Snapping Gum

[li10up]

Ok, I know that my username is li10up but for 3 days now a co-worker has been snapping/popping her gum like crazy. I finally went to the guys next door and asked if they'd noticed it. They said yes and I asked if it was starting to bother them and they said yes. After another 30 minutes of it I went to her and told her I was going to have to start calling her Betty. Betty is someone we all have remarked about popping her gum in our ears as we talk to her over the phone. She got what I was saying and said that she had gotten some really good gum...good for popping. I asked her when her pack was going to run out...I tried saying it in as pleasant and joking manner as possible while still trying to make my point. She said she'd try to stop but she has been going at it all day!!! Two minutes later she was popping away again! Then when I said something to her later about something else she seemed cool. I'm not close to anyone in the office but she is probably the person I am closest too. Why can't I just keep my mouth shut?!? Was I wrong to say something?

[lph]

It's a bit late for this maybe, but depending on your (and her) personality, over-the-top "anger", with a grin, works.

Like "AAGH! I'm going nuts in here! Will you STOP that? If you don't stop that popping soon, I swear I'm going to STRANGLE you!!"

But this only works if you're on top of it and can laugh at it, in a sincere way.

This is what my next-door office mate does when I play music he doesn't like or talk too loudly on the phone

[Duck on Wheels]

Just heard an incredibly loud vacuum cleaner running outside my hotel door here. Then one cleaner calls out to another, "Betty!" What is it with Betties and noise?

[teigyr]

You are a LOT like me, I can't keep my mouth shut and there are things that drive me bonkers.

I wonder if she is dieting, quitting smoking, or has something else going on?

It's always better to say something instead of letting it build up. I agree that joking is always best (ie "don't make me throw this stapler at you!") and if that fails, then you have to be direct and serious. Maybe someone else could talk to her with you? I usually have other people do my dirty work because I have trouble being calm and logical. I tend to take stuff personally, like they are doing what they're doing specifically to annoy me. Sounds narcissistic

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Snapping gum is like chewing food with your mouth open.
I'd want to kill her.
You may have to talk to the boss....that kind of distracting irritating noise can be really bad for work productivity. It's like people who hum aimlessly.

Give her some mints to keep her mouth busy instead. Hmmm....she probably start sucking on them really loudly though, smacking her lips.... How about a pacifier?

[Tuckervill]

I would say:

"I must not have been clear when I told you earlier how much the gum popping is bothering me. I'm sure you're not doing it on purpose, but I am having a hard time concentrating with the gum popping going on. Would you please try not to pop the gum?"

Then, the next time, "I can hear your gum. Would you please stop?"

Then, the next time, "Gum. Please?"

After that, I would be sure she was doing it on purpose and I would have to have another talk with her, and then let her know I'd have to go to the boss.

Is she talking on the phone while she's doing this? More reason to go to your boss.

Karen

[Deanna]

I'm not sure if this is a very professional way to handle it, but if you have the option of dialing up her voice mail without the phone ringing, you could then hold up your handset to record her gum popping. Maybe when she hears how annoying it really is she'll stop.

[sbctwin]

I am not one for confrontation, but that would drive me up a wall . I can't stand it when people do disgusting things like that...it is like someone dragging their fingernails on a chalk board. I must be super sensitive to stuff like that. I have had to ask a few cube mates to either get a set of headphones when listening to music or offer them an extra set I keep at my desk. I really do run away from confrontation, but there are times that something must be said. Sometimes, though, I can't bring myself to say anything when something annoys me and so I 'make a scene' at my desk by rattling and banging things. Very passive aggressive

[northstar]

Ummm, I had a coworker at whom I'd throw chocolate over the cube wall.

Has anyone else said anything to her?

If it keeps up, can you request to move your desk away from her? It would drive me NUTS!!!

[mtbdarby]

After I read this I spit my gum out

I always snap my gum when I have it, it's almost an unconscience nervous thing I do like pick at my fingernails. But my jaws get tired quick and I spit it out. If she's like me and you've only mentioned it once she's probably forgetting it because she's concentrating on work and doing it unconsciencously. I'd try Tuckerville's suggestion so she thinks of it.

Then throw a cushball/stressball at her if she forgets Good luck!

[li10up]

Thanks for the suggestions. The intraoffice dynamics here are very strained. Half of the people are at war with at least one other person. People here are quite the backstabbers/gossipers. That's why I've always kept my distance...too much drama. But that just seems to have put me in the catagory of "outsider". I'm one of only 3 supervisors and I think I have the reputation of being the hard@$$. That's why I don't want to strain the one decent relationship I have. Oh well...chalk one more up for me in the b*tch column. It's kind of funny though....I'm not "friends" with anyone yet I have a good "working" relationship with all of them. Ugh!

[lauraelmore1033]

Gum snapping is a guilty pleasure of mine which I only indulge in when I am alone--but sometimes I forget to stop when I am not alone. Even so, it drives me crazy when other people do it and I do not hesitate to spit out the gum when someone calls attention to it. I think you would have to be totally clueless or a little hostile to continue snapping away when someone has said something.

[li10up]

Here we go again. Another office mate has been popping her gum for the last couple of weeks too. It's like they alternate days. I just went to the other one and said, "I don't want to be rude but I can hear your gum popping all the way down the hall. Is there any way you can stop?" She told me that she has quit smoking (that was like a year ago) and is trying to lose weight so she basically needs to pop her gum - it relaxes her. She told me to just close her door. I can still hear her though!

What is the world coming to when we don't even have common courtesy anymore? My parents taught me to not snap my gum when I was 4!

What are you supposed to do when you politely ask someone to stop doing something that is impolite but they don't care and keep on doing it?

I don't think the suggestions given here previously will work. I told the boss that I said something to the both of them but he just got a panicked look on his face - like he was afraid I was going to ask him to do something about it - he doesn't like confrontation at all.

I know others don't like it but everyone is afraid to say anything.

I'm starting to hate this place!

[Velobambina]

LOL--I hate loud/popping gum chewers. Audible breathers also can be annoying.

A couple years ago, I didn't have a private office and a nasty-girl's cube abutted mine. This was the 30 year old who wore low-rider slacks with no undies and would bend over sex-kitten style. It was not pretty. She hated other white females--saw us all as her "competition" for male attention (in my opinion, the minority ladies were prettier than the group of white women in that office but she didn't see them as a threat to her being the Alpha). I guess that's besides the point but you get where I'm going here.

Anyway, she used to talk on the phone incessantly (personal calls--really loud voice to get attention) and would play Sarah McLaughlin "I Believe" over and over again. I no longer can stand Sarah's music. It was that bad. Here's my solution: I brought in a WHITE NOISE machine and played it. I didn't have to listen to her insipid phone conversations or her endless "I Believe" loop. It was like an electric Zen machine. It didn't interfere w/the work place, either.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I rode the train into NYC this weekend for the first time in a couple of years.
I commented to DH on all the people chewing gum. Thankfully, they were not popping or snapping their gum. BUT....half of them were chewing it with their mouths open all the time. HOW GROSS IS THAT!???!

Even the women were chewing gum with their mouths open, like a bunch of cows working on their cud. Do they know how much it makes them look like morons??

GROSS.