Have you ever...

...had to sit and listen to the same loud, annoying, and incessant voice for what seems like forever, and not been able to do anything about it? For those who work in the customer servicing industry, have u ever had colleagues who's voices just irritate you for no particular reason? To you, the effect of their voices are like nails scratching on a blackboard, or construction workers drilling and hammering in the next door house/apartment while you're trying to sleep. You just want to yell at them to stop...but you can't.

Personally, I have several of these irritating people (voices) in my office. Because they sit in the row opposite me, I am easily 'exposed' to their voices whenever they happen to sit directly in front of me. Naturally, as with all call centres, there are barriers between the desks to prevent sound from travelling too much, but with my cheapo company, the barriers are so low the only thing they're good for is.... .... ....ummm....actually, I can't think of anything.

So for Person A, her voice sounds like any other person's voice. It's not particularly high pitched or off key or scratchy. Its just loud. You must be thinking, what's so bad about it then? Well, when I say loud, I mean like, really, REALLY LOUD. And she doesn't know that she will not die if she doesn't SHUT THE FUCK UP for 2 seconds. She can talk, non-stop, about nothing for her entire shift. Some people talk alot, but at least there's some substance to their chatter. This one...really a tin kosong being kicked around a dirty back alley. She doesn't just make loud noises, she even provides the goddamned echoes for ya. Plus, ladies and gents, she doesn't just talk, she thinks she's a damn good singer too. So I gotta listen to some godawful hee-haws coming from 'across the border' as we call it, everytime she sits opposite me (we have a free/hot seating arrangement). I've tried wearing earphones and blasting the music whenever she starts to grate on my nerves, but it doesn't always work. At times, the sound levels for the music/show that I'm listening to would be so deafening that even my teammates can can hear what I'm listening to...but I could still hear her voice over the racket coming from my earphones.

As for Person B, his voice is also loud, but that's not the bad part. You see, B's voice is also high pitched, wavery, and so very 'hiao' (effeminate) that everytime I heard it I'd get goosebumps and the hair on the back of my neck would stand (he's gay, btw. Not that I have a problem with that). It took me 6 months to figure out that the 'female' voice I was hearing belonged to a (ugly, overly flamboyant, thick skinned) guy. I've worked here for a whole year already and every time I hear his voice I still think he's a woman!

Person C, on the other hand has a voice that would be perfectly alright if it weren't for 1 thing. The fake accent, mateys. Its great if you speak excellent English, and the accent just rolls naturally off your tongue. Seriously, what the hell is up with those people who can't even tell the difference between when to use 'much' and 'many', and thinking that they sound so damn cool with their Australian or British or American accents? If you're making a joke of the accent, or are just using it to say 1 to 2 words, okay fine, whatever. But to use it everytime you open your mouth? You don't want to be Malaysian issit? Go bleach your skin white la, you bloody SPG (Sarong Party Girl).

In any case, due to different shifts and seating arrangements and such, I'm not always exposed to the horror of having to put up with these 3 walking nightmares. I've managed to avoid C almost completely, except for a greeting every once in awhile. As for B, I cringe whenever I see him, but he doesn't talk that much, so its easy to grit my teeth and ride it out. Sometimes, he does become more of a nuisance, like that time where he was 'sharing' one of his sexual experiences with a squealing gaggle of girls, which included A. That time, not only did I have to put up with his voice painting vivid pictures of how the other guy was terrible in bed and had a small dick, I also had to control myself from going up to him and stabbing him with a ballpoint pen when he began loudly demonstrating what his fake orgasm moans sounded like.

However, my luck usually runs out when it comes to A. She likes to sit at the desk opposite mine, and I encounter her on average of maybe once every week to once every two weeks. I'm fortunate that it doesn't occur more often, else I would have ground my teeth down to useless nubs by now from all the frustration.

Unfortunately, I don't think I'm very lucky today....because not only did A decide to sit in front of me, B decided to join her too. Momma help meeeeeeeeeeeeee......!  T_T