I work in a very busy, fast-paced product management department for a rather large company. I’m the only one with knowledge in my particular sub-part of our products and therefore am constantly being interrupted with questions. “Hey, overly, got a minute?” “Oh, this question will take just a second. You probably know the answer off the top of your head.”
I started wearing ear phones and ignoring people, but they just became more aggressive. So I started calmly, but clearly letting them know I was busy. That put them off for a few days, but now the same people have started rebutting me when I tell them to come back in a half hour or that I’d find them when I was free. It’s getting so bad that I can’t get much done and have to book a conference room for myself - hell, for the last few months, I’ve been interrupted during meetings and calls I’ve been facilitating. And it’s not like these questions are so earth-shatteringly important they just can’t wait.
Since I’m not high enough in the food chain to have my own office, I’m trying to just deal with it. It’s that or go postal or tear my hair out. So, I’m wanting to know: what creative suggestions do you have to get people not to interrupt me?
Stare. And then, when you’re done staring, stare some more. Stare at them as they back out of your cubicle. Keep staring, just in case they decide to double-check to see if you’re still staring. Stare like you’ve never stared before.
Or maybe just Narcolepsy. Start to answer the question, get to the really important part, then slump over and start snoring.
So seriously, talk to your boss, or the overall department boss. Tell that person that you do not mind answering questions, but that you’re having problems doing your work and getting frustrated with the aggressiveness of the people coming to you for the answers. Calmly point out that you believe it is unprofessional and impolite of people to be interupting meetings and facilitated calls to be asking unrelated questions, and that this is the most important thing you would like to put a stop to. Especially if those meetings and calls involve clients, because it makes the entire company look bad when any Joe Blow is allowed to interrupt THE CLIENT’S TIME with unrelated issues.
And that’s the key. Address the professionalism issue and how it affects Clients and their view of your company. Do it calmly and professionally yourself.
Do the FAQ. Tape it like a curtain across your cube doorway so they must duck under it to get at you. On the FAQ should be something like:
q: How do I get in touch with overly without totally distracting him.
a: send him an email with the question and he’ll get back to you soon.
Getting all the questions in mail means you can hammer them out in a clump, and means no one gets forgotten. Also you can then go to your boss with all those mails and use them as proof that you need an extra hand.
It may take a few times (you need to be seated for this):
At their first question, get this pondering look on your face (and stare at a wall or something). Casually, lift a cheek and let one rip.
If the interrupter didn’t get the hint:
Look them straight in the eye; say firmly: “Need a clarification?” then lift the other cheek and seep some more.
And here I was going to suggest a lot of bean burritos. Well, that would still be useful along with the above.
Or you could get one of those “Now Serving #X” signs and a number dispenser. X would be a dozen or more numbers smaller than the first number waiting to be dispensed.
For the meeting interruptions, all I can think of is a squirt gun. Say “Sit!” firmly while using it.
Put your hand out with a raised finger. sort of like you are asking the person to just wait a minute. The questioner will stop talking and wait for your attention…then let him wait…wait…wait…
I was going to suggest a squirt gun, but I see that’s already been covered. A can full of pennies might be a good idea, too.
My brother suggested that you just glare at them and say, “Stop fucking interrupting me.” You have to admit, it has a stunning and appealing simplicity to it.
What good is vegetable oil going to be at a time like this?
I don’t know if it will work for your situation, but I had one particular offender at work, who would just brazenly walk up and interrupt whatever you were doing, asking for help with any particular thing.
I just did the same thing to him. Whenever I needed any information from him, I would wait until he was obviously busy with someone.
“Hey, Ken, you know that thing you do, where you just walk up and interject yourself into an ongoing conversation as if it didn’t matter at all, changing the subject to whatever it is that you need at that moment? I’m doing that now. Can you e-mail me a copy of of VR2323’s Certificate of Insurance? I need it right now. Thanks.”
Repeated until he got a fricking clue.
As for being interrupted when I’m working on other tasks… I just resigned myself to it. Sometimes if I’m adjusting a formula in excel I can manage a “Just a sec…” but otherwise, it’s my job to be interrupted constantly. I can’t help ya there.
The trick is to do it while still seeming to be a team player. So I’d take a different tack: accept all the requests, but make a note of each one and the time it took. After a week or so, go to your manager with this data and say that while you’re well chuffed to be so highly regarded by the rest of the team, the amount of interruptions is negatively impacting your work and that perhaps this highlights the need for some refresher training?
