Adrinachrome- fair enough... And I certainly don't know the first thing about your kinda work and the "culture" it entails...

Lilbear- I must respectfully disagree... The culture you describe, is straight out of middle school... I've worked in many different work environments but not ONE of them were like what you describe. Usually, when you approach someone, the job gets done, if the problem is recurring and you escalate it and keep personalities and personal carp out of your complaint, the job gets done and there are absolutely NO repercussions like the ones you suggest. If that is the environment you work in, you have my sympathies- but I doubt that is a common occurrence.


Of course I don't look busy... I did it right the first time!

Go into work singing 'this is the song that doesn't ennnnnnd, yes it goes on and on my frieeeeend'.....Make it louder when your cow-worker is on the phone

I think it's always better to try to handle issues with coworkers without going to management. That takes it to another level and makes you look like you can't manage conflict which isn't the impression you want to give your manager. I've had situations with coworkers that I've taken up with them personally and have resolved after one or two discussions and then we've moved on without the hard feelings of him/her knowing that I "told on them".

However if a problem persisted despite my efforts to improve it without involving a manager, I would not say that I would never consider taking it further, but it would depend on the situation and what the coworker was doing. If it was just an annoyance, I would probably let it go. If it was more serious than that, or if their behavior was causing me a lot of problems to the point that it interfered with my ability to do my job, I would probably talk it over with someone in charge. Best case scenario would be that the boss is paying attention to what's going on and deals with it before you have to, but that isn't always the case.