# Why is this happening - weird work office anomaly **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 23, 2025, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening-weird-work-office-anomaly/1013294 "2025-01-23T16:39:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening-weird-work-office-anomaly/1013294/1 "2025-01-23T16:39:49Z")
I have a desk in the office I share with a co-worker. Every time she moves her chair my computer screen goes black for 6-7 seconds. It’s very annoying. Our computers are not physically connected - each is plugged into their own outlet. She sits about 5’ away from me. Her chair sits on one of those plastic chair mats that allows your chair to roll on carpet. It is not connected to or touching anything except the floor (carpet). When she rolls her chair back to stand up, my computer screen goes black. We’ve tried everything. She can sit with her hands in her lap - not touching anything - any when she moves her chair, it happens. It does not happen to her screen. Any ideas/suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening-weird-work-office-anomaly/1013294/2 "2025-01-23T16:45:27Z")
One guess would be a loose monitor cord. When she moves her chair, it may be shifting something that is causing the cord to wiggle slightly. You could try tightening the cord and moving the computer around. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening-weird-work-office-anomaly/1013294/3 "2025-01-23T16:47:01Z")
Were any changes made just before this started happening? ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening-weird-work-office-anomaly/1013294/4 "2025-01-23T16:48:11Z")
Yes, about a month ago we recarpeted the office. Everything was put back in the same configuration. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening-weird-work-office-anomaly/1013294/5 "2025-01-23T16:52:05Z")
OK, I just checked all of my computer cord connections and tested it. She sat with her hands in her lap, legs not touching her desk - she rolled her chair back and it happened again. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening-weird-work-office-anomaly/1013294/6 "2025-01-23T16:53:20Z")
Is it some sort of static you’re getting off the new carpet? ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening-weird-work-office-anomaly/1013294/7 "2025-01-23T16:57:19Z")
Well, that’s the obvious thought, but without the computers being physically connected to each other or mine being physically to her chair or chair pad, I don’t see how. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening-weird-work-office-anomaly/1013294/8 "2025-01-23T17:00:33Z")
If anything is touching the floor, like the computer or the monitor cord, it could be that a static charge from the carpet is somehow affecting the signal. You could make sure the cord is off the ground and maybe even raise the computer off the carpet on books or something that won’t transmit static electricity. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening-weird-work-office-anomaly/1013294/9 "2025-01-23T17:14:49Z")
Can static electricity travel across carpet? Anyway, good suggestion, I’ll check and try it. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening-weird-work-office-anomaly/1013294/10 "2025-01-23T17:18:37Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Any ideas/suggestions? I’m _pretty certain_ that you are the subject of a psycho-social experiment designed to test the limits of your frustratability (which is a psychological index that I just spontaneously made up). Keep any eye out for the forthcoming paper in the _American Journal of Psychology_, _Current Research in Behavioral Sciences_, or the _Annals of Occupational Torment and Tribulation_. In the meantime, did you get the memo about the new cover sheets on TPS reports? I just ask because you put the old cover sheet on last week’s report, and I just want to make sure you got the memo that we’re putting new cover sheets on the TPS reports. I’ll send you another copy of that memo, so if you would do that from now on that would be greaaat, okay? Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening-weird-work-office-anomaly/1013294/11 "2025-01-23T17:33:15Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > I’m _pretty certain_ that you are the subject of a psycho-social experiment designed to test the limits of your frustratability… Well, I hope there is wide range of summative data in the final analysis of this experiment because with all of the other buncombe I’m forced to endure, this is pushing me to new heights of frustration. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening-weird-work-office-anomaly/1013294/12 "2025-01-23T17:38:58Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Yes, about a month ago we recarpeted the office. Everything was put back in the same configuration. Any chance the electrical wiring runs through the floor, and something about the recarpeting job is causing the wiring to be affected by pressure in ways it previously didn’t? I’d hope nobody is running a power cord between the floor decking and carpet, but… I’ve seen some things (and done a few things). ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening-weird-work-office-anomaly/1013294/13 "2025-01-23T18:13:56Z")
No, everything is above the carpet. I was here when they were doing it, just bare subfloor below carpet and padding. Desks were put back on it and computers were re-installed (along with associated wiring). Anyway, I think filmore was on the right track. I lifted all of my wiring off of the floor and put it on a non-conductive material [Corian cutting block with rubber feet]) That appears to have mitigated the issue quite a bit. Though I’m amazed a wheel rolling on a surface (for only a couple of inches) could generate enough static electricity to travel through the carpet from her desk area to mine. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening-weird-work-office-anomaly/1013294/14 "2025-01-23T18:19:25Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Though I’m amazed a wheel rolling on a surface (for only a couple of inches) could generate enough static electricity to travel through the carpet from her desk area to mine. This makes me wonder whether your electrical connection has some kind of short or loose wiring or something - either in the cord or the outlet itself. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening-weird-work-office-anomaly/1013294/15 "2025-01-23T18:29:23Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Well, I hope there is wide range of summative data in the final analysis of this experiment because with all of the other buncombe I’m forced to endure, this is pushing me to new heights of frustration. In case I’m not the only person who has never in life heard or read this word until now: **Buncombe - _“Statements or beliefs that are untrue or make no sense”_** I have an expansive vocabulary, but I had to look that one up. LOL ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening-weird-work-office-anomaly/1013294/16 "2025-01-23T18:30:23Z")
Thanks. I was wondering if someone’s auto-incorrect had gone mental again. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening-weird-work-office-anomaly/1013294/17 "2025-01-23T18:30:28Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > **Buncombe - _“Statements or beliefs that are untrue or make no sense”_** > > I have an expansive vocabulary, but I had to look that one up. LOL Pronounced (and often spelled) as “bunkum”. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening-weird-work-office-anomaly/1013294/18 "2025-01-23T18:32:35Z")
Yea, sounds like an ESD-induced event. There are a lot of ESD mitigation products out there, like static-dissipative mats, static-dissipative carpet, static-dissipative desks & chairs, static-dissipative sprays, etc. But it sounds like you may have found a solution. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening-weird-work-office-anomaly/1013294/19 "2025-01-23T18:35:47Z")
It’s not ESD, it’s a glitch in the code of the Matrix. Obviously. If anyone offers you colour-coded pharmaceuticals, be very, very cautious. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening-weird-work-office-anomaly/1013294/20 "2025-01-23T18:37:51Z")
I think you need to start eliminating sources of interference. Turn of all other devices except the monitor in question and go from there. Do you have access to an isolation tester? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening-weird-work-office-anomaly/1013294.md?page=2)