have a discussion with the supervisor, or if the "friendship" matters so much, talk to her, or drop a few comments around the supervisor. Or do nothing.

dl