Dealing with a constantly interruptive co-worker 10

[Mike555]

I have a co-worker who sits in the cubicle next to me who is always interrupting me for no good reason!!!! This woman is older, in her mid-70s I'd guess, and is the office secratery. She basically does little tasks like ordering office supplies, sending faxes, etc. When she has little to do, which is quite often, she'll casually start a conversation with me from her cubicle. She also quite frequently walks over into my cubicle and just starts talking regardless of what I'm doing. On the average day I'm interrupted at least 15 times! She never talks about anything work-related....it's always about someone in her family, or the weather, or her dog, or her most recent doctor's visit, or a tv show she watched the night before.

Yesterday while at my desk replacing a hard drive, she stood at the entrance of my cubicle watching the whole process and asking questions the entire time! She loves talking to me even more when I'm on lunch. Most days I just like to eat lunch at my desk surfing the web and tek-tipping. Lately I've been going out to lunch more and more to avoid her, but I hate having to spend money going out to eat just to avoid her.

My tactfullness doesn't seem to work. When she interrupts me I try to say things like "I'm busy right now and can't talk", but she just won't stop! Here's an example of an actual conversation that happened last week:

Her: "I wanted to ask you something. I was having trouble pulling up my e-mail last night at home. What could I check to fix this?"
Me: "Well actually I'm in the middle of something right now, but how about we talk about this later when I have some free time?"
Her: "Ok no problem. I was just hoping you would be able to help me. My husband is really upset that e-mail isn't working because he needs to check if someone from ebay sent him an e-mail"
Me: "Ok I'll get back to you later."
Her: "It was giving us some strange message about a password, but we never have to enter a password."
Me: "Like I said, I'll get back to you about it."
Her: "I tell you what, my husband doesn't get upset too often, but when his e-mail doesn't work he gets heated. I just got off the phone with him and he still can't get into e-mail. The last time I saw him this upset is when a power surge ruined our PC. That was, oh, I'd say about 2 years ago. No wait, 3 years ago....I think. Let's see it was right after Christmas when our daughter was visting. It was the first time she visited our new house......

You get the idea. I've only been at the job a little less than 5 months. This woman has been with the company for 9 years, and I certainly don't want to take this issue to my boss and have him think that this 'little-old lady' is too much for me to handle.

Has anyone else had experience dealing with these types of co-workers?

--
Mike

Why make it simple and efficient when it can be complex and wonderful?

 

[shortone]

If they are bored, offer to let them paint... assign them work... "Is your room cleaned up?" You need to train them to take care of the house they'll live in after they're adults anyway... why not use it to silence them...

Thanks for the suggestion, but this usually doesn't work with my kids, and I guess at 18 and 21, my girls are really adults (although they still ACT like teens!). I've tried - I get a phone call at work, "Mom, I'm bored." "And I can help you HOW? Why don't you clean the ferret's cage/take him out to play/do the dishes/do your laundry/call your friends/etc." "I'm not THAT bored! Uh, I'll talk to you later..." Click. I think, in these cases, $$$ talks. If you don't help, you don't get $$$. It's amazing how a "lack" of those jeans/CD/whatever they've just GOT to have will motivate a person to become a lot more helpful around the house. As far as the painting goes, the bathroom WAS a bit small for more than one person to tackle at one time, so I just blasted the Salsa and painted away - after I was done, the youngest started adding decorative touches (flowers, vines,etc.) to the plain white cabinet and toilet paper holder - looks great so far and was a pleasant surprise. She's now trying to figure out what to paint on the cabinet doors. The LIVING ROOM, however, will be a different story - I'll have to up the stakes a bit - maybe throw in a border or something (I'll have to start watching "Trading Spaces" again...hahaha).

Back to the post at hand - unfortunately, the folks here at work cannot help me, as I am basically the "Lone Ranger" in what I do here. I start talking to them about databases, queries, etc., and the "glazed eye" look comes over them. I try to get that look when they are yapping at me, but it doesn't seem to deter them.....they just keep talking... Funny, how easily we can equate our co-workers with children - lots of similarities in this particular case....maybe I should keep a "prize jar" at my desk. "You can pick anything you want out of here, if you just leave me alone until 2:30." Hmmmmm......

JayeD
"I'm sure of two things: there IS a God, and I'm NOT Him!" - R. Williams

 

[Dollie]

You're not busy right now are you?

I hate to interrupt but......

 

[Stella740pl]

Susan

Actually, Tom Sawyer ...

I know, I read it, too . Well, long ago, and not in English, but it was still the same book.

I'm not sure if this approach will work with teenagers!

It could, depending on the job description and your artistic abilities.

But we've wandered far off topic.

 

[Onyxpurr]

Shortone - I wish I had your problem with co-workers. Mine are more than happy to talk about databases. As a matter of fact, our Training manager know calls our meetings "shopping". LOL And she "shops" frequently.

I never get out of a conversation around here without an added feature or two. Heck! I'm lucky now if I get out of a meeting without a new database!

Hmmmm, maybe I'm the one who stops by too much! LOL