My colleague is attention-seeking and noisy. How do I make them stop?

We work in a very small office space. In the middle is a cupboard filled with various odds and ends. Noise from this part of the office tends to travel throughout the rest of the office.

A colleague periodically makes a huge ruckus in the cupboard – doors are slammed, items are dropped, tools are used and there are sometimes shouts of exasperation. At first, I thought this was someone having a rough day at the office. But it constantly happens and it’s clearly attention seeking.

I have had a quiet word to this person, asking whether I can help. I have mentioned that I’m asking because the noise is obvious. They insist I can’t help but they don’t take the hint that this constant racket is distracting and needs to stop. What else could I try?

The solution might not be simple or obvious, and if a reprimand is required, there may be unpleasant conversations.Credit: John Shakespeare

Surely when someone is frequently causing a disturbance at work, a leader’s job is to intervene – whether to help them, to guide them towards a different way of operating or to discipline them. I can’t believe how often it falls on people at the same or lower level as the person causing the problem to find an answer or make a stand.

With no such intervention forthcoming, I think you did the right thing by subtly bringing up the noise and offering to help. Asking whether you can ease some of the burden seems like a sensible step to me. I can see how you would be a little bit frustrated that your polite enquiry led to no change in this activity.

If you really feel you’re the only person willing to do anything, perhaps a gentle step up from this approach would be to ask a similar question as the cacophony is in full swing.

You might even begin by telling the person that you could hear their noise from a long way away. If you don’t want to be quite so blunt, you could say the noise was so loud it startled you, and you wanted to check if they were all right.

This may also be an opportunity to ask precisely what they’re doing – not in an accusatory way, but just to get an idea of the problem they’re trying to solve. Is this a task that inherently needs to be done at regular intervals?

Is it a fault or failure that keeps coming back? If it’s neither of these things, the question I’d want to get to the bottom of is why this banging, smashing and yelling is happening so often.

You mentioned that what they’re doing is “clearly attention seeking”. This connotes a juvenile desire to provoke in some way. That may be precisely what’s happening, but I do wonder if there’s a slightly different reason for these noises.

Could they in fact be the sounds of a person genuinely but inexpertly attempting to fix a problem? And if not – if they are, as you suggest, deliberately exaggerated – what if this is your colleague’s way of underscoring that a job has been unfairly placed on their shoulders. Or that the job is technically theirs, but one they simply don’t have the tools or skills to do properly?

I can see how their yelling and obvious displeasure would be incredibly annoying for you and others in the building. But it may not be quite as silly or cynical as you think.

But all of what I’ve said is really a second- or third-best course of action. As I mentioned at the start, what should really be happening is that a manager should be stepping in and trying to end this distraction.

The solution might not be simple or obvious, and if a reprimand is required, there may be unpleasant conversations. But finding ways of resolving complex problems and engaging in challenging discussions is part of just about all managers’ burden of responsibility.

The noise is obviously a problem, but a larger concern may be the indifference or impotence of your workplace leaders.

Send your Work Therapy questions to [e-mail]

Get workplace news, advice and perspectives to help make your job work for you. Sign up for our weekly Thank God it’s Monday newsletter.