Predicament in an Open Office 1

Bzzz, Bzzz, Bzzz. I pick up what sounds like a mob of honeybees; I look up from my desk. Who’s that? Why are they whispering? Did something dreadful happen?

I try to study their body language without being noticed. By this point, the whisperer has noticed other people staring at them, and is reacting by whispering even more quietly while peeking around anxiously, and the person being whispered to is starting to look uncomfortable.

So I speculate: Is there some crisis? Has the CEO died? or Has there been a huge fraud, and we have to stop for a big revelation? How will I reschedule my afternoon? Is someone being fired? Are there any clues like side-wards glances about who might be about to be terminated?

To stop my mind from going wild, I check their body language again and decide, perhaps it’s not severe. But my mind doesn’t stop there: Who is it they’re chattering about? I peer around hoping that the people close the whisperer might overhear talking not murmuring. Are they talking about me? Is anyone behaving like they’ve got a secret reason to think these two people might need to talk behind their back?

While searching around I accidentally make eye-contact with at least one other person who’s doing the same thing I am, this is very awkward but amusing.

So I shake my head and conclude the whisperers are just being needlessly obscure, and I get disheartened, resenting the whisperer for distracting me and making a professional office feel like something from a high school drama.

So, Is it just me or people whispering, murmuring and mumbling in the office to avoid disturbing others are more irritating than if they just spoke the normal way?