Actually, I’m just ignoring you

A while back, I bought some noise canceling headphones to use at work. I got a good deal on them from NewEgg, and I needed some new ones anyway. They’re not completely noise canceling, but they do a pretty good job at blocking things out.

I share an office with 3 co-workers, and my back is to the door. When I have my headphones in and I’m in “the zone”, I can’t really hear when someone comes in the office. Sometimes I can … if I don’t have the volume up too loud. But people don’t come in to talk to me all that often, so I usually just keep going about my business.

For the past couple weeks, it seems like when I’m really in “the zone”, that’s when someone comes in and wants to actually talk to me. I can tell when that happens because my co-workers start laughing. Really?

I’ve come up with a solution …

Install buttons or switches next to the door that connect to lights on our monitors. When someone comes in and needs to talk to us, if we don’t hear you, you hit the button or flip the switch for the person you want to talk to. That triggers an LED light on the corner of our monitor to flash, thus getting our attention.

Brilliant, right? I wonder if I could get the company to implement that. 🙂

The only problem with this solution … I’d no longer be able to use the excuse that I didn’t hear you when I was actually just ignoring you. 😀