http://www.speakstrong.com/newsletter/2006/05/04/myob/ By Meryl Runion and SpeakStrong, Inc. Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:33:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 http://www.speakstrong.com/newsletter/2006/05/04/myob/#comment-55 Kathleen DuBois Thu, 11 May 2006 13:44:31 +0000 http://www.speakstrong.com/newsletter/2006/05/04/myob/#comment-55 I agree, from the description of the eavesdropper's behaviour that there is a problem which needs addressing. But I would be curious to know what types of conversations are being described. There is another side to this issue. In the present day cubicle environment, it is virtually impossible to have a private conversation. Management and leadership employees should be provided with private areas where private conversations can be held. When someone is on the telephone, that is clearly a private conversation, which most of us pretend to or actually tune out of. But when people in a shared work area want to have a private conversation, I think they should probably consider leaving the area. There is much I hear on a daily basis that I really DON'T WANT to hear, especially in this day when apparently all topics are okay'd for public consumption. People around me - especially the women I'm embarrassed to say - frequently discuss such topics as their bodily functions, their mating habits, and all the latest sensationalized child abuse and murder cases. I am sure they think of these conversations as "private" between them and the person they are directing their comments to. But in truth, anyone in a 25' radius can hear much of what they say. Whether they want to or not. When I am having what I consider to be a private conversation, and I feel someone is listening uninvited, I stop talking and look at them pleasantly and expectantly, until they either say whatever they came to say, or they get the message that they are not welcome to that particular conversation. This has never failed me yet. I agree, from the description of the eavesdropper’s behaviour that there is a problem which needs addressing. But I would be curious to know what types of conversations are being described. There is another side to this issue. In the present day cubicle environment, it is virtually impossible to have a private conversation. Management and leadership employees should be provided with private areas where private conversations can be held. When someone is on the telephone, that is clearly a private conversation, which most of us pretend to or actually tune out of. But when people in a shared work area want to have a private conversation, I think they should probably consider leaving the area. There is much I hear on a daily basis that I really DON’T WANT to hear, especially in this day when apparently all topics are okay’d for public consumption. People around me - especially the women I’m embarrassed to say - frequently discuss such topics as their bodily functions, their mating habits, and all the latest sensationalized child abuse and murder cases. I am sure they think of these conversations as “private” between them and the person they are directing their comments to. But in truth, anyone in a 25′ radius can hear much of what they say. Whether they want to or not. When I am having what I consider to be a private conversation, and I feel someone is listening uninvited, I stop talking and look at them pleasantly and expectantly, until they either say whatever they came to say, or they get the message that they are not welcome to that particular conversation. This has never failed me yet.

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