[Arizhel]

>in the space making a phone call, moving a pound of mucus from one sinus cavity to another, playing desk bongos along with their headphones, or any of the thousand other ways that normal humans can be distracting.

Most of this stuff is not "inconsiderate"; it's just how humans are. People need to make or take phone calls sometimes; how else are you supposed to schedule doctors' appointments and do other life tasks, unless you have a personal secretary (which these companies no longer provide us)? People get sick and need to blow their noses. People get bored and need music (the presence of music in all human cultures, from the dawn of civilization, shows it to be pretty close to a primal need).

The fundamental problem is that humans are not biologically designed to be packed into seated arrangements for hours on end, working quietly without distracting each other. We invented "rooms" for largely this reason, and having separate homes instead of living in one giant communal space, because when we pack ourselves into denser arrangements, we still value having some privacy from one another.

[pklausler]

Responsible adults can go use a phone room, blow their noses, and not tap their fingers on their desktops. It's not that hard to be considerate.

[Arizhel]

Phone rooms don't work. I can't predict the future, so I have no way of knowing exactly what time an incoming phone call will occur. Maybe you can do that, but most of us can't.

Blowing noses? Isn't that what you're complaining about? Or just sniffling? If someone's sick with a cold, they're going to be doing a lot of both. It's not like you can blow your nose once and be good for the rest of the day; if it was like that, then you wouldn't have coworkers sniffling all day long. People get sick. Deal with it.

As for tapping fingers, how's that any more annoying that key clicks, foot tapping, or constant movement? People do all those things too. The fact is, people move. They cannot sit perfectly still and use the minimum necessary motion. Deal with it.

You're asking for people to be super-human. That isn't reasonable or possible. People are what they are, so you need an environment which accounts for that. If you don't have that, then it's management's fault, not the peoples' fault for just being what they are.

Honestly, you sound like someone complaining about cats licking their butts and dogs drooling.

[jaredsohn]

>Phone rooms don't work. I can't predict the future, so I have no way of knowing exactly what time an incoming phone call will occur. Maybe you can do that, but most of us can't.

You can predict that you will be talking on the phone if you are making a call (such as scheduling a doctor appointment). You can walk to a phone room when you receive a call.

[Arizhel]

>You can walk to a phone room when you receive a call.

By then, it's too late: you're now disrupted by the noisy phone ringer, and the start of the conversation.

And what if the phone room is occupied? If the company is really cheap with space, they probably didn't put enough private rooms in to satisfy demand.