This post is part of the A to Z Challenge. Each post will be associated with a letter of the alphabet with the theme ‘Today, at work…’.
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Today, at work, I was bombarded with burps and belches. From my colleague whose cubicle is across from mine.
And there was no “Excuse me” or “Ooops” afterwards.
We’ve all let out an accidental burp or belch once in a while. It happens. When it happens to me and I’m surrounded by people, I’m quick to blurt out an “excuse me” or an “oops”.
So, when my colleague let out the first burp without covering it up with an “excuse me”, I let it go. It’s just one burp, I thought to myself and continued typing. Then there was a second, third, fourth and oh, I lost count of them after that. And after each one, still no “excuse me” or “oops” or “oh dear, I have no idea why I’m burping so much!”
You know how there’s different types of burps? There’s the soft, timid burp and there’s the loud burp after you’ve eaten too much and the build-up of air is rushing to escape from your body. Well, her (yes, HER) burps were the gurggly kind so it was more of a blurp then a burp. I was discomfited and slightly disgusted. When will this end?
I typed furiously on my keyboard *CLACK CLICKETY-CLACK CLACK* to drown out the blurps. After several minutes, I slowed my typing down to find out if her blurpings had stopped and lucky me, I was rewarded with one last blurp. Ugh. I took a deep breath and repeated to myself “don’t let her blurps get to you, don’t let her blurps get to you…”
Then she got up from her seat and walked past my cubicle and left the office as if nothing had happened.
BLURP.
What’re your thoughts on burping and belching in the office?
WORDS from SONOBE 
Ok,your office is so crazy…and we are only at B!:-) I have seen a few burps in my office and they were often accompanied by ‘excuse me’ or ‘I’m sorry’. It would have been very rude otherwise.
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Well, Deb, I’ll be posting about more than one of my workplaces, which all have crazy stories so my entire career has been filled with crazy situations and people LOL
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Provided the expulsion of wind comes from the fmouth, it’s just noise – unpleasant noise, but only noise. It’s when it comes from the noxious other location that you need to worry. I never had an issue with that at work, but there is a man I know now who seems to take pride in it, wherever and whenever he pleases.
Keith Channing A-Zing from http://keithkreates.com
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I meant mouth, of course. It looks like I included an expletive there! K
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Haha Keith, yes, it does read like you’ve included an expletive 🙂 Well, irregardless of the source of the air from the body, it should be common courtesy to say excuse me. And if there’s a foul smell, well, then manners are imperative 😀
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Unless, of course, you have a dog to blame it on?
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I have a friend who has taken to vocalising her burps so she kind of self-harmonises. It is repulsive. I feel your pain!
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Yikes, I do hope my colleague doesn’t learn to do this. It’s already painful without the vocalising…
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Oh dear. Ergs. Yeah I’m with ya on an omg excuse me. So few seem to have manners these days.
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It’s just common courtesy which isn’t very common these days. When she has her burping episodes, I just leave the office cos ugh.
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my…this is one thing,cant help others
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Yep, we can’t. And I’m sure if I point it out that it’s rude, she’ll just ignore me so I don’t waste my breath.
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Your office is crazy!
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Yep, it certainly is at times. And other times, the crazy can be entertaining 😛
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I wonder what she ate? And I’m also worried about what might be coming when we get to the letter F! Good wishes with the A-to-Z!
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I didn’t even want to know what she ate LOL Well, you’ll have to wait and see what F will hold in store and if you’re right haha
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I would have to somehow insert a “Wow, excuse you!” while trying to make it sound like a joke. We had an IT guy that would pass gas every time he came around, but I honestly think he did it on purpose. Sometimes I wonder about the lack of manners.
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Unfortunately, if I tried that, she’d think I was the rude one. Yep, I learnt this from experience and the situation escalated from there LOL Why did the IT guy pass gas on purpose????? That’s hilarious!
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I think he just wanted to see if we would clear out–he wasn’t the friendliest and was easily irritated. He could surely clear a room, that’s for sure.
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Wow, that is also AWKWARD! Gail at Making Life An Art
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Haha Gail, Yep, awkwardness seems to be the norm in my working life LOL
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Rudeness! No manners or concern for the sensibilities of others!
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True Linda. There’s too many examples of rudeness these days unfortunately…
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Ewwww I have three boys and although I have been somewhat desensitized by things like burps, which are apparently hilarious to young boys, I still can’t find justification in not saying excuse me. Ick. She needs to learn some manners! ha ha
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Unfortunately Stephanie, the burps and belches in the office are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to common courtesies to observe in the office environment 😦
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Hilarious! Your writing, not the burps. I’d have said, “Wow, are you OK?” loudly enough for the burper and others in the vicinity to hear.
@RhondaGilmour from
Late Blooming Rose
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Haha! I’ll totally do that the next time! Although, I’m of the camp that if you don’t acknowledge it, it doesn’t exist LOL
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