My coworker's taste in music is about to start a civil war in our department.
By @finnliterally · Work
A new hire in our open-plan office has appointed himself the resident DJ. His genre of choice is early-2000s screamo, and he plays it from his computer speakers every single day, no headphones.
The full story
Our office switched to a fully open-plan layout last year, and for the most part, it's been fine. People are respectful, use headphones, and take calls in the designated booths. About two months ago, a new guy started on my team. He seems perfectly nice and competent at his job, but he has one quirk that is slowly driving everyone insane. Every morning, around 9:15 AM, he starts his music. Not with headphones, which the company literally provides for free. He plays it out loud from his desktop speakers. And it's not exactly typical office-friendly background noise. It's a very specific, aggressive brand of early-2000s post-hardcore and screamo. Think bands I haven't heard since I was 16, but only the angriest tracks. At first, we all thought he just forgot his headphones and was too embarrassed to say anything. A few of us offered him spare pairs, which he politely declined, saying he "can't focus with things in his ears." The first week, people tried to be subtle, dropping hints like, "Wow, it's lively in here today!" He just smiled and said, "Helps me get in the zone for these reports!" The problem is, it puts the rest of us squarely out of the zone. You can't concentrate on a spreadsheet when all you can hear is what sounds like a man gargling glass over a distorted guitar riff. The sound isn't deafening, but it's pervasive. It cuts through our own headphones. Our manager, trying to be diplomatic, sent a general Slack message about "being mindful of our shared workspace," which was met with a flurry of supportive emoji reactions and was completely ignored by the person it was intended for. Now we're in a state of quiet desperation. Our pod has become an arms race of noise-canceling headphones, all turned up to unhealthy volumes just to drown out the daily concert. We're all too non-confrontational to say something directly to him, and our manager's soft approach failed. I'm at my wits' end. I don't want to be the office snitch, but also I am seconds away from marching to HR over a band called "Attack! Attack!"
How people voted
- Bad Move — 30% (76 votes)
- Needs Context — 46% (118 votes)
- Reasonable — 24% (61 votes)
Readers say “Needs Context” (46%) — 255 votes and 5 comments so far.
What people are saying
@tateee — Time to fight fire with fire. I'd bring in my own speaker and start blasting Baby Shark until he submits.
@jaredkay — Your entire office has a conflict avoidance problem and it's not his fault you collectively can't set a boundary.
@kiraok — Soft.
@alyssamaybe — My first job out of college, a guy clipped his fingernails at his desk every single monday morning. This is bad, but it could be worse.
@karaliterally — nah this is a social experiment now you have to see it through
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