Newsroom chatter distracting?

There's no cheering in the pressbox. Certainly no cheering in the newsroom.

 

Yeah.

Well, it's just a pissing match that I got caught in the middle of, I think.

Some people don't like the others, and so they get on the other person's nerves, and vice versa...I can't keep track of it all quite frankly.

It'd be nice if we could all play nice and get along, but yeah, that's not possible apparently.
I don't know. It might be worth talking it out, though. I think pent up frustration builds when you don't vent about little things, so that might be what's happening, too.

I haven't worked in a newsroom TOO long, but in the time I have been in one, I've noticed that the less people talk with one another, the more frustration builds. The more open you are with people, the easier it seems to be to get past things like that. *shrugs.*

Frankly, I would have much rather preferred it if the offended person came up to us and said "hey, jerks, we're trying to work here, could you keep it down a little or go somewhere else?"

Instead we have someone telling a supervisor and it snowballs from there.

 

There have been numerous times, especially on Fridays when the young preppies are in the office, where I've had to tell them, "What you're saying is really interesting and I'd like to hear it, but not right now. So, please take it over there and continue on." Seems to work.

 

Did these co-workers come to you guys first or just go straight to the supervisor? If they couldn't muster up the nerve to mention it to you initially, they are assbags. And your editor should have told them to stop bugging him with junior high crap like this and handle it themselves.

 

It's a newsroom, I want noise in a newsroom. I want to hear the police scanner, I want to hear a game on the TV, I want to hear sailor talk, I want activity.

 

It's a newsroom, not a sports bar.

 

What I don't want to hear much of is personal phone calls. I tell our guys to take it into the "team room" and shut the door, and I tend to do the same.

 

I have a lot more problem with people who stare daggers at someone who cheers a good play than I do someone who cheers a good play.

 

i also have a problem with an overly loud asshole come comes in on his day off because he's too cheap to buy cable or buy a drink or two at a sports bar so he can watch the game there.

 

We have two different shifts.

The day shift is pretty quiet with the occasional animated conversation about football or breaking news.

The evening shift is fun, laidback and rowdy.

Guess which shift I prefer to work?

 

Stuck at work and you want to watch "your game" and you get a bit loud = annoying, but forgivable
At work on your off day and being loud = You are a dick.

OK, that said...I am fine with newsroom noise. There is exceptions, like the guy who doesn't know that you don't have to share your entire phone conversation with the whole office...regardless if it's a source, your wife or a co-worker...lean to have an "inside voice" like normal humans. We learn that when we are 3.

We had a guy that would freak out if the office got even moderately loud. Instead of saying anything, he would just be passive aggressive about it. He would slam his chair up and down, mutter under his breath about wanting you to be quiet...or sigh loudly. Eventually if he couldn't get you to notice he was pissed and quiet down, he would just leave the room.
Of course, me being a dick...I would always point out his little tantrum and ask him what his problem is...he would look up and act like nothing was wrong.
We all knew how to set him off and would sometimes start conversations right next to his desk to drive him nuts.
Ahhh...good times.
One night, I finally had enough of him and just blasted him and called him out for all the shit he pulls.
After I left that night, he actually had the gall to ask a fellow co-worker (the only other one in the office at the time) and ask if there was trouble at home since I was in such a bad mood!

 

One of the guys on our copy desk will come in on Sundays and even some Saturdays -- when he's off -- just to watch games with his copy desk buddy or the four of us in sports. He's freaking annoying as hell because he's knows next to nothing about sports.

There are two TVs in our newsroom and ours is the only one you can see clearly, so everyone usually huddles around our TV if a big game is on -- even during afternoon/business hours.