Remember the reader whose coworker coughed all day long? Here’s the update:
My particular situation resolved itself, which is lucky for me but not so helpful for other people dealing with the same thing.
In my case, I found out that the coughing woman has asthma and sees a doctor regularly. I think she managed to get better medication or treatment within the last few months because I haven’t heard her cough in a long time. She also is out of the office more now — I think she works from home part of the week. I never did speak to HR about it so I don’t know what would have happened with that.
Of course, now we have a new situation. At this time there are two different women on our floor who scream when they sneeze! Sounds bizarre but it’s true. I might hear this scream-sneeze a few times a week, so it’s not interfering with much. But honestly, when the sneezer closer to me lets loose, it sounds just like someone screaming from fright but with a sneeze tacked on to the end. Neither sneezer covers her mouth or muffles the sneeze as far as I can tell. When it happens we all jump for a moment and then make light of it (not much else TO do). I wish I could make a recording of it. It just goes to show you that in any work place, if it’s not one thing, it’s another.
The real mystery is what would HR or management do if we complained. I still have no idea if there’s a policy surrounding unintentional but disruptive noises.
{ 59 comments… read them below or add one }
If it isn’t one thing, it’ll be something else, won’t it? Wow. I feel bad for the woman with asthma though! Scream-sneezing, not so much. I mean, you can’t help the *way* you sneeze, really, but you can try to cover your mouth or something! Which you should be doing when you sneeze anyway, I would think!
I have a close family member who is a loud sneezer and it drives me nuts! However, I wonder if your office may have a dust or mold problem (my current office is crazy dusty) that is causing all this respiratory issues?!
True! It sounds like there’s an awful lot of problems going on there!
+1. Are you sure your office isn’t the cause of the crazy respiratory issues your colleagues have? I’d keep an eye out.. YOU could be next!
Different Issue – does this website look funny to anyone else right now? It has lost its format, or whatever it is called… is this only my computer?
That happened on my computer about five minutes ago, but now it’s working.
It doesn’t look funny today (it did yesterday), but I don’t see the most recent posts, unless I click into the December archives.
Sorry about that! A temporary glitch while we were fixing some other stuff. If anyone is still having problems, let me know!
Both my grandmother and my aunt scream-sneeze. I jump every time, and then give thanks that my mother didn’t inherit this the way my aunt did. I’d have been hospitalized for shell-shock by the time I was 6.
I once had hiccups nearly constantly for a few days. (And then for some time just hiccupped a LOT.
Loudly.
Classic, loud HIC-CUPS!
I heard about it from my coworkers, but really, what was I to do? It was just one of those things.
I am now convinced that the OP and I work (well, worked – I am no longer there) for the same company.
Mmm, yeah. I was sympathetic to the asthma thing, but how someone sneezes is really not in their control. I am fortunate to have a sneeze that’s not scary, but I know of people that do, and nothing they do helps. It’s how their body functions. I would suggest the OP dig in deeper in their iPod/headphones. :) It’s what I do.
totally don’t want to nitpick….but do you really have NO control over how you sneeze? I’m a quiet sneezer so I have no idea what it’s like to be a screamer (lol) but to me it seems like you usually know it’s coming and could control yourself, no?
Oh the conversations you probably didn’t think you’d read on a management / employment blog!
Put it this way: do you REALLY have no control over how loud you are when you and your significant other are………?
Some people are quiet, some people are screamers. Just the way it is.
I am one of those “loud sneezers” … unfortunately. Even when I know it is coming, there isn’t much I can do to control it. I’ve tried.
It is embarrasing to have people ask if you are ok after you sneeze, to hear someone say “bless you” – when they are the next isle over in the store, or to have the Sr. Management Team open the door to a sound-proofed conference room for the sole purpose of saying “bless you”.
I can almost guarantee, the sneezers hate the way they sneeze as much as you do.
I am a very loud sneezer. When I sneeze at home, it sounds like a grenade going off. But when I am at work, I am very conscious of this, and I can absolutely minimize this by 1) sneezing into a handy tissue I always have at the ready, and 2) relaxing my throat a little. But I can imagine some people just can’t do this. My coworker is like this–he practically screams, which is very annoying, and which is why I make a concerted effort NOT to be so loud.
Your headphones are your friend. I wear mine all the time, even when nothing is playing!
If you look for it, or even just let it intrude into your world, there will always be someone and something that bothers you. Choose to not let it in. After all, we are each of us annoying to someone, somewhere. Pay the tolerance forward. /preachy preachy paragraph sorry
One guy in our office SHOUTS when he sneezes – it is so loud that we all jump. It is as if he is trying to make it as loud as possible. I know that when I sneeze, I can make it louder if I want to.
Actually… you can change the way you sneeze. Unbeknownst to me, I used to have a loud, shrill sneeze. Someone at work mentioned it to me (brave soul), and I simply modified the way I sneezed. Relaxing my throat and face muscles lowered the pitch and made my sneeze much less of a public nuisance. When visiting home I found out where I got it from – my mom!! It’s actually painful to hear, but she’s not interested in changing it.
This is absolutely true. To some extent you can’t really help it if you have a powerful sneeze, but that doesn’t apply when it’s your actual voice making the noise and not the sneeze itself. There’s not really any excuse for shrieking while you sneeze except that you are inconsiderate of those around you.
So while it may not be a conscious choice, it is certainly a bad habit that a polite person should take steps to eliminate. I bet if these ladies were sitting in the middle of a church sermon they’d be able to muffle their sneezes.
As a loud sneezer, I am very embarrassed. I always cover my mouth (and I always try to muffle). I also never sneeze just once – it’s like 7-8 times in a row.
For people that don’t cover their mouth – ask them to, “would you mind covering your mouth when you cough/sneeze?” If they get upset by that, they have issues.
I sneeze in twos!
There’s a gal in my office who also sneezes no less than 5 times in a row – sometimes nearing 10. The first sneeze is obviously a sneeze, and the rest sound almost like a cough/sneeze (snough?).
I’ve never understood people who will not cover their mouth when they sneeze. I don’t care how little of a sneeze you can visibly see – it’s there, and it’s gross – cover your darn mouth!
If you don’t want to sneeze on your hands, use your elbow. Pull out your collar and sneeze into your shirt. Heck, even a piece of paper is preferable to projectile snot and condensation.
I wish more companies would take advantage of the cleaning power of nature and use windows that will open, to let a healthy wind in and clear out the nasties that accumulate in man-made structures.
Maybe the op needs to look in the mirror a bit. Its really starting to sound whiny.
Agreed. I can’t wait to hear what the next complaint is. Oh wait, yes I can.
Even thinking about going to HR with this seems like a waste of time.
Oh thank goodness, I am not the only one that thinks this.
All of these “noises” mentioned are a REFLEX. The offender has no way to control them. They are natural bodily noises.
What is HR going to do about that?
Ayup. In six more months, it’ll be the pen-clickers. Or the toe-tappers.
Possibly the OP has problems with noise, however when we all live, commute and work on top of each other, it is not too much to ask that the noisier people be more considerate of others. No-one has to scream-sneeze, and no-one has to click a pen all day either.
My husband is a Loud Sneezer.
We’ve been married five years, together longer than that, and I still jump a mile when he sneezes. I have no advice, other than to just remember that you probably do something that bothers someone else, which is less than helpful when it comes to a solution to your problem.
For whatever it’s worth, I sit next to a group that includes a Talker, an Arguer, and a Know it All. So I kind of wish it was just someone sneezing or coughing.
My husband is also a Loud Sneezer. When he’s in close proximity, his sneeze makes my eardrums hurt.
There really is nothing that can be done about things like this. The guy that sits in the cubicle behind me had the worst cough a couple of weeks ago (almost sounded like whooping cough) and is also a chronic throat-clearer. I’m very sensitive to these types of noises so I wear my headphones and try to ignore his “biological” noises as much as possible. Who knows, maybe my chronic snacking at my desk annoys him? It’s just the way it is in an open-plan office environment.
My husband’s sneezes hurt my eardrums, too! I’m just glad to hear I’m not alone in that. It frustrates both of us…he thinks I’m too sensitive and I wish he’d give warning so I could cover my ears!
I agree that it is sounding a *teensy* bit whiney. I mean, we can’t expect a totally silent, peaceful, homogenous workplace 24/7. But I do sympathize – I can’t stand habitual throat-clearers or nose-blowers.
Would you prefer that the throat-clearer drown in their own mucus or that the nose-blower just let it drip?
My mother is a scream-sneezer. You would not believe how loud that is in an enclosed space like a car!
My husband used to be a Loud Sneezer, but thinking about it as I’m reading this, his sneezes are a lot quieter. So it is possible to quiet them down to a degree.
I can see how the OP’s complaints may seem whiny, but I can totally sympathize with her as I too can be quite sensitive to certain noises (I sometimes get irritated at even the smallest of sounds, such as foot-tapping). However, I’ll readily admit that I probably have habits/quirks myself that people get annoyed at. lol. I even once had a performance evaluation that called attention to a couple of these.
I have never heard of a scream-sneezer! Can someone describe it for me? It is just a sneeze as loud as a scream? Or is it an actual scream that accompanies the sneeze?
It sounds like someone is purposefully trying to sneeze really loudly. The whole sneezing sound is exaggerated.
It sounds like they’re exaggerating, it really does. My husband does the “ahhh-CHOOO!!!!” thing – freaked me right out the first time I heard it, because I thought he was just being dramatic. Turns out, nope.
First time he did it while we were in bed asleep I thought he was going to have to peel me off the ceiling.
Wow. Is that … allowed?
The best way I can describe it is that the “Choo” part of “Ah-choo” is screamed at what seems like full volume.
My mother’s are the opposite: it’s the “AH!” part that’s so loud. Like a high-pitched, very loud, “Aaaah!!” followed by a regular “choo.”
They’re very scary, even now that I’m an adult. They’re just so loud and unexpected! (Now I feel like we should start some sort of blog where we record and catalog these!)
Think of a women has a real feminine sounding voice (sort of squeaky) and think of them going aaah-CHOOO really loud. The Chooo part sounds like a scream.
I tried searching youtube for a clip, but I think the panda does a pretty good scream sneeze (plus it’s cute and not disgusting). Watch the mama jump:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVEZZtREsQA
Everyone must watch this!
Hee! Pandas make everything better.
I’d never heard of the scream-sneezer and now I have some concerns that I could be one of them and not even know. But, I don’t have much of an “ah” and my “choo” is always muffled since I have no warning for my sneezes and always aim for my arm. The method which, according to Mythbusters, has the least amount of spread.
I had a roommate who was an anti-climactic sneezer. Huge build up – “AH, AH, AH!” followed by an itty bitty “snit!” Drove me nuts. And my dad always sneezes in threes. Two in a row, pause (sometimes two or three pauses), then three! Our poor old dog would flip over on the first one and then wait, trembling, until the third finally came. Then he’d go back to sleep.
I wish I could ‘like’ this :D
Sometimes, I sneeze really loud. Thankfully, for some reason, it either happens when I’m outside or when I’m alone (maybe I’m a shy sneezer haha) .
With that said, at some point I would sneeze quite loud, too. I learnt the hard way that it’s better to do it quietly, lest you bring attention to yourself after… having… ahem, “things” get out of your nose :P .
I sit next to very petite polite woman who be horrified if she knew she blew her nose as loud as she does. The first time she did it I thought it was a joke. Or a 285 lb man. Don’t we all have quirks!
I have a smoker´s cough sitting on each side and a screaming cough sitting behind me. I´m really turning desperate as the screaming cough startles me several times a day (whereas the smokers are just annoying, basically). Can being startled like this several times a day be hazardous to your health? This guy makes no attempts whatsoever to cover his mouth or muffle the sound. I notice that other colleagues are annoyed and startled as well but no one says anything.
Ick! You must ask him to cover his mouth when he coughs!
I´m sorry I meant to write that he has a screaming sneeze. He sits quite far away so it doesn´t really matter if he covers his mouth for hygienic reasons, but it would at least muffle the sound.
One of the coughing smokers doesn´t cover his mouth either, but that is indeed bothering since he is sitting near me.
Loud sneezers, hackers, coughers and nose blowers are bad, but trust me, nothing is worse than the chronic whistler! I have one who sits right outside my office, and he’s a virtual iPod of whistletunes. He just won’t stop! I have to wonder though if it’s just me. I’ve asked a few others who also work near him, and they don’t seem to have an issue with it. All I can say is thank God for headphones and an office with a door that closes.
I would LOVE to hear a whistler!
I’m back in an office environment after working 4 years in a music store – all I hear is people blather about sports and the constant hum of copiers and keyboards – oh, in addition to a few screaming sneezers (thankfully they’re down the hall, but my how it travels.)
I keep my sanity by getting outside for fresh air at every opportunity. I tried my iPod, discreetly, but after 2 hours I was told to put it away. : ( They don’t approve of music here. And music keeps me motivated and improve my workflow! Grrr.
Phideaux – I am with you! I have a coworker who whistles quite beautifully but I have to put my headphones on instantly or else I feel like punching something. I don’t react that way for other noises, so I’m puzzled by my own reaction to this. Just because a whistler might conjure up images of a Disney scene with bluebirds carrying banners – it’s annoying as hell.
This scream-sneeze is hilarious. I will try to scream-sneeze the next time I feel one come on.
I tend to kind of scream-sneeze when I’m at home. In the workplace, though, I tone it down (or try to stop my sneezes). My mom has scream-sneezed since forever.
All this talk about sneezes reminds me of when Pierce was teaching Troy not to sneeze like a girl… Community reference, anyone?
I don’t scream when I sneeze, but I do sound like a small, squeaky, dog’s toy. And I can very rarely sneeze only once. It’s embarrassing, and I’m sure the OP would be having a moan about me. Luckily I don’t sneeze often, so my co-workers just laugh! It’s involuntary though – if I could master a silent, elegant sneeze, I would.
When I hiccup, I sound like a chihuahua barking. I try to alter it, but so far to no avail . . . .
I can not believe this guy is complaining about people sneezing and coughing. Is he complaining about the germs that they may spread? No! Rather the SOUND of these actions and acting like it is a big deal and should talk to HR about it. Do you not have any idea what an HR department is or does? I will give you a hint, they do NOT get people to stop coughing. It would be one thing if you were complaining about someone who talks loudly or taps on things all day long, but really, the sounds of coughing and sneezing? Grow up and get a grip! People sneeze and cough. People also have asthma, cystic fibrosis, and oh yeah, the common cold at times (all of which make people cough)! If someone sneezing and coughing is the most of your worries, then you are lucky! Most of us have more important things to worry about at work…