[General] How to ask for silence ?

[trapangle]

Hello,

I work in a noisy environment and I need silence to focus on my tasks. Fortunately, we are in small offices with doors, but we're not used to close them. When it gets too noisy, I close my door but my colleagues then consider me as asocial. I'd like to put a note on the door when I close it that says something like :

"Noisy-making colleagues should close their door, not silence-needing ones."

Any idea how to write this in good english ?

trapangle

 

[Barb_D]

Hi and welcome.

While I understand your message, the more natural way to say this to my ear is something like "It would be preferable if it were the noisy people who shut their doors, not those needing silence."

HOWEVER -- and this is a big however -- you will come across as quite rude. The fact that your colleagues are more concerned about your "asocial" behavior than getting work done shows a couple problems in your workplace and you really need to talk to you boss about this.

In the meantime, a less aggressive sign to tack on your door would be more along the lines of
"Concentrating -- Please come in if you need me!"

 

[trapangle]

Thanks, and also for the advice!

 

[BobK]

Incidentally, I think I detect a faux ami: 'asocial'? The English word is 'antisocial' in this context (though I suspect there may well be an obscure English word 'asocial' used chiefly by Clinical Psychologists!).

b