I like your idea for the subtle hints to let the nose picker know his nose dealings are not appreciated. However, why not just tell the person “That’s gross and I’d appreciate if you moved or stopped doing that in my presence. Hanging a sign that says “No Nose Picking!” is just asking for that person to hang a sign saying “No Downloading Porn While You’re Working On TPS Reports (insert name here)”. You’d be surprised how vindictive people in cubes can be.

In my current office we ripped out every cube wall that wasn’t holding together the desks or the ceilings. It’s not perfect, because we are quite dispersed at the moment. But I can turn to the person beside me and talk to them without looking over a wall or getting up from my desk. Some people may need walls to maintain their own privacy, but since we took our walls down EVERYONE can voice their opinion. We don’t need scheduled meetings anymore. We have an open atmosphere to accomplish our goals.

Bing,
I’m surprised you did not tell her to get the video first and then – BE THAT WOMAN!!! Someone who does not have the basic etiquette of respecting the space of others around them, and muchless, is not embarrassed to death of doing something so disgusting in public NEEDS TO BE CALLED OUT on it. I’m sure multiple others have noticed. Get the video, say something to Picker directly and in private. Tell him not only is it offensive but it is not hygenic for computers that have multiple users, colds can be passed, etc. Document day, time, what’s said and response. GO TO MANAGEMENT. Tell them what’s going on, what you’ve done and why, how others feel. If it happens again, go to managment and request something be done. If it happens again, go to HR and tell them if it doesn’t stop, the next stop will be ?? Don’t worry about being a BI*** and take care of the problem. People will probably look at you as a leader.

Perhaps I’m digging too deep here (no pun intended), but this story seems quite unbelievable. Logistically, you say 2 computers per table, which would imply 2 people per table. You note that there is a gentlemen sitting to the nose-picker’s left (be it on another table, or on the same table), and you, which would imply you are on this gentlemen’s right (again, on the same table or the one right beside 20″ away) who are disgusted. (I’m further deducing you are on the gentlemen’s left because you say you are 14″ away, but the tables are 20″ apart, but that’s even deeper).

Yet, later you say you are practically sitting in the lap of the person on your left. However, if someone is already sitting on this gentlemen’s left, then you must be on the right (as you say you sit beside him.) So, the person to your left IS the nose-picker.

So, outside of my logical deduction that this is an altogether funny, yet either untrue or grossly exaggerated tale… there is another reason it is unbelievable.

That is, as someone with a DOCTORATE degree working in a professional environment with other DOCTORATE degreed individuals, that you or someone else has not just looked at him and said… THAT’S GROSS! with some volume that may cause others to look.

A prompt glare by 5-10 DOCTORATE degreed peers, on just how disgusting this behavior really is, would likely cause most people to promptly resign out of embarrasment or look for the first job that came available. Even for the most dense of DOCTORATE degreed individuals, this should be a wake-up call that their behavior is so far outside the norms of what the individuals peers consider acceptable, that the individual would promptly be scared to breathe without looking around to be sure it was OK first.

If you have not employed this strategy of attention-calling, it would be much safer than signs – no tangible proof, no appearance of a plot, just an in-the-moment reaction to something you found so totally repulsive your reaction was uncontrollable.

The videotape is a good idea, however I would submit said videotape to management anonymously with a letter, not hold a private screening for other employees, unless you care to be called in to a myriad of disciplinary actions.

I do not really think any of this is necessary though, because I think the whole thing is a sham, or an embellishment of outrageous proportions.

Ooh, let’s talk about dirty cubemates/officemates.

I share an office with 3 people. One complains a lot and spends a fair amount of time making personal calls, but is otherwise pretty decent. The other, superficially, seems like an okay guy — and to be fair, he’s no booger-eater. But he does have his own habits, chiefly:
- He runs in place seated at his desk. I mean he’ll be sitting there and his feet will be stomping up and down at a frantic pace.
- He listens to his MP3 player so loud that you can easily hear the music. This would not be so bad if he ever changed the 30 songs on his player, but he does not. He will listen to these same 30 songs two or three times a day. My officemate and I have brought our own music players in self-defense.
- He reads news stories aloud (without warning or introduction, just reads). Alternately, he will make a loud, emotive sound to try to cue you to ask him “What?”, upon which he will read you a news story.
- If losing an argument, he will arrogantly cite his Ivy League education as evidence that he must be right and the other party must be wrong (“Excuse me, I went to Ivy, where did you go again? State, that’s what I thought”). Apparently my hiring largely put a stop to this, since I also went to an Ivy.

Luckily, I don’t actually have to work with him. My other officemate does, and she’s very close to strangling him.

Nice, you guys!

I know the person writing about an open office full of workers with Doctorates is lying.

For whatever reason she doesn’t like ‘booger eater’, although he does no such thing, and so concocts stories to demean him. When in public, I often unwillingly overhear such ‘Simpsonesque’ comments from types similar in attitude to this lady’s. Example: ‘Eww, don’t touch that handrail, it has fecal matter on it!’

But then again, she could be telling the truth. And Bing could have a point about these cubes and open offices. I certainly despise them. I’ve only ever seen monkeys masterbate and throw feces in zoo cages which are remarkably to our cubicles and open offices.

As a banker, I am expected to exhibit a degree of tactfullness, however, one particular occasion left me embarrassed beyond expression. I was walking down the street and met a good friend and customer whose family I also knew,including my friend’s elderly father. In the course of our conversation, I casually asked how his father was doing. His comment: “My father died last month.” My comment: “Are you sure?” Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

I work in the IT department of a medium sized firm in S. Florida. Luckily, we all have offices unlike most others I know in this field. A couple of years ago, we had a gentleman work for us who decided he was going to go on a soy diet prior to a cruise he was going on in a couple months. Unfortunately, for him and us, his body didn’t digest soy very well.

The first week of his diet, I walked in that morning to a rotting odor that resembled roadkill wafting down the hallway. It got so bad that people walking into the department were looking at ALL of us funny. No one had the balls to say anything to him, so I took the lead and prompty went into his office and closed his door. I guess he couldn’t stand the noxious fumes of his own air buscuits and finally apologized to us and abandoned the diet.

To the lady dealing with the nose picker, be direct and professional. If he continues, talk to a manager and/or HR. Doctorate or not, everyone knows that kind of behaviour is offensive.

“…Some people may need walls to maintain their own privacy, but since we took our walls down EVERYONE can voice their opinion. We don’t need scheduled meetings anymore. We have an open atmosphere to accomplish our goals.” Posted By Dan, Waukesha Wisconsin

Wow. I think if I had to listen to the unsolicited opinions of everyone in my office I would go postal pretty quickly. It’s painful enough pretending to value the input of the idiots on my team who never bother to read the materials before chiming in during a meeting.

Hey Bing, while you’re adding the comments technology in the questions, how about adding a registration for us regulars so we don’t have to keep typing our names and locations every time we come here?

Jay… With the job I do if you don’t listen to everyone’s opinion someone will do something very dumb without talking to the rest of the group. And with the job I do when something dumb happens it’s seen by tens of thousands of people a day. I would rather open up the room and let people talk so that we can shoot down the idiot proposals before someone messes up something REALLY badly.

i am simply wondering if his regular health check states that “nose shows some intense erosions of inner tissues”
If that guy is in Indonesia, he would be subjected to irritated looks and disgusted faces everyday.