Coughing workmate

LegacyUser

I work in a small company (me and three others). We took on this guy recently on that jobbridge scheme and he has a disgusting irritataing habit; he coughs a lot.
He smokes rollies (which I assume are made from very strong tobacco) and goes outside to smoke them but while he is in the office he coughs quite a lot. Sometimes he makes disgusting wheezing coughs, othertimes "fits" of coughing.
I don't know what the hell this guy is playing at, he's got a serious health problem yet it doesn't seem to bother him. It bothers me quite a lot because I cannot concentrate on my work listening to this. It's really annoying and I would imagine not very healthy either. My boss works in the same office as me, I'm not sure if it annoys him, I'd be surprised if it doesn't.
I get around it by listening to music on my earphones but I have to have it on really loud to drown it out (Led Zep usually :-))
I don't want to put my boss in an uncomfortable position (he is an OK guy) but it' getting too much for me now.

drunkmonkey

Be a good work buddy and buy him a packet of olbas jelly pastiels you can get them in any chemist and only cost a few euro, that should clear out his chest and head a bit and clear off the cough or at least take the bark out of it.
Cold weather and smokers don't mix well. Could be the best investment you ever make.

RangeR

I wear earphones all day. Not "in ear" but the big ear muffs. Does the trick for me...

Eoin

@ThelotusKid - post deleted, please keep the funnies for another forum.

LegacyUser

It's nothing to do with the weather, he's like that all the time

Denerick

I think you're either being intolerant or over sensitive. Have you, like, tried to not let it bother you? This seems a bit highly strung to me.

LegacyUser

Denerick wrote: »

I think you're either being intolerant or over sensitive. Have you, like, tried to not let it bother you? This seems a bit highly strung to me.

OK You try
1. Asking someone a question
2. Having a meeting
3. Trying to work out a coding problem

while listening to that

Eoin

^ I wouldn't bother getting into an argument, it's not helping your question.

I don't want to put my boss in an uncomfortable position (he is an OK guy)

A large part of management is having difficult conversations with staff. If it's affecting you, then raise your concerns with him. It's his job to deal with stuff like that.

Lemmewinks

Denerick wrote: »

I think you're either being intolerant or over sensitive. Have you, like, tried to not let it bother you? This seems a bit highly strung to me.

WTF? I wouldn't want some oblivious idiot having coughing-fits in my ear all day long either - it's disgusting & distracting & irritating.

lucycat

HR or your boss are your best bet. We had a similar thing in work last year with a contractor who refused to take time off sick cos they dont get paid for sick days. Fair enough, no-one likes losing money and that, but it got to the stage where people were really, really annoyed.

In the end someone went to the boss, who went to HR, who called the coughing dude into a meeting and told him he had to take time off work to sort it out. They were strict with this guy I think cos we'd often have clients in with us, and they weren't impressed with it either. So I'd recommend you either talk to the boss or try to get HR involved. Hopefully it gets sorted out soon, I dont think people realise just how annoying and distracting it is until they are in that situation!:rolleyes:

LegacyUser

lucycat wrote: »

HR or your boss are your best bet. We had a similar thing in work last year with a contractor who refused to take time off sick cos they dont get paid for sick days. Fair enough, no-one likes losing money and that, but it got to the stage where people were really, really annoyed.

In the end someone went to the boss, who went to HR, who called the coughing dude into a meeting and told him he had to take time off work to sort it out. They were strict with this guy I think cos we'd often have clients in with us, and they weren't impressed with it either. So I'd recommend you either talk to the boss or try to get HR involved. Hopefully it gets sorted out soon, I dont think people realise just how annoying and distracting it is until they are in that situation!:rolleyes:

He hasn't been too bad the last few days, maybe the way I put on my earphones the minute he starts at it got the message to him. I'd say it's maybe a sub-conscious thing with him, he can stop if he wants to.
It's not very healthy though and damn annoying as you say.