Noise pollution
December 9th, 2022
One day, you will see, one day — I will stand up, slam my fist on the table, and LOUDLY let everybody know what I think about them and their behavior. I will let them know that I cannot accept it anymore, I cannot stand it anymore, and will not take it anymore. I will go (literally) pointing fingers at everyone around the room — you, don’t talk to another guy 5 desks down by yelling over other people — just walk over to him. You, we all know you have a deep and vibrating voice — keep it down and let us hear our thoughts. You, I understand you are having an important teleconference with difficult people — but don’t try to out-scream them or go to some other room if you really have to. You, I get it that you just remembered an important joke — can you keep it to yourself right now instead of trying to be louder than everybody else?
Then I will walk away to the surprise of everyone and to their stunned silence (finally silence) and go on a hunt to find and hurt the guy who invented the idea of open space to get my revenge for years of oppressive noise pollution that all people working in open space are subjected to.
I won’t, though. I am too much of a coward to attempt something like that. Of course, I don’t think about myself as a coward per se — no, I think I am just a well-behaved and well-mannered guy, and that kind of vulgar display is beyond normal and proper behavior in civilized society among grownups. That is a pretty good explanation and makes me feel better about myself, but it also makes me continue to suffer in silence. Hell, not in silence! I suffer in noise. I wish I could suffer in silence or just for once be the loud and obnoxious guy. Even with headphones on and some music playing, the noise still seeps in from every direction into my brain. There is no escaping from its overwhelming presence.
Noise seeps in from every direction, creating a fog in my mind. I am curt and easily distracted and feel physically ill from it. I stare at the screen, knowing that I was supposed to do something, but letters and numbers make no sense anymore. There is just the constant pandemonium of loud sounds as everybody tries to outshout everybody else. I feel personally attacked by the constant barrage of bullshit from everyone. And the loud bullshit at that. There is no changing that. I know, I have tried. Others tried as well without any success. So, I suffer and count the hours and minutes until I can go home and rest and relax in silence. It feels like this constant noise is a plague and a plague only of our doing. Maybe I am just too sensitive to it? But even so, my pain and suffering are real. The only solution is to completely change the environment, and I am hard at work on doing just that. Hopefully, soon I will be able to change it.
