Can't We Go Back to Offices? With Doors?

Dear Advice Girl

I need your advice to keep my cool at work. I always try to be professional, to be nice, and to be cordial when at work. But at this point I’m miserable and flustered due to a very chatty neighbor lady. We work in a shared open air work environment. She is in my opinion bad-mannered and usually unprofessional women in the work place. The major qualm I have with my coworker is that she hopelessly insists on abusing her speakerphone at her desk. She insists on using the highest volume option because as Ms Chatty stated “she wants everyone to hear”.

I have to say she is normally chatting about work so it’s hard to directly confront her about rude she is and how far her voice travels. Her habit has driven all the neighbor employees within a 10 ft circumference to wearing their iPod at their desk at work to drown out her voice. The noise level is really distracting and reduces everyone’s productivity. I have mentioned this noise level issue to my last three direct supervisors and several other employees but no improvements have made over the last several months.

I try to keep my cool at work but one day I may just spur-of-the-moment snap about the issue out of frustration. Any suggestions are welcomed to try to be professional, to be nice, and to be cordial when at work.

Thanks
Driven up the walls

Dear Up the Walls,
Advice Girl is SO sorry she forgot to tell you this, but right before she left, she discovered an amazing thing. One of your other coworkers, let's call him "LAC", has a phone with a non-functioning speaker. Time for a little late-night switcheroo during one of those busy weeks. Call it a St. Patrick's Day miracle.

If the voice volume continues to be a problem, this may actually be a problem for your company's employee relations department. Advice Girl promises you, they have heard it all, and are accustomed to dealing with delicate matters like this confidentially.