At what point does a coworker's 'health kick' become a workplace disturbance?
By @vinceyk · Work
A guy on my team has started bringing a personal blender to the office to make smoothies at his desk. The noise is incredibly distracting, but our manager thinks it's great that he's being healthy.
The full story
Our office has an open floor plan, which is usually fine. However, a coworker recently embarked on a new health journey that now involves a personal blender. Every day, twice a day, he proceeds to make a smoothie at his desk. The grinding and whirring noise is impossible to ignore for that 60 seconds, and it completely breaks my concentration. I've been on calls where I've had to apologize for the background noise. He doesn't seem to notice or care.
How people voted
- Side A — 30% (29 votes)
- Both — 42% (41 votes)
- Side B — 29% (28 votes)
Readers say “Both” (42%) — 98 votes and 5 comments so far.
What people are saying
@mehhh — A man's gotta eat, even if it's a liquid lunch.
@reeselately — Why doesn't he just use the office kitchen?
@rose — Ugh, I'm so sorry, that would drive me nuts. It's totally reasonable to want a quiet workspace.
@sam — time to get a bigger blender for ur desk
@piakk — I'd start microwaving fish and popcorn every time he pulls out the blender.
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