I sit in an open workplace environment. My colleague has a habit of clipping their fingernails at their desk. Firstly, the sound is irritating. Secondly, I’m fully expecting a nail clip to fling over the workstation divider and land on my desk (or on my head!). For me, clipping nails is a process that should happen at home, in private, in the bathroom. Not in the office.
I’m not the only one who can hear the clip clip clip. It freaks out everyone else around us. I’m getting to the point where I think they might even start to clip their toenails! How do I handle this disgusting behaviour?
Everyone should feel at ease when they step into their place of work. But there are limits.Credit: John Shakespeare
This is one of those classic Work Therapy questions where the office behaviour is annoying enough to get on people’s nerves, but not so egregious that it warrants a dressing down. In fact, it sounds like you’re wrestling with what so many readers wrestle with: the question of how to bring an irritation to an end without causing unnecessary hurt or embarrassment.
Now, fingernails are one thing – and I can see how the noise and the possibility of having one shoot towards you, would be disconcerting. But toenails! Urgh! That’s an entirely different level of disgusting!
It’s interesting that you think it might come to that. I’m assuming that’s not just your dark imagination at play. If it is a genuine possibility, it suggests to me that this person is comfortable in the office. And on the face of it, that’s a good thing.
Everyone should feel at ease when they step into their place of work. But maybe there’s too much of a good thing: there’s a huge difference between a feeling of contentment and a feeling that you can do whatever you want whenever you want with no thought of others.
Part of the reason this behaviour has continued unabated is because Clippi Longstocking fails to realise their conduct is affecting others.
So, should you shake this person out of their apparent state of entitlement? It might be tempting, but my advice would be no – two wrongs and all that jazz. I do, however, think they need a gentle reminder that everyone’s comfort is important; not just their own.
You could do that with a cordial chat somewhere private. Or you could try something a touch less direct – and a little bit more procedural?
