Colleague's Habit

DeccyJ · 01-10-2018 11:48am #1

This is not huge stuff or anything but my colleague (sits right next to me) has this habit (when I say habit, I mean every minute of every day, generally speaking).

He jitters his legs up and down at 90 miles an hour. By this I mean he bounces his heel off the ground by about an inch or two while the ball of his foot stays put on the floor. He does this at a rate of about 7 times a second (just tried it myself in an attempt to quantify it). He does this on both feet, all day, except for when he's moving around.

This also makes a noise, I reckon from the fabric of his trousers and maybe rubbing off the edge of the seat too.

It is absolutely infuriating. Does anyone have any idea how this should be approached? Our company actively encourages diversity so I'm not sure how requesting him to stop would appear.

Odelay · 01-10-2018 11:50am

I do that a lot! Don't even thing about it, glad I don't share an office.

wildlifeboy · 01-10-2018 11:52am

guy does that beside me and makes my 37 inch monitor wobble and it infuriates me too

jobbridge4life · 01-10-2018 11:54am

I 'jitter' my legs like your colleague too. It is okay now because I am not distracting colleagues but in a previous job in a call centre it was a bit of a problem. Does his shaking cause your monitor or desk to shake at all. That is how it was raised with me and I felt it was a reasonable way to do it. If your colleague reacts well try and have some patience because I shake my leg without even noticing and it took me a while to get it to stop while I worked in the call centre.

listermint · 01-10-2018 11:57am

Have you tried asking him......

What is with people letting their gripes develop internally. Open your mouth . You might get a result

wexie · 01-10-2018 12:00pm

DeccyJ wrote: »

Does anyone have any idea how this should be approached?

Talk to him?

Do it nicely though, could be just a habit, could also be a symptom of anxiety or a side effect of some medications.

Either way talking to him would be the first step.

whiskeyman · 01-10-2018 12:02pm

If it snaking the desk wobble or your monitor shake, you deffo can approach him on it.

Can you have headphones in when doing your work?

DeccyJ · 01-10-2018 12:21pm

listermint wrote: »

Have you tried asking him......

What is with people letting their gripes develop internally. Open your mouth . You might get a result

You know yourself, it can be very awkward.

wexie wrote: »

Talk to him?

Yep, it'll have to be done. Just got to choose the right moment.

Oh my god though, it is reallly annoying!

DeccyJ · 01-10-2018 12:22pm

I can hear it with my headphones in! And see it too.

Arrival · 01-10-2018 12:25pm

Slightly off topic but I just wanted to vent about the girl who sits beside me who BITES the fork when she eats at her desk and then slides the fork out between her teeth. It is absolutely dreadful to listen to, how does anyone reach adulthood without being taught that this is not how to use a fork? You gently close your lips around the fork, you don't bite steel with your teeth and then drag it along your teeth, that's so bad, your teeth should NOT be coming into contact with the fork at all...

D3V!L · 01-10-2018 12:25pm

I find it very distracting myself. Fidgeting is the sign of a weak mind.

PawneeRanger · 01-10-2018 12:49pm

DeccyJ wrote: »

Our company actively encourages diversity so I'm not sure how requesting him to stop would appear.

How exactly does this fall under 'diversity'?

Talk to him.

DeccyJ · 01-10-2018 12:50pm

PawneeRanger wrote: »

How exactly does this fall under 'diversity'?

Talk to him.

You know, if someone had a psychological/physical/medical thing that made them bounce off the walls.

OMM 0000 · 01-10-2018 12:51pm

Just talk to him about it nicely.

Ask him why he does it.

He will most likely ask if it bothers you...

You can smile a say a bit...

He will then try to do it less. But note if he has restless leg syndrome he probably can't stop doing it. In that case you could consider moving desks.

listermint · 01-10-2018 12:52pm

DeccyJ wrote: »

You know yourself, it can be very awkward.

Yep, it'll have to be done. Just got to choose the right moment.

Oh my god though, it is reallly annoying!

Dont make it awkward, make a joke about it.

hey is there a minor earthquake my desk keeps shaking

Oh its you. Are you ok ?

- job done and if they do it again say 'minor tremors again' They will eventually stop.

PawneeRanger · 01-10-2018 12:53pm

DeccyJ wrote: »

You know, if someone had a psychological/physical/medical thing that made them bounce off the walls.

Pretty big assumption there.

If it's distracting you from your work just mention it to him.

homosapien91 · 01-10-2018 12:57pm

I have a similar situation a guy who sits at the desk next to me, his chair squeaks though when he does it so every so often it would be dead silent and you will just hear the chair.

I have been listening to it for 3 years though so I'm well used to it, doesn't bother me so much, I am way too polite to say anything haha

Teyla Emmagan · 01-10-2018 1:37pm

D3V!L wrote:

I find it very distracting myself. Fidgeting is the sign of a weak mind.

Wut?

More likely it is nervous energy or he is trying to keep sharp. I do it sometimes when I am studying to keep the blood moving.

Standman · 01-10-2018 1:41pm

A guy where I work did the same thing. The woman sitting next to him politely asked him to stop. He did it a couple of times after that and she politely asked him again. Now he doesn't do it anymore. Easy and painless, and there were no hard feelings. It's really not that big of a deal.

Dial Hard · 01-10-2018 1:53pm

New guy on my pod does it and it makes the entire pod shake. Just ask him nicely to stop, he likely doesn't even realise he's doing it. My guy doesn't.

OMM 0000 wrote:

Ask him why he does it.

In fairness, it's none of the OP's business why he does it. Yer man probably doesn't even know himself. It's just a nervous habit for most people who do it.

Jem123 · 01-10-2018 1:54pm

My colleague - who sits at the desk next to me loves to eat tinned fish and leave the tin in the office bin. This has been said to her on a few occasions

barrymanilow · 01-10-2018 2:06pm

Jem123 wrote: »

My colleague - who sits at the desk next to me loves to eat tinned fish and leave the tin in the office bin. This has been said to her on a few occasions

Anytime I'm forced to sit still long enough my legs will start going mental . Not long ago we were Hunter gatherers , we are designed for climbing trees , swimming across rivers and chasing prey all day, recently enough we've been trying to force ourselves to sit still at desks for 40 hours a week , the nervous system doesn't like it.

wexie · 01-10-2018 2:19pm

Jem123 wrote: »

My colleague - who sits at the desk next to me loves to eat tinned fish and leave the tin in the office bin. This has been said to her on a few occasions

I think that's a lot more offensive and ignorant than leg shaking to be honest.

Ludikrus · 01-10-2018 2:19pm

I do it too...it drives my wife nuts. I can of course consciously stop it when asked. But I'm not aware I'm doing it and will start again when I'm concentrating on something. I have two brothers who do it as well.

BrokenArrows · 01-10-2018 2:21pm

DeccyJ wrote: »

This is not huge stuff or anything but my colleague (sits right next to me) has this habit (when I say habit, I mean every minute of every day, generally speaking).

He jitters his legs up and down at 90 miles an hour. By this I mean he bounces his heel off the ground by about an inch or two while the ball of his foot stays put on the floor. He does this at a rate of about 7 times a second (just tried it myself in an attempt to quantify it). He does this on both feet, all day, except for when he's moving around.

This also makes a noise, I reckon from the fabric of his trousers and maybe rubbing off the edge of the seat too.

It is absolutely infuriating. Does anyone have any idea how this should be approached? Our company actively encourages diversity so I'm not sure how requesting him to stop would appear.

Just ask him to stop as its making noise, or shaking the floor, whatever.

Its not like you need to tell him he smells or something. Its just a habbit.

I used to do that too but stopped after i moved to a new office and i made a notably large noise on the wooden floors. Nobody had to tell me, just noticed myself.

BrokenArrows · 01-10-2018 2:25pm

listermint wrote: »

Dont make it awkward, make a joke about it.

hey is there a minor earthquake my desk keeps shaking

Oh its you. Are you ok ?

- job done and if they do it again say 'minor tremors again' They will eventually stop.

No need to even joke.

Just say it straight.

"Hey jake, when you tap your feet it makes noise and shakes the desks. "

Thats all you have to say and unless he is a complete nut he will get the point to stop.

If he continues then just say. "Hey jake, seriously stop tapping your feet"

Wanderer2010 · 01-10-2018 3:17pm

My workmate is a women in her 50s whos awful at technology and she NARRATES everything she does out loud when shes opening Outlook or Word etc. She will literally sit down and go "ok so control alt delete log on...whats my password again, ok so email here from so and so." Then when using Word she will be consulting her handbook which was given to her to do most of the basic things in Word but when she does something wrong like go into Page Break view or something she literally recoils in fear as if her screen turned into a bomb. It was torture at first but now I have the earphones in I don't tune into her.

Nice woman and she only works part time but the oddest habit ive ever seen in all my jobs.

mrcheez · 01-10-2018 3:50pm

Hell is: other people

DeccyJ · 01-10-2018 4:53pm

PawneeRanger wrote: »

Pretty big assumption there.

If it's distracting you from your work just mention it to him.

No huge assumption. Just don't want to approach it the wrong way just in case there's an underlying issue. Who knows what people are dealing with.

I'm dealing with a leg jigger, for example.

_Brian · 01-10-2018 9:11pm

Yea.
I do that too without thinking about it. I know it annoys my wife a fair bit and sometimes she asks me to stop, but it’s off again in a few minutes without me knowing.

DeccyJ · 01-10-2018 9:27pm

_Brian wrote: »

Yea.
I do that too without thinking about it. I know it annoys my wife a fair bit and sometimes she asks me to stop, but it’s off again in a few minutes without me knowing.

Oh dear.

theballz · 03-10-2018 11:08am

DeccyJ wrote: »

This is not huge stuff or anything but my colleague (sits right next to me) has this habit (when I say habit, I mean every minute of every day, generally speaking).

He jitters his legs up and down at 90 miles an hour. By this I mean he bounces his heel off the ground by about an inch or two while the ball of his foot stays put on the floor. He does this at a rate of about 7 times a second (just tried it myself in an attempt to quantify it). He does this on both feet, all day, except for when he's moving around.

This also makes a noise, I reckon from the fabric of his trousers and maybe rubbing off the edge of the seat too.

It is absolutely infuriating. Does anyone have any idea how this should be approached? Our company actively encourages diversity so I'm not sure how requesting him to stop would appear.

I used to work with a guy who did the same, he was a friend so I was comfortable enough telling him to STFU and stop doing that - which he tried his best to do.

Turned out he had a serious drug problem and the shakes where a result of that (he told me in confidence over some beers)

DaraDali · 03-10-2018 11:33pm

DeccyJ wrote: »

Oh dear.

I also do this about once a day at work. it's more natural than scratching my head! I actually have to put my hand on my knee to stop me or my leg gets tired after about 5mins, but I only do it one leg at a time :cool:

My opinion is buy better headphones or move desk !