All the chatter... confessions.

I have a confession...  I try to accomplish all my work within the first 2 hours of being at work.  I'm sure that's how the rumors that I don't work get started because people come by in the middle of the day and see me on FB or some other non-work-related-website and they assume that I'm just not doing my work.  Well you see, what happened was, I did all my work, and now I'm just waiting for the daily tasks that come throughout the day that require my attention.  I did all my work in the morning before all the people started needing things from me so that way I wouldn't be interrupted from actual work when they did come in needing stuff.

Isn't that awesome?  And yes, I'm aware that people have complained about me "not doing work" before.  I'm still trying to figure out who was getting all that work accomplished if I wasn't doing it!

I have another confession...  I hate when people feel the need to fill every.single.moment.ever with noise.  Particularly whistling (which gives me a headache) or talking (incessantly).  This feeling of hate is intensified when I am actually trying to accomplish a task.  I might claim to be a master multi-tasker, but recently, that skill has been put to the test by someone who likes to talk a lot.  I appreciate their life experiences but there are times (like 77% of my day) where I appreciate the silence.  Don't get me wrong, I also enjoy conversations every now and then (that other 33%), but when I'm trying to work, respectfully, STFU.  When someone important is in our office, its not necessary to finish your story of how you pushed the rules right then.  When one of the bosses comes in to do tasking, STFU.  Even if your conversation isn't with the person being tasked, you are unbearably distracting.

I have another confession... I thought I was chatty.  I was wrong.  As I get older, I seem to appreciate the silence more and more.  Maybe that's why blogging is one of my favorite pastimes.  It's a quiet sport.  I mean, granted I'm "talking" to my Gentle Readers, but you can choose to read this or not, just like I choose to write this or not.  The only real noises are the soothing sounds of my fingers on the keyboard, the rain falling outside, and sometimes a sigh from myself or Phil... and the less soothing noise of children's programming from my neighbor's television.  But I'd rather hear the low rumbles of children's programming than the incessant chatter for 95% of my work day...

I have another confession... When I am trying to accomplish tasks and there is someone talking, my head feels crowded.  Literally crowded.  It's almost hard to explain, but it's like I can't devote all my brain power to the task at hand because I'm trying to focus so hard on my task instead of the person talking.  I actually had to ask someone to stop talking because I was working on something they had asked me to do, but I couldn't focus on it to properly wordsmith an email because they were talking about shoes or something trivial.

I have another confession... I don't think "Chatty Cathys" are bad people.  But I definitely struggle with them more than other types of people though.  In fact, our "Chatty Cathy" is an unbelievably good leader from what I can tell.  They have the best intentions and seem to have their heart and mind in the game...  but wow can they talk.

I have a second to last confession... I worry that someone from work will read this and it will be misinterpreted.

I have a final confession... When our "Chatty Cathy" left the office for a meeting.  I let out a sigh of relief and other person that was in my office laughed at me and agreed.


PS.  If I hadn't been receiving in-the-moment tasking, I probably could have put in some earplugs.