sector404.org

I have this problem and I need your help. A coworker of mine, who shall remain nameless, likes to chew her gum like a cow chews it’s cud. It’s loud, obnoxious, disgusting, and goes on for several hours – each and every day. There’s no doubt in my mind that our entire office can hear her incessant gum smacking, especially when the crescendo of bubble bursting begins. I’m losing my mind. I can’t get any work done unless my headphones are jammed deep into my ear canals, blasting music loud enough to drown-out the sounds of her mouth. I’m going deaf in order to earn a paycheque. (@#$%!, the blood curdling symphony of gum smaking fills my ears as I type this!) I desperately want need to say something (privately, of course), but I’m worried that:

1. my relationship with this person will suffer as a result, and working with her will become strained and awkward,
2. she will quickly return to smacking and popping her gum, because that’s the way she’s always chewed her gum, and bad habits rarely die young,
3. I’m being overly sensitive (I’m easily agitated by anyone that makes mouth noises, be it eating food, or in this case: chewing gum), because nobody else in my office seems to have any problem with her noisy gum chewing habit.

So, I put this out to all of you:

• Would you be annoyed in a similar situation?
• Should I confront my co-worker?
• Would you agree that, annoying or not, the gum-smacking is highly inappropriate behavior in a professional environment?
• Am I some sort of overly sensitive control freak that needs to be more tolerant of others’ annoying habits?

I will await the good counsel of my readers before embarking on a plan to end my misery.

UPDATE (12/18/2004): What started as a spontaneous venting of rage, caused by my office-worker’s former disgusting habit of popping and smacking her gum (yes, she stopped… hallelujah!), seems to have resonated with many, many people, and has ultimately inspired the creation of a community-based Web site (softsoundsensitivity.org), devoted to those who suffer from the same, or similar sound sensitivities as I.

Kudos to Rob, one of our commentors, for putting together this great site.