Me and my big mouth

She’s no longer my manager, and our offices are now next to each other, but when I first moved to where I am at work, I used to walk across the room to tell my manager I was leaving for the day.

And frequently, 10, 15, 20 minutes later, she’d walk out of her office to find me still there … for the same reason I often told Suzi, “I would have been home sooner, but …”

… I was gabbing.

If I am The Chatty One, which breed am I? The person who conducts phone calls at shouting level, as if struggling to be heard over a chopper touching down nearby? Or am I the worker who strolls through the office spewing anecdotes?

— Beth Teitell, “Every office has one: How to deal with an overly chatty colleague,” The Boston Globe

In pretty much every place I’ve ever worked, I’ve been the chatterbox. No sense trying to hide it.

I don’t think my phone calls (or my conversations in general) are any louder than anyone else’s — plus if it’s important or personal, I close my door or call from my cellphone outside — but I will jump on conversations in the office without much provocation, even if it means coming out of my office because I heard something.

Today, it was an explanation to a guy I work with of “man searching,” or men not being able to find something right in front of them, mostly because they didn’t move something out of the way.

I, of course, know nothing about this. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.

It’s not like I can’t handle being alone, and manage to keep myself company when I’m working at home, but if there are people around and I’m sitting by my lonesome? Sorry, I get bored.

I don’t do it much these days, but sometimes I’ve gone and worked out of an empty desk in the middle of the room because I wanted to be around people.

One thing I’ve noticed, however, is something that most of my favorite conversational partners have in common.

I don’t work with them anymore.

Supposedly, they left for “better opportunities” (that is, when it wasn’t me who was doing it) or in some cases “left the business altogether.”

But I know why they really left.

They just wanted some peace and quiet.

I am neither of these guys in this photo by Product School on Unsplash, but I’d be willing to bet one of them was frightened to be in that conversation.

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