Now, I like 1:1 meetings with people I know - they're rarely a surprise and I'm much more effective in controlled environments. Most of my interactions aren't like that though. In the main office I keep getting distracted, I cannot help it. I don't like distracting others, work has changed over the last five or so years and not for the better. I cannot tell what others are thinking or trying to imply - it's almost impossible for me. The place where I work employs some, well, let's just say - colourful characters and as a result, it's
doubly hard for me to cope with them.
These are some of the things I cannot bear as a result of being in an office environment:
- Somebody banging their keyboard like they're squashing an army of invisible ants
- Broken equipment being dumped on my desk during whilst I'm not there
- Sudden shouts and hollering at the monitor
- Unplugged wiring
- A constant untreated hacking cough (I don't just mean somebody with a cold - worse than that..
- People holding a conversation over my head
- Hot food/fish sandwiches etc
That said, I acknowledge that I can also be annoying too, by doing these things:
- Sudden shrieking bursts of unexplained laughter
- Inability to moderate my volume
- Odd or eccentric conversations/pieces of trivia
- Non sequiturs
I like to get out and about at lunchtime - sometimes I'll do a circuit around the lake of a nearby park, but otherwise I'll leave the building and to ensure that I gain at least ten to fifteen minutes' worth of activity. If I don't do this it means that there's no specific division between morning and afternoon and in the autumn and winter months humans need light and air, even if it is of the central London kind!
I return to the office and eat my lunch - it's almost always of a packed variety - sandwiches, crisps, fruit etc. I have a hiatus hernia which has been exacerbated by weight and this often causes painful digestive problems if I'm stressed out. Last week I passed another team who are located further up the corridor and they were all seated and consuming a fish and chip lunch - it smelt very strongly indeed.
