Day: November 16, 2011

  • I need you turn it down a skosh

    My co-worker who sits in the cube across mine has various levels of volume. She can go from 10 to 0, sometimes in mid-conversation, kind of like a human volume knob, which is kind of crazy. This is how I would classify her levels of loud:

    10 - 9: hella loud, mostly annoying
    • “Proof that I’m actually working” loud
    • “I’m on a headset, can you hear me now” loud
    • The “angry, how dare you” loud
    • "put my headphones on, but on high volume, cause it's annoying as f@ck" loud


    8 - 7: kind of loud, most interesting

    • “Argument” loud
    • “Do you get my point” loud
    • “What the F do you know understand” loud
    • "put my headphones on, but on low volume, so I kind of hear still" loud


    6 - 5: normal, mostly boring

    • normal conversation loud


    4 - 3: low but still audible, interesting but with most effort

    • “normal” whisper loud
    • “disgruntled about something/someplace/someone” loud
    • "talking to yourself" loud


    2 - 1: barely audible, if you stop what you’re doing & really really concentrate

    • “ninja” whisper loud
    • “private/intimate relationship advice” loud


    0: completely inaudible

    • “wait, she’s actually talking to someone right now?!?!” loud
    • the “you better not tell anyone else this” loud
    • the “talking mad sh!t about someone but don't want anyone to hear” loud

    Lately, she's been hovering over the 9-10 level, cause she's been using her stupid headset more often. She could totally speak softer and/or turn up the sensitivity on her headset up if she wanted, but it seems like she wants everyone to hear her conversations, to prove that she's actually working. That may or may not be true, but that's how I, the person who sits closest to her, feels about it. I really hope, one day, her headset gets "misplaced". Really, you can't pick up the regular handset?!?! It's not like you're on the phone constantly, or for long periods of time, like someone at a customer service help desk or a receptionist or anything that actually warrants the use of a headset. That's just being lazy. And I've actually heard you use the regular handset and use a normal, "not-annoyingly-loud" voice, so I know you're capable of doing that. So, to get to my point........WTF?!?!