How do I deal with a rude coworker who is driving me crazy?

Question

Guy who sits in the cubicle next to mine is making me crazy. He makes personal calls all day long...I don't know how he gets work done as much as he's on the phone yelling at his kids, checking up on his wife, making appointments. He eats literally about 10 apples a day which is fine if I didn't hear him chewing and slurping and smacking all the time. He tries to get everyone else to do his work because he's "under the gun here" then tells them how to do their jobs. He even yelled at me when he was trying to show me how to do something (I was trying to be nice and help!) He makes comments about what I eat (I weigh 105 pounds and he asked me if I should really be eating a donut for breakfast) I don't want to get on his bad side because he's always running to our boss over every little thing.

Answer 1

Go to your boss and tell him that this guy is distracting you making it difficult to work because he is very loud on the phone, most of which are personal in nature, and all the smacking noises he makes from eating all day long. You might also tell the boss that this guy harasses you about your food choices and whenever you try to help him with his workload. If the boss doesn't do anything, take it to HR. I wouldn't worry about getting on this guy's bad side, chances are he doesn't have a good side anyway so he spends a great deal of time tattling rather than working. ...and the boss is probably aware of his behavior but might be waiting for some additional ammunition like say...a coworker complaint before he reprimands or fires this guy.

Answer 2

tell the boss he is making personal calls all day-leave anaonymous note - or get a tape recorder and put it near the top of your cubicle to record him on the phone for a half hour or so and then send it to the president with an anonymous note saying - here is what this "valuable?" employee is doing on company time all day.

Answer 3

gosh, I feel for you there. As far as the eating concerned, I think if you asked him to stop that should be enough. I have a co-worker that does that and I had to ask her to chew quietly. If he's a rat, that's hard to deal with...not much you can do there. The last, last resort is going to your boss. But I mean that's the worst case scenario....and even at that I would just ask if your seat could be moved.

I understand, it's tough to get through the work day if you have a pain in the a** sitting next to you!

Answer 4

That is really unfortunate.  However, there are several things you can do.  

1) Buy a sound machine with soothing sounds or a CD and use headphones at your desk. low enough so that you can hear the phone but high enough so that the slurping goes away

2) When he eats walk away, there is nothing like grabbing a cup of java and a donut just when the chomping begins

3) You cannot control how people treat you or what they say or think so think twice about how you address other people even though they may not be on you A-list