Takeover Mailbag

OK, so we got an e-mail from a reader that I think strikes a chord with a lot of people: 

One of my coworkers eats carrots every day. He is at least 10 feet away from me - I'm in my office and he is in his. The sound of his crunching is so loud and unbelievably distracting to me. Like nails on a chalkboard. I feel I need to address it, but have no idea how. 


I can totally understand this.  One of my friends from a previous job had this problem.  Initially, she thought she just hated the sounds of people eating, but then she narrowed it down to being disgusted by people she didn't like when they were eating.  For example, we were friends, so I could eat something loud like an apple next to her and she didn't have a problem.  However, if someone she didn't like was eating something near her, she would be on the verge of throwing up.


I feel this way a lot too.  If there is someone I don't like, everything they do will piss me off, but if someone is a friend, even mildly annoying things will get a pass.  So, my advice would depend on how you generally feel about this person.  If you generally like them and you get along, you could just say something to the effect of: "Hey, I know this is going to sound crazy, but for some reason, the sound of people eating drives me nuts.  Again, I know this is crazy, but do you think you could close your door or warn me when you are going to eat something crunchy?"  If a friend were to say that to me, I really wouldn't mind and would just make fun of them for it, but would close my door or go somewhere else to eat my carrots.  PS:  this dude must have night vision if he is eating this many carrots everyday.


However, if you don't like them, that's another story and will depend on your office culture.  Personally, I am a dick, so I would totally start doing passive aggressive things.  For example, whenever they start crushing carrots, you could start playing music really loudly in your office, or slam your door shut.Now, I know you can't do this all the time, or in every office, so that makes it tougher.


You could always bring a loud food in and when this dude starts eating carrots in his office, you go in there and bust open some Sun Chips and just shovel them into your mouth while you talk to him, maybe grossing him out a little but.  Fight fire with fire.


-Big Ran